Madrid, July 2 (DPA) David Silva is the next target for profligate Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, according to sports papers Marca and AS Thursday.
Marca claims that Perez is prepared to spend up to 25 million euros (35.21 million dollars) on the Valencia forward, who hardly played for Spain in the Confederations Cup because of muscle problems.
Perez has taken world football by storm since returning as president of Real June 1, splashing out around 210 million euros on Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo, Raul Albiol and Karim Benzema.
AS suggests that Perez is prepared to spend up to 300 million euros – far and way a world record for an club in one summer – building a team capable of challenging European champions Barcelona.
Perez has been criticised for his profligacy in times of crisis by various politicians and church leaders, but has vowed to continue his spending spree.
He is still interested in Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich and Liverpool pair Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.
However, the signing of Benzema means that his interest in Valencia striker David Villa has cooled. Indeed, Barcelona are now close to signing the Euro 2008 top scorer, for around 40 million euros.
rounak