Florentino Perez and Real Madrid's story began in 2000, when he was elected president after signing Barcelona's Luis Figo.

To entice the Portuguese winger away from their arch-rivals, Florentino, who was running for presidency at the time, drafted a groundbreaking civil contract with Figo, which included a penalty fee of 30 million euros.

That was the sum that the future president publicly promised to pay if he failed to sign the Barcelona star, who, in turn, would be responsible if he backed out and stayed at the Camp Nou.

Why did Florentino take such a risk? He did it because the deal's large compensation fee effectively forced Figo to join the club.

Vicente Montes, an international expert in sports law who was involved in the process and spoke to MARCA about the current situations involving Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, was involved in this process.

Can Real Madrid sign Mbappe and Haaland?

Montes has worked with Florentino Perez before and believes that Real Madrid president has already agreed to sign Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

"I am willing to bet everything that he is already signed Mbappe," Montes said.

"Haaland appears to be a better player in two seasons, or so the rumor goes, but yes."

"I am aware that City want a No.9 after the Kane fiasco in 2021, and they appear to be financially strong enough to beat Real Madrid in this race."

Figo's transfer to Real Madrid

Montes explained how Real Madrid and Figo's ground-breaking contract was drafted in the first place.

"About three months before the elections, the process was started," Montes said.

"I was contacted by Paulo Futre and Jose Veiga, Figo's agent. Paulo had already asked me to research whether a player could be signed in a specific way without telling me anything about the club or the player.

"It was only hours before the meeting that I found out it was about Real Madrid and Figo."