Real Madrid’s Florentino Pérez is more powerful than ever

More significant, however, is that he has cut off almost any outlet for criticism. For example, it has been instructive to read the reports in many of Madrid’s news media about the Mbappé agreement. Instead of a defeat to Madrid, Mbappé’s decision has been thrown out as a mercenary and a traitor, a coat that gave his word to Pérez and then betrayed him.

Mbappé’s family has been so saddened by this portrayal that his mother moved to correct it publicly, claiming on Twitter that her son had never “given his word” to Real Madrid.

That he chose “El Chiringuito” for his first appearance to discuss the Super League was also no coincidence. The show regularly features prominent Madrid support journalists who have been known to break down in tears over the club’s successes, or step against them – Gareth Bale, Eden Hazard – who are considered to have dishonored the club.

The show is not in it, one deviates. Pérez oversees a large network of agile news media that rely not only on his grace and favor of information and access, but also cowed by the scale and scope of his business interests. Pérez has always claimed that he is only powerful because he is the president of Real Madrid, but that is not entirely true. He is also powerful in many other ways.

It has allowed him to drive Real Madrid as he sees fit. Despite its size, the club’s hierarchy is relatively close together, with many recruitment decisions overseen by Pérez; his CEO, José Ángel Sanchez; and his Chief Scout, June Calafat. In that sense, Real Madrid is something of an outlier, almost a setback, in an era where most of its peers have diversified and deepened their staffs.

Pérez will, of course, claim that it works: Five Champions League finals in nine years is all the proof he needs. That is perhaps his greatest gift. No matter what he does, no matter how unlikely it seems, Pérez has a remarkable ability to come out triumphant.

This could have been the year that destabilized the empire he had so laboriously built. It may instead turn out to be the year that cemented it forever.