COMMENT: There he was. Ice cold. The coolest man of the summer. While every chairman. Every manager. Lost their heads this transfer window. The man who kicked it all off. The one who coined the term 'Galacticos'. Stood back and watched...
For the first time in two reigns as Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez brought more in this summer market than he spent. And it wasn't chump change. As the LaLiga deadline fell on Friday night, Real boasted a clear profit of over €130 million from their transfer business.
He did try, did Florentino. An offer of €130m was left on Monaco's table over the entire summer for Kylian Mbappe. But while Qatar, ahem, PSG were meeting Neymar's €222m buyout clause. And Barca, in turn, were transforming Ousmane Dembele from a €10m signing to a €150m sale for Borussia Dortmund. Florentino remained steadfast. €180m for Mbappe? No chance. PSG could have him.
The club of the Galacticos. Of Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane. Of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. This summer, they were a spectator. They break spending records, do Real. It's a Florentino speciality. Real are the biggest in the world, they say. The richest. And that should reflect in the transfer market. But not this summer...
However, that's not to say Florentino wasn't active. The additions of Theo Hernandez and Dani Ceballos were decisive - and not just a little political.
As much as Real's fans and supportive media can needle Barca about Neymar. And wind them up about Dembele's crazy price. Real's swoop for both Theo and Ceballos also left Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his maligned board humiliated.
Theo should be a Barca player today. And if not for a buyout clause in his old contract, he would be. There was no chance of Atletico Madrid negotiating terms with Real for their young fullback. But the €24m option took them out of the picture. It came down to a straight choice: Barca or Real? And Theo, despite the backlash he'll have to live with, chose the European champions.
In Ceballos' case, it came down to money. Barca offered Real Betis €13m for the Spain U21 midfielder. Real €16m. And Betis sold to the highest bidder. €150m for Dembele - yet Barca couldn't find an extra €3m for Ceballos? Is it any wonder Bartomeu is having to face down a motion of censure?
Florentino has stumbled onto something. Or better yet, someone. This golden era for Real Madrid. This period of success. Something Florentino has chased over his two periods as president. The reason for all this glory can be reduced to one word: stability.
Last summer, it was Manchester United, with Paul Pogba, which broke the world record transfer fee. This summer, that was left to PSG and Neymar. And what were Real doing? They were winning consecutive Champions League crowns and a first LaLiga title in five years. All with a squad barely touched.
And driving this stability. This calm. Driving it all, is the coach.
While his peers, from Jose Mourinho to Pep Guardiola, demanded big signings and big changes to the teams they took on, Zidane went the opposite way - and took a reluctant Florentino along for the ride.
Since his January 2016 appointment, if you want to call it that, Zidane has won seven trophies with just about the same team he inherited. Now we question branding Zidane's arrival as an appointment, as it was more a promotion. Six years in the making. A long-term - stable - plan put in place by Florentino for Zidane to learn the coaching trade from the ground up.
Stability in the coaching structure. Stability in the squad. And stability in their transfer spending. Long-term planning. A long-term vision. And the courage to stick with it. All this has seen Real become the first club to win back-to-back Champions League crowns. To take it's place as Europe's top dog.
No firing. No hiring. And no mega spending. Florentino has offered Europe's biggest clubs a new path to success. Stability and Real Madrid? The game really is changing...
