Galacticos is such a part of footballs
language that it seems difficult to
imagine a time when it wasn't around, but
it all started 17 years ago as a twinkle
in the eye of a property mogul, who only
wanted to take over Real Madrid, but
use their greatest rivals best player to
help them. In 2000, Luis Figo was
the best footballer in the world, on
course to win the Ballon d'Or. More than
that, he was a symbol of Barcelona. He was
loved in a way that few other players
were and seemed to love the club back.
After Barca won one title, he dyed his hair blue and purple and
sang white crybabies, salute the champions.
The white babies in question were of
course Real Madrid. Real though had won the
Champions League in two of the last
three seasons.
For that reason the club president
Lorenzo Sans looked certain to win the
upcoming presidential election and it
would take something pretty spectacular
for him to be usurped. So Florentino Pereze,
one of the richest men in Spain,
dreamt up something just that spectacular.
He would sign the symbol of Barcelona.
And the player most Real fans wanted.
Luis Figo. Perez approached Figo's agent
with a deal that sounded too good to be
true. Figo would be given around £1.6m just to sign an agreement
that he would sign for Real, should Perez win the
election. If Perez lost, Figo would keep
the money.
It sounded easy as Perez was unlikely to
win, he could pocket the cash and use it as
leverage to get a better contract at
Barcelona, who he didn't actually want
to leave. When the deal was announced, all
hell broke loose.
Figo, still thinking that he would not
have to move, denied the whole thing and
claimed Perez was fabricating it just to
gain ground in the election.
"I'm not so mad as to do a thing like
that" Figo said. "I want to assure the
fans that Luis Figo will with absolute
certainty be at the Camp Nou next
season". Teammates Pep Guardiola and Luis
Enrique assured everyone the Figo was
going nowhere.
Sans dismissed it as a stunt too. Who's
Florentino going to sign next.
Claudia Schiffer? Perez promised that it
was true. He pledged that should he win
and Figo not sign, that all Real members
would go to the Bernabeau for free the
following campaign. He would fund this
through the claws placed in the deal
stating that Figo would have to pay £19m compensation if he did
not sign. Perez's chances were regarded
as so slim thatFigo's people weren't
worried, until that is, Perez actually
won. Figo's buyout clause was set around £38million, a world record fee, but the
kudos it would bring Perez, it was a
bargain.
Barcelona had elections of their own
that summer, won by former director Juan
Gaspart. Gaspart had only one
chance to stop the deal, to pay the £19million clause or to look at it
another way, to pay Barca's most hated rivals
the equivalent of the fifth-highest
transfer fee ever for their own player.
"I couldn't do it" Gaspart said "I'd pay for
Real Madrid fans to watch them every
week, I would die".
Figo was presented to the public, his
Jersey handed over by Alfredo Di
Stéfano, a ghost of Barca-Real's transfer
saga's past. He smiled thinly not
looking thrilled at the prospect of
being the world's most expensive
footballer.
Perhaps he was anticipating his return
to the new Camp Nou. For over the next
three seasons, Figo had missiles and
insults hurled at him, a banner read "we
hate you now for we loved you then" and
even a small pigs head, was
thrown onto the pitch.
Real went on to spend more and more, £46 million
on Zidadine Zidane, £28 million on Ronaldo, £23 million for David Beckham,
but none would be a significant as Figo,
the man who broke Barca's hearts.