Jose Mourinho's Arrival Marks the End of Galacticos 2.0 at Real Madrid

Left to rebuild for the second consecutive season, and at the cost of two especially bitter losses to their eternal rivals in Barcelona, Real Madrid's management has apparently decided to sack current coach Manuel Pellegrini and opt for the man whose Inter Milan were the only team to hold a ravenous Barcelona at bay.

As per Madrid's wont, the Special One (as he calls himself) will be brought into the Bernabéu for a nerve-deadening fee, which could end up costing Real the upward limit of €80 million over a four-year period.

The fee is something wholly unsurprising, considering the budget busting acquisitions of Kaka and Ronaldo the year before. However, a purported clause in his contract also grants Mourinho unprecedented control over Madrid transfer policy, and with a boss in Perez singing his praises ready to rubber-stamp any number of requests, Mourinho could institute a new era in Real football.

This would represent a marked break from Madrid's typical approach to football policy, where the president builds the squad for the manager, and insists he works with the raw materials.

The new approach, however, represents something akin to what Laporta granted Josep Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain with a thicker back-pocket. Why Real decided to alter their model is ultimately a mystery, though some speculation has suggested that Perez is so sanguine with the prospects of Mourinho's coaching Madrid that he feels the need to alter the model in order to succeed. We may never know.

But rumors abound as to whom exactly Mourinho has his eyes on for the summer transfers. Before he has even put pen to paper, Mourinho is alleged to have turned in a syllabus of preferables, with names like Lampard, Maicon, and Valencia's Juan Mata and David Silva (with whom it is rumored Real have already made contact) gracing the list.

With such talent possibly being brought in, Madrid very well could have alumni from the second Galacticos on the chopping block. While Ronaldo's job is most likely safe, questions will surround a disappointing Kaka, and myriad other players.

Mourinho, to my knowledge, hasn't made any definitive comments regarding how exactly he will change the picture at Real, but with an anxious Floro and relatively proven policy in tow, another construction project is bound to be afoot in the Spanish capital, signaling the failure and inevitable end of the top-down Galacticos approach Perez made famous in the early noughts.

The quadrennial theatrics of the World Cup very well could be rivaled by yet another big splashing spending policy by Barcelona—who have already penned Villa into their squad for €40 million + incentives; and are examining their coffers for Cesc, valued by his current-squad at at least £40 million—and Madrid alike.

A question remains: How will this affect an already weakened La Liga, and Spain as a whole? Both La Liga and Spain are teetering on the brink of inescapable debt, and with the two large clubs requiring the funding of large banks in Spain, how will an instantly spent €200 million bode for a faltering economy?