Florentino always signs a galactico in election years, and with it being an election year at Real Madrid, he made the promise to sign a galactico in the summer.

If you recall, Luis Figo was signed in 2000. Michael Owen in 2004, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka in 2009, and Gareth Bale in 2013.

Who will it be in 2017, and will it be more than one?

When it comes to Florentino, and when he makes a promise - there really isn't anyone out there that is out of reach. He has proven this again, and again. This is a guy who has always delivered.

Vote for who you would like to see in the royal white shirt.

Margot robbie and scarlett johanson hmmmmm so delicious..... i would give my left nut to go balls deep in one of them

Not to sound like an asshole but technically @chelsea8 if you gave your left nut how would you go balls deep ? Wouldn't that make just "ball deep " ?

Guys, stop. You are drifting away again

@tuan chill bro we are just having fun ey

@marcus hahahah damn man laughed too hard at your comment

@tuan_jinn I sure love it when a thread drit off-topic though. 8)

But back on topic, I do think De Gea would be the best move from Madrid, or maybe an defender, thats the area where Madrid like the most depth in my opinion. I mean, we can let Danilo be the only option to replace Carjaval. Also, with Pepe leaving, Real could really use a CB over another striker. You already got Benzema and Morata there and Ronaldo can also play there if the need arise. Same with midfielder, unless its a defensive minded backup for Casemiro, don't see any reason to get one. But I do agree a new attacking player would be so much more interesting. Decision, decision... :S

@Madridista11: You really think it was Florentino who started this trend? I disagree. I think he was kind of forced into a corner because the clubs are the ones who are demanding such huge fees for their players - even when their player wants to leave. That was the case with both Gareth Bale and Ronaldo, right? Solely blaming Florentino for this is wrong. It takes two clubs for such transfer fees to materialize.

Don't you think Florentino would have loved it if he could have brought these players for cheaper? They wanted to come to Real, right?

Part of is inflation, the other part is clubs overvaluation ( in a way trying to force players to stay in their clubs).

Respect guys, you both turn back the discussion to how it's suppose to be. Love reading this

There's a big difference between debating with someone with an open mind and an ignorant/closed minded person. It's impossible to debate with such people in a civil manner because no matter how many different points you make, how well you counter their argument - they will choose to either ignore it or just repeat themselves. Some just start talking about something else. It's very difficult when you find yourself in a debate with such people because you've just spent so much time and effort, and in the end you realize it's all been in vain. For nothing. Hard not letting something like that get to you.

Anyway, I've long since decided not to get into debates with such people.

@Amerr

Don't you think Florentino would have loved it if he could have brought these players for cheaper?

The question is, were there not any cheaper alternative? :S

They wanted to come to Real, right?

Well, they are not gonna say no to that paycheck. XD But more seriously, I think Ronaldo transfer was totally worth it. Bale however was over-priced.

There's a big difference between debating with someone with an open mind and an ignorant/closed minded person.

Sadly, it feel like on the internet, 90% of the people fall in the second category. :(

In my opinion, Perez is a bit of bussiness man though, he want results but also big name. Its good to attract a lot of fan at least but its understable than some fan feel he overlook some prospect because of this. Still have managed to do great stuff for the club however but its hard to avoid controversy... :(

Well, they are not gonna say no to that paycheck. XD But more seriously, I think Ronaldo transfer was totally worth it. Bale however was over-priced.

Don't really want to get involved in this discussion - but I would like to highlight this point.

You pay what you have to pay to get the player. If Real didn't cough up that much, they wouldn't have gotten him. And while it is reasonable to argue with the final fee, it is not reasonable to argue with Bale's performance himself (winning goals in Copa and CL final, only goal in CL semi last year - not to mention everything else). Did Real overspend to get Bale? Yes. Did they pay what they had to pay? Yes. Would they rather not have him? No.

That last one is the key one. I think Bale was an excellent transfer for that reason.

Don't forget that Bale also had a horrendous season in 2014-15. Absolutely awful. Cost us numerous games and the Champions League final too. He ended up being isolated from the play and from the squad. Good on him that he stepped it up like crazy in 2015-16. Ronaldo never had a horrendous season or moment in Madrid. Even the penalty he missed against Bayern can be credited to Neuer being a freaking amazing goalkeeper.

@Dynastian

I understand that. Would you prefer to lose that season he had, as well as all of his triumphs, for the initial fee you paid for him? I highly doubt it.

@SunFlash You're not wrong. The thing is Ronaldo and Bale have a similar price tag, one was much more useful than the other in terms of efficiency, goal scoring and play-making ability, and time spent on the bench due to injury. When you consider all of those things in their first 4 seasons playing for Real Madrid, it get hard to say the price for Bale was worth it.

If we didn't have Cristiano to compare him with, I'd agree 100%

Not saying I wouldn't purchase Bale all over again. I like Bale a lot. But compared to Cristiano's first 4 seasons, there is a clear divide between who is the better player, more efficient player. It's not even a comparison to be honest. So when compared to CR, players like Bale and James come astonishingly short. Bale should have been a 40M purchase, and James a 30M purchase (in Euros) when compared to CR.

I think that you're underestimating soccer inflation. Freaking Benteke can go for 32M pounds now.

I'm not asking you to tell me that Bale is better than Ronaldo. Ronaldo for 80M was a total bargain tbh. What I am telling you is that there is no way on Blatter's Earth you could've gotten Bale for 40M. You couldn't have gotten him for 70M. You paid what you had to, comparing it to other fees is kind of irrelevant.

If we consider Ronaldo for 80 a bargain then yes, we paid the right amount of money for Bale.

War... war never change. Prize of football player though, it alway does.

All of them were way way over prices except Ronaldo, especially Pogba (despite he is doing kinda good for us - doesn't mean he isn't over priced).

Ronaldo worth every penny, from football, and marketing point of view.

If I were Real fan, I would still be happy with Bale's purchase, Almost NO star so far can be there and play together at the same level as Ronaldo, especially next to Ronaldo who is a bit selfish and demanding (this is not to bash Ronaldo because obviously he delivered).

None of them has remarkably shined, Bale, Benzema, other wingers did what they could do.

When Ronaldo is off-form, Bale shined and delivered.

don't think hazard would leave us tbh..

@bluezz Not sure about that mate, Hazard alway striked me as a player who needed new challenge as time goes, hopefully for you, I'm wrong though. ;)

@Tuan Bale was great for Real in my opinion, the only real problem might have been that Perez thought he was getting the second Ronaldo or an even better player. He even did go out of his way to make him feel like it at first. Still, I'm happy Bale and Ronaldo got over their issue, they are such a great team now. :D

I don't think it's fair to Bale to compare him to Ronaldo. For what we've paid for Ronaldo and what we've gotten in return, he was an absolute bargain. There is no doubt about that. If we had paid 150 for Ronaldo, he would still have been worth it.

It's not fair for any one player out there to be compared to consistency of Messi and Ronaldo. These two are literally freaks of nature.

If we compare Bale's price to that of Pogba (€105m), or say David Luiz who went for €62.8m or Raheem Sterling €62.5m. Then Bale's price was more than fair. It was, in fact, a good deal.

We won't know the true potential of Gareth Bale until Ronaldo retires or leaves Real Madrid. At the moment, he is hogging the spotlight. He is the main man, and will remain so until he leaves. Again, that's not a bad thing in any way. He's simply a bigger talent, always was. We won't know what Bale is truly capable of until our team is mostly dependent on him mostly for our attacking output.

At Tottenham, he was the main man and he lead the team. He won EPL Player of the year, and was unstoppable. That was the reason of his transfer fee. He would most likely reach the same heights if he was the main man at Real as well, with his contributions to Wales NT providing a stark contrast with his performance at Real Madrid.

He still has time though. I honestly think he justified his fee already, but I'm sure for even those that do not believe that, he will prove them wrong. He's only now approaching his prime.