Florentino Pérez: Real Madrid’s Blessing or Curse?

Florentino Pérez never learns. Or maybe he learns too well. 

In a sport built on image and short memories, nobody plays the long game quite like the Real Madrid president. Twice now, he’s built sides that defined an era. Twice, he’s watched them fall apart chasing something shinier. And now, as Madrid trudge away from one of their most disappointing seasons in years, it all feels uncomfortably familiar. 

The 2024–25 season was supposed to be a coronation. Kylian Mbappé had finally arrived. Jude Bellingham was already a star. Vinícius Jr. had become unplayable on his day. On paper, it looked untouchable. But football doesn’t care about paper. Madrid ended with no major trophies and a 4–0 battering by PSG in the Club World Cup semi-final—a game that didn’t just bruise them. It exposed them. 

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Xabi Alonso took over in June. First job? Navigate a global tournament with a squad still working out what it wanted to be. He had ideas, sure. But what played out against PSG was less of a tactical breakdown and more of an identity crisis. The kind you can’t fix with a clipboard.

Real Madrid weren’t outclassed by PSG’s individuals—they were outclassed by a team with structure. Alonso stood on the touchline with a front row seat to a lesson he probably already knew: Madrid’s biggest flaw isn’t the opposition. It’s Madrid. 

We’ve Been Here Before 

Go back twenty years. Luís Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham. The Galáctico era wasn’t just headlines, it was history. But for every flashbulb moment, there was something missing. Pérez sold Claude Makelélé. He binned Vicente Del Bosque. Madrid had stars, but no spine. The balance tilted so far towards commercial power that footballing common sense was drowned out by press conference applause. 

The similarities today are hard to ignore. Jude Bellingham, Mbappé, and Vinícius all drift toward the same left-sided zones. There is no recognised striker. Rodrygo, once seen as the jewel of the next generation, now finds himself benched, shifted, or forgotten.

Arda Güler can’t get minutes in a midfield that already runs deep. Endrick, still a teenager, is being discussed with the same reverence usually reserved for Ballon d’Or winners. He may well become great. But this is a club that doesn’t wait for players to settle. It anoints, expects, and judges in the same breath. 

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Then there’s Trent Alexander-Arnold. A free transfer from Liverpool. A statement signing. A Galáctico in profile, marketability, and ability. But also a tactical question mark. His best work came in a Jürgen Klopp system built to protect his instincts and weaponise his passing range.

Madrid offer no such scaffolding. He’s not a classical full-back. He’s not a holding midfielder. And in a squad already crowded with players searching for positional clarity, his integration will be anything but simple. 

The Alonso Balancing Act 

Xabi Alonso knows what this club is. He knows what it was, and what it pretends to be now. That should help. But knowledge isn’t the same as power. 

Managing Real Madrid means managing contradictions. The club demands both patience and immediacy. It wants team unity and global stars. It expects control from a coach, but gives power to the president. In the Club World Cup, Alonso was given a live-fire test with no room for experimentation.

Madrid didn’t just lose. They crumbled. The midfield looked detached. The pressing lines were inconsistent. The forwards tracked back late, if at all. PSG didn’t have to be brilliant. They just had to be organised. 

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Alonso’s challenge now is one faced by every coach under Pérez: to take a team designed for marketing and make it functional on the pitch. Some, like Zidane in his first spell, managed to find the balance. Most don’t. The leash is short. The pressure is suffocating. And the shadow of the boardroom hangs over every lineup decision. 

The Pérez Equation 

Florentino Pérez has done more for Real Madrid than anyone in its modern history. He delivered Champions Leagues. He rebuilt the Santiago Bernabéu. He made Madrid not just a football club, but a global product. His fingerprints are on every major success of the past 25 years. 

But legacy cuts both ways. For every great triumph under Pérez, there’s a blind spot ignored. For every generational talent signed, a squad destabilised. For every coach celebrated, another undermined. Pérez doesn’t just build teams. He builds ideologies. And those ideologies rarely make room for the mundane necessities of a functioning football team: balance, consistency, sacrifice. 

It’s not that he’s clueless. Far from it. It’s that he believes the big picture matters more than the fine print. That names win games. That marketability is tactical in itself. 

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And in fairness, sometimes he’s right. But when he’s wrong, it’s never quiet. 

So What Now?

Madrid don’t panic. They rebrand. The club will survive a season like this because it always does. A few early wins, a new headline signing, and the noise will shift. But underneath the surface, the same fault lines remain. 

There’s a team in there—a good one. Bellingham, Mbappé, Vinícius, Eduardo Camavinga. Enough talent to win anything. But if they’re going to do it, Alonso needs time, clarity, and autonomy. And history suggests he might not get any of the three. 

Pérez will keep watching. Keep orchestrating. Keep calling the shots, both seen and unseen. He’ll be there when the cameras roll. He’ll be there when they lift the next trophy. And he’ll be there when it all comes undone again. 

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So is he a blessing or a curse?  Truth is, he’s both. And that’s the whole problem.

By Emma Robinson / @emmz_rob

Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Getty Images