Florentino Perez confirmed as Real Madrid president

Real Madrid confirmed last night that Florentino Perez has returned as club president. Perez, who held the post for six highly eventful years from 2000 to 2006, will officially be sworn in today, The Guardian says.

Perez's previous spell in charge of Real was characterised by the famous 'galacticos' policy which saw Madrid bring in the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Ronaldo for massive fees.

Although Perez has kept his cards close to his chest regarding new players and who will coach the team next season, there has been speculation in the Spanish media over the past few months regarding who will be brought in if the election favourite returned to power.

«We are working towards and we will work to create a spectacular project, and that is to make Real Madrid the best club in the world once more,» said Perez during a press conference a fortnight ago. «A club like Real Madrid needs to have several of the best players in the world and even though I can't discuss names today, we have a spectacular project on the sporting side.»

Two of Madrid's long-term targets Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo are again reportedly near the top of Perez's wanted list, along with Frenchman Franck Ribery.

Spanish players are also believed to be on Perez's agenda, even though during his previous spell only one of his 17 signings was a home-grown player - Sergio Ramos, who joined from Sevilla.

If the reports turn out to be true though, then the likes of Valencia quartet Villa, David Silva, Raul Albiol and Juan Mata, as well as Almeria striker Alvaro Negredo and Liverpool's Xabi Alonso could be among the Spanish signings gracing Real next season.

On the coaching front, Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger have been linked to the post, but it seems that Villarreal's Manuel Pellegrini is now favourite to take over when Juande Ramos' six-month contract runs out this summer.

Perez will take over from Vicente Boluda, who has been in the post since Ramon Calderon stepped down in January in the wake of allegations of voting irregularities at the club's last general assembly in December.

The three other candidates who had originally announced they would be mounting bids, Eugenio Martinez Bravo, Juan Onieva and Eduardo Garcia, all pulled out of the running in the last fortnight, with the 57.4m euro bank guarantee necessary to stand seeming to be the big stumbling block.