"His Signing is Good for Football"

Sepp Blatter praises Real Madrid for their record offer to Manchester United for the acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo's services, opening up a controversial dialogue with financial ethics in football.

From soccerway.com:

FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Friday defended Real Madrid's world record 80 million pound swoop for Manchester United's Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Blatter, speaking in the build-up to the Confederations Cup which gets underway on Sunday, said the huge fee proved that football was still an attractive business despite the global financial turndown.

"If we have a good market in football, it means we have a good product. But it is not only a product to sell or to buy, it gives people what they want; and that is emotions and entertainment," said Blatter.

"At the same time as Ronaldo's transfer ten years ago, there was a Picasso painting sold at Sotherby's in London for over 100 million pounds and what happened to it?

"They put it somewhere where no-one could see it or on display at a museum for a short period, but with a football player, you can see him once or twice a week.

"I heard yesterday that you could buy millions of pieces of bread to give to the people for that amount, but entertainment is also food for the people."

Blatter needs to remember, as a fan of Madrid himself, that the fans are not the ones who settle on the transfer fee. While I am sure that Ronaldo will be a nice addition to a team needing some exceptional talent (à la Messi, or Ibrahimovic, and thankfully Kaka), and while I am sure that fans won't mind this addition, Madrid's warchest is in no way correlated to the fiscal situation of the football world. Blatter hints at a commodification of football, which is certainly where things appear to be going. However, the differences between Cristiano and a Picasso oil are rather distinct. A team full of £80,000,000 players doesn't guarantee a championship; players have some lackluster performances, get injured, lose focus etc etc. A Picasso oil, by all normal measures, stays a Picasso oil, no matter how much the world around it changes. It's entertainment value is guaranteed. Signing new players, regardless of price, always is a gamble (think Real Madrid, 2004)