Cristiano Ronaldo can be the new David Beckham at Real, says Florentino Perez

Real Madrid can cash in on the services of Cristiano Ronaldo, just as they did those of David Beckham, in a bid to restablish the club as one of Europe's financial elite, according to re-elected president Florentino Perez.

• Perez, who will be formally re-introduced to his role tomorrow (Monday), took Beckham to Spain in 2003 – a move that rapidly saw the club become the richest in the world.
• He now believes that a similar move for Portuguese winger Ronaldo would provoke the same financial boom.
• “Madrid should have brought Cristiano Ronaldo as Beckham’s replacement two years ago,” Perez told the Times.
• “We have to make up for lost time. When Beckham arrived our sponsors significantly raised their payments to us and we rescued the finances of the club. What happened in the last few years is that the club did not reinvest in the type of players to continue with that model. I want to put that right.
• “If Cristiano Ronaldo comes in, we would have a Nike-endorsed player putting on an adidas shirt every week.
• “In the previous time, we established a model which allowed us to pay off our debts and raise our income, and we did it by investing in great players. They brought money in, the model worked.”
• Perez has made no secret of the fact that his plans to see Madrid return to the top depend on the arrivals of big names.
• AC Milan’s Kaka has been top of their shopping list for some time, closely followed by Franck Ribery, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva.
• “There are specific footballers who can turn out to be very profitable because of the commercial benefits the bring the club,” Perez added.
• “For instance we once brought in €15 million for playing two matches in Japan – that would not happen in the current climate, but they did it then because we had Figo, Zidane Ronaldo and Beckham.”