At the latest count, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has spent about €200m ($279m) buying up some of the world’s top players to revive his famous Spanish football team. His shopping spree does not seem to have ended yet.

After paying a record £80m ($130m) for Manchester United’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and signing huge cheques to secure Brazil’s Kaka and France’s Karim Benzema, he is trying to persuade Bayern Munich to part with their French star Franck Ribéry.