REAL MADRID will chase the signature of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United this summer as eagerly as they did that of David Beckham because they want to rebuild the club’s image and economy around the Portugal forward, their president-in-waiting Florentino Perez said yesterday.

“Madrid should have brought Cristiano Ronaldo as Beckham’s replacement two years ago,” said Perez, who as Madrid president hired Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Brazil’s Ronaldo and Luis Figo before stepping down.

Perez is the overwhelming favourite, and may even be the only candidate, to return as Madrid president next month. His strategy to reposition the club among Europe’s elite clubs depends, he said, on once again bringing in the most glamorous footballers in the world. He will pay extravagant fees for them on the principle that they guarantee high income.

“There are specific footballers who can turn out to be very profitable, because of the commercial benefits they bring the club,” said Perez. “For instance, we once brought in €15m for playing two matches in Japan. That would not happen in the current climate but they did it then because we had Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham.”

The Real Madrid team of that era became known as the galacticos, popular on pre-season tours and with television executives, although the quartet of stars won no trophies together as a team, hastening Perez’s resignation in 2006.

Perez, a construction magnate, hopes his business model will nevertheless appeal to Madrid members who have just watched rivals Barcelona sweep up in style the major trophies of the season. “When Beckham arrived,” said Perez, “our sponsors significantly raised their payments to us and we rescued the finances of the club. What happened in the last few years is that the club did not reinvest in the type of players to continue with that model. I want to put that right.”

He cited the appeal of Ronaldo to sponsors: “If Cristiano Ronaldo comes in, we would have a Nike-endorsed player putting on an adidas shirt every week. In the previous time, we established a model which allowed us to pay off our debts and raise our income, and we did it by investing in great players. They brought money in, the model worked.”

Perez has been advised that his predecessor, Ramon Calderon, negotiated a deal in principle to bring Ronaldo to Madrid this summer if Manchester United received £80m for the transfer. Perez is aiming to pay substantially less by encouraging Ronaldo to press United for his release. Expecting the saga to drag on through various stages of haggling, he hopes to present the Brazilian Kaka, whom Milan have indicated they would sell, to his constituents as the first of his new galacticos.

Perez said more than one superstar was needed because the club had lost momentum: “I won’t suggest that Beckham did not have to leave in 2007 or that Zidane did not have to in 2006, but we should then have brought in Kaka and Ronaldo.”