Out of Play
Real Madrid lose £350million naming rights for Bernabeu
REAL MADRID has lost a £350million stadium naming rights deal, and must now sell top stars to fund their summer revolution.
Florentino Perez is desperate to bring in some big-name stars as Los Blancos look to recover from a disastrous campaign.
And the plan had been to finance the spending spree from this naming rights deal, agreed with oil and gas multinational Cespa.
They were given the licence to begin redevelopment work on the Bernabeu last, which would include covering the ground and a new retractable roof.
The deal, which was agreed in 2014, would have been the biggest in football history.
However, it has now definitively ended because Cespa believe the project has now been down scaled, and the time frame has not been met.
Real Madrid are now frantically searching for a new sponsor.
But this news has seriously harmed their chances of landing Harry Kane, Eden Hazard or Neymar in the summer — unless they sell the likes of Karim Benzema or Cristiano Ronaldo.
The reigning European champions have not made a “Galactico” signing since landing James Rodriguez from Monaco in 2014.
However, with the Champions League the only trophy available to the club at the halfway stage, a summer overhaul has been anticipated.