Blatter buoyed by Ronaldo fee

FIFA president Sepp Blatter believes Real Madrid's massive bid for Ronaldo shows football is a growing industry.

In contrast to comments from UEFA supremo Michel Platini, who yesterday described the world-record £80million fee for the Manchester United winger and Madrid's recent £56million swoop for Kaka as "excessive", Blatter feels it is good for the game.

Speaking ahead of the Confederations Cup in South Africa, Blatter said today: "It means that our product is still a good product. If this is the game of the people, they need stars.

"OK, it is a lot of money, but he is performing. We are in a very sensitive market nowadays because there is an economic crisis. In football, we are still in a good market."

If Ronaldo does follow Kaka in moving to the Spanish capital, then it means Madrid will have made the four most expensive signings (in euros) in history, having also splashed out huge money on Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo during Florentino Perez's previous term as president from 2000-06.

Madrid also lavished big fees on the likes of Brazilian forward Ronaldo and David Beckham as part of the club's famous 'galacticos' policy in Perez's first tenure, and Blatter believes the current situation is not too different to how it was a decade ago.

"Almost 10 years ago, Luis Figo went from Barcelona to Real Madrid for £37million," he said. "So what is £80million now? That means there is still demand to have a star."

Meanwhile, new Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini believes it is only natural that players like Ronaldo and Kaka want to be part of the "great team" being constructed by the Spanish giants this summer.

Aside from those two players, other big names are also believed to be in the pipeline for Madrid, most notably Valencia striker David Villa who Spanish media claim could complete his move to the Bernabeu next week.

It has been a breathless few weeks since Perez returned to the presidency, and an impressed Pellegrini, who was installed as the replacement for Juande Ramos just 24 hours after Perez took power, said: "This is a very important time for Real Madrid.

"Florentino Perez has taken charge of the club and, in Jorge Valdano, has been joined by someone who has links to all areas of the football hierarchy.

"They are making a great team and it's natural that players want to join Real Madrid."

Although Kaka is the only player currently confirmed as a new arrival, Perez has talked about making five or six signings this summer.

Half of those places could be taken up by Kaka, Ronaldo and Villa, while there are no shortage of names being bandied about to make up the remainder of the list, such as Franck Ribery, David Silva, Raul Albiol and Xabi Alonso.

However, Pellegrini does not feel it is set in stone how many players Madrid will bring in this summer.

"There is not a fixed number (of reinforcements). We are trying to build a squad, not just a team. We know that Real Madrid will play in three tournaments next year and we don't want to leave any of them to one side."

When quizzed about which specific players Madrid were targeting, the former Villarreal coach added: "I'd prefer not talk about future speculation, because there are lots of names of players going around who could go to Real Madrid."

With Madrid set to smash all transfer records this summer, questions have been raised about how the Spanish giants will finance their shopping spree and if they will end up being saddled with huge debts.

Perez has moved to ease those fears though, claiming that signing players such as Ronaldo and Kaka will actually strengthen the club financially - despite the huge initial outlay on transfer fees.

When asked about the possibility of Madrid being saddled with big debts, Perez told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "On the contrary, we believe we can improve our accounts by aiming for three goals - increasing ticket sales, increasing bank loans and increasing the club's economic value."

He added: "Real Madrid takes about 400 million (euros) a year, the fruit of three sources of income - a third from ticket sales, a third from television rights and a third from merchandising."

Watch Barcelona president Juan Laporta's response to Real Madrid's recent record-breaking signings