Florentino Perez wanted to turn Real Madrid’s home into the most magical place on Earth (Picture: Getty Images)
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez hatched a plan to move the club to a theme park called RealMadridLand, holding talks with Disney over his controversial idea, it has been revealed years later.
A new book called ‘Messi vs Ronaldo’, by Jonathan Clegg and Joshua Robinson has claimed that Perez started the ball rolling on his wild idea during the 2017-18 season.
The idea was spawned due to Perez fearing that Real Madrid could not compete with the wealth of the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, so started thinking outside the box.
Perez met the former CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner, to get the opinion of a leading expert in the field, as he hoped to put Real Madrid’s training ground and stadium in the middile of a theme park.
One specific detail of the plans which has emerged is a Zinedine Zidane-themed rollercoaster which would resemble the volley he scored in the 2002 Champions League final.
Zinedine Zidane’s Champions League final volley could have been the basis of a rollercoaster (Picture: Getty Images)
The book states that the idea was first thought of as far back as 2004, but became more of a reality over a decade later.
The plot was given the nod of approval by the Disney chiefs, but they advised Real that it would cost an absolutely enormous amount of money, an amount which they could not afford and it did not get off the ground.
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RealMadridLand never got off the ground.