It is no secret in the Spanish capital that if it were up to Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, then they would have brought in reinforcements in the January transfer window. It is no surprise that a coach is pushing for more resources, but few sides have faced the injury crises present at Valdebebas. Even so, the club opted against bringing in any players in the winter window, as has been their policy in many recent years.
The decision was not a call made by the sporting committee at Real Madrid either. General Director Jose Angel Sanchez, Chief Scout Juni Calafat and Sporting Director Santiago Solari tend to be involved in the decision-making process at the Santiago Bernabeu, with input from the manager. The final say comes from President Florentino Perez though. Cadena SER say that it was Perez who stood in the way of January moves, outside of a bid to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of time, with the Liverpool right-back expected to arrive in the summer on a free.
Perez was against doing January business due to the financial state of the club. After a free-spending era in the 2000s, Perez has become far more cautious with Real Madrid’s finances, and the message was that Real Madrid have money to invest, but not to waste. He believes they have sufficient talent in the squad to avoid paying above market rates to bring in someone on an emergency basis, hence the use of Aurelien Tchouameni and Fede Valverde in the backline. He feels their recent success also gives them credit with the fans in order to not have to make reactionary moves.
Clearly, Perez is well within his rights to believe so, and has the power to make these calls without much backlash. Ancelotti would, without saying so, probably be of the mind that it is not Perez’s position that will be in jeopardy if things go wrong this season.
