First of all, I agree that Perez is a clever and good businessman
The problem is that this is a kind of general financial skillset, and that does not always map upon an executive with football duties, which is a more specific skillset. Granted a good businessman can turn into a good football CEO, but it's not a given that this path is automatic
Now, Perez is not a good SD, he doesn't have the required knowledge, skills, etc. His buys are simplistic: galactico buys since his first day in office up until now. There is no sophistication or system on how they approach squad rebuilding with long-term vision (He is good at negotiating prices THO)
And he is not changing: there will always be his obsessions with whoever is the new upcoming galactico. Now it's Mbape, in next years there will be more
Did they work?
Someone would say: yes, look at CLs Perez won.
But CLs, as explained many times here, are dependent on a lot of variance, and more than half of the ones Perez won you could argue they were not deserved: luck, voodoo, etc
But if you look at the leagues, and domestic titles, which are far more reflective of a dynasty, which should have been expected given the investment:
- Perez did not succeed in his first stint with so many purchases to build an empire: Two LLs when Barca was in decline, and they were fighting with Valencia and Deportivo, when Barca built a good team with Rijkaard MAdrid could not compete despite the galacticos
- Then, his 2nd stint at the beginning he was totally dominated by the best team in the world, and were celebrating winning a Copa del rey LOL
Then, as Pep left and Barca declined, they won only 1 league between 2012 and 2019. That's a terrible record, given that at the same time they supposedly bossed their best CL team
- Now, after the best generation of Masia retired, and Barca is in heavy rebuilding, they are doing better: 3 league titles '20 '22 '24, but they are still far from being there. When you loses leagues to Atleti, and Barca is in such dire state, you have to be able to at least retain the title once.
The bad news, is that they might be able to do it now in the next couple of years, after the terrible decisions Laporta took, they look for the first time able to win 3 or 4 leagues in a row
-> Bottom line: I don't think his model succeeded at all. There is a reason other clubs with serious sporting department do not adopt this model, despite the money. PSG tried with Kelaifi and Leonardo, and it backfired in their face. CIty, despite the oil money (and cheating oc), do not go into this direction, they build a squad according to vision and needs
