José Ángel Sánchez, the man who really controls Real Madrid
Real Madrid immediately comes to mind Florentino Perez. An extremely important and respected figure in Spain and around the world, the Spanish businessman is unanimously recognized as an exceptional manager. However, Perez does not spend his days taking care of the club, he is far from it. With other businesses and construction giant ACS, the Spaniard doesn’t hesitate – and he doesn’t really have a choice – to become a lawyer. If there’s one man running the house, it’s Florentino’s right-hand man, but generally known to the public as Jose Angel Sanchez. Needless to say, he is extremely underrated and not even many Real Madrid fans can name him. And he has been at the club for over twenty years. It was in 2000, for Perez’s first term at the helm of the club, that he came to manage the club’s marketing sector after an experience in the world of video games. Then he gradually gained power and importance at the club, even during the change of president until he took the general manager’s cap.
The real boss?
Often when talking about transfer window rumors about Real Madrid, we can read statements like “Florentino Perez wants to sign such-and-such” or “Florentino Perez offers such-and-such player”. But in reality, Florentino Perez is very little involved in the club’s transfer window, and he only comes on the scene to manage the files. galactic, like Kylian Mbappé or Eden Hazard and Cristiano Ronaldo. On the other hand, it is Sanchez who takes care of slightly less heralded but almost equally important arrivals such as Toni Kroos, Thibaut Courtois or Fede Valverde. Juni Calafat, the scout of the club, who has a formidable network in South America, often helps. He has a very important voice internally, there is no sporting director to speak of in the organization plan, and if Sanchez feels the club needs a player, he is free to move on.
The lively and hectic daily life of a club of this size YAS who manages, whether we are talking about the transfer window or other matters related to the management of player contracts, institutional relations or the establishment of the technical and medical staff. If there’s one man in Madrid, rain or shine, it’s him. For example, he takes care of the various meetings regarding the European Super League project, he takes responsibility for rejecting the CVC project, and regularly negotiates with La Liga to discuss TV rights or new rules to be implemented. He was in La Liga and could convince even Barca. It shows how big his influence is, in his club and even in Spanish football in general.
Same view
It is Sanchez who is behind the new recruitment policy of the club of the Spanish capital, which started several years ago, which aims to attract young players from all over the world, rather than insisting on stars. . And Real Madrid are already reaping more rewards than a successful bet, with the likes of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Fede Valverde having played crucial roles in the club’s recent success. Some are used to saying that it is impossible to run a football club as a multinational club, because there are many components specific to this sport that need to be taken into account. But this is not the opinion of Jose Angel Sánchez, nor of Perez. If these two men work well hand in hand, and the latter fully trusts his deputy, then they have the same vision and the same delusions of grandeur and will continue to make Real Madrid a company that crushes everything. at the sporting level as well as beyond. The overall goal is to continue turning Real Madrid into a title-winning and revenue-generating machine.
The few who know him also describe him as a rather cold-blooded man with a penchant for power and money and one hell of an ego. Given the above described, more consistent. When it comes to football and business, YAS don’t have feelings. If the player doesn’t want to extend, there’s no question of kneeling down in front of him to convince him. For example, it was he who managed the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018, raised his voice against Jorge Mendes and demanded a bid of 100 million euros to agree to sell the Portuguese star. It was he who was interested in the intense documents like Iker Casillas or Sergio Ramos, who, despite being a monument of the club, did not give in to their demands in the new contract negotiations. If Real Madrid have a reputation for ending their stories badly with their legends, it’s largely because of that YAS.
Successes, but also mistakes
Although Real Madrid is exploring trophies, its management sometimes makes a series of blunders. Thus, José Ángel Sánchez was chosen by Madrid public opinion several times in many cases. It was he who pushed Rafa Benitez to take over the team in June 2015. With the success we know, the Spaniard was relieved of his duties in the middle of the season and replaced by Zinedine Zidane. That summer also saw the botched transfer of David de Gea due to a red tape issue and late delivery of documents. Many also pointed the finger when FIFA banned the reigning European champions from joining the team in 2016 due to irregularities in the transfer of underage players. In 2016, he also came close to losing his job over the Bettoni affair. The latter did not yet have the qualifications to work as Zidane’s assistant, and Real Madrid finally got away with it without great results.
The former SEGA player has been at the center of some scandals, especially in the mid-2010s when some leaks hinted that Sánchez wanted to privatize the club in a way by ending this operation of socios whose leaders had to return. Accounts to supporters. So you can run the club like any other multinational, answering only to the shareholders. There was also a dark commission affair with the bookmaker’s office, which was the club’s former sponsor Bwinthis earned him a lot of criticism, so much so that often, internally, Perez was one of the few people at the club responsible for defending him. “He is and will be the best manager in the history of football”Florentino Perez himself concluded in the interview Chiringuito. It should also be noted that there was never any conflict or clash between the two people, at least according to what was written in the press. Given the club’s recent success, we imagine so YAS the risk of having a designated office in the Bernabeu offices for a while…
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