'Madridismo' matters

Perez: mistakes were made

Real Madrid is such a huge club that sometime you can lose your way. You learn from the mistakes you make and aim to turn them into positive progress.

Florentino Perez
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Florentino Perez plans to oversee a glorious new era at Real Madrid that could yet have Cristiano Ronaldo at its heart.

Three years after quitting, Perez has returned as Real Madrid's president and after being sworn in told Revista de la Liga of his ambition to emulate Barcelona's recent league and European success.

With Director of Football Jorge Valdano overseeing things and Zinedine Zidane acting as his advisor, Perez hopes to be able to build a team with a strong Spanish essence that also features some big names from abroad.

"That is what I have experienced with Real Madrid since I was a boy," he told Revista. "The club attracted players like Alfredo Di Stefano from overseas, great Spanish players from outside of Madrid like Amancio and players from our youth team like Raul.

"The history of the club shows us that is the way to do things and what I aim to do is use that history as an example going forward.

"Speaking hypothetically I can say that if one day Cristiano Ronaldo did come and player here it will have been the result of a friendly and cordial agreement between the two clubs and if not, he will not come.

"We have not yet planned our approach for next season. We will have a look at things over the next few days but anything is possible in this world."

Mistaken

Perez was the architect of the Galácticos era at Real - a period which saw the likes of Zidane, David Beckham and Luis Figo combine - but the big names failed to bring the big success anticipated and Perez resigned in February 2006.

"I left because I felt that I had met the objectives that had been set out for me to achieve," he said. "I also felt that I had established a stable base for the club to continue to build on.

"Over the last three years it is plain to see that I was mistaken and I did not leave things as I intended. We have lived through three years of internal turmoil.

"It has been one of the worst eras in the history of Real Madrid. My aim in coming back is to put everything that has gone wrong in the last three years right.

Stable

"Real Madrid is such a huge club that sometime you can lose your way. You learn from the mistakes you make and aim to turn them into positive progress.

"What I can assure you is that we have sat down and thought long and hard about what we did right and wrong and we have learned our lesson. That can only be a positive thing for the future.

"We want to have an organisation that is more stable and professional that will focus on the development of the three kinds of players that we have traditionally had at the club: the best players in the world, the best players in Spain and the best youth team players.

"The combination of quality and 'Madridismo' is what had made us what we are."