PEREZ WANTS REAL DEPARTURES

Florentino Perez has admitted Real Madrid's squad is now too large and is looking to sell players before making any more signings.

Club president Perez has funded an incredible spending spree this summer, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema all arriving at the Bernabeu.

Real have been linked with other new arrivals, including Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, but Perez is more concerned about reducing numbers now the squad has crept above the Spanish limit of 25 players.

"I will not speak about specific players. We made strategic signings very quickly and that meant that we suddenly had a huge number of players with 29 here," Perez told AS.

"We are trying to find other teams for those players who will not play a lot for us, but we have not yet managed to do that.

"For any more players to come then some will have to leave. It is not a problem of money, it is the fact that we can only have 25."

Real's main rivals Barcelona have responded this week with a major signing of their own, having brought in Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan.

Perez insists he is excited by the transfer rather than intimidated, saying: "It is good for Madrid if great players join the league and Ibrahimovic is one of those.

"It is close to what we paid for Kaka and Cristiano, but I am not offended by the critics.

"That Ibrahimovic has joined is good for the league because that means that the best in the world will play here. I want to congratulate Barcelona because he will be good for them both on the sporting side and the profit side."