Barcelona are being tipped to complete a €13m deal for the Brazilian striking sensation Keirrison in the next few days. Yet the striker, on loan at Palmeiras from the obscure fourth division club Desportivo Brasil, will not come without controversy due to the nature of his imminent departure from Palmeiras to Josep Guardiola’s side.

Questions surrounding his third-party ownership by the sports marketing company Traffic and his mentality in a high pressure environment have led to concerns over his suitability to the impeccable standards set by the Catalan club.

After an excellent debut season as an 18-year-old, Keirrison, or K9 as he is nicknamed, scored 12 goals in Coritiba’s promotion drive in the second division of the Campeonato Brasileiro in 2007. Critics claimed that once regularly competing in the Brazilian Serie A, the youngster’s flaws would be more visible.

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For a billionaire director of ACS, the a construction, engineering and energy conglomerate that employs 150,000, operates in 50 countries and had revenues last year of just over €4 billion, a third of that profit, Florentino Perez does not live like one. His favourite dish consists of the exotic British fried egg and chips.

The new Real Madrid president lives in the results business, first signing AC Milan midfielder Kaka for €68m and now he looks set to break the world record of €75.1m he paid for French playmaker Zinedine Zidane by signing Cristiano Ronaldo for €94m.

Such high-profile signings come in the first few weeks of his presidency, players, who former president Ramon Calderon (now being investigated for voting irregularities) pined after for two years, failing to sign either and alienating the selling club to the extent that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said:

Do you think I would enter into a contract with that mob? No chance. I would not sell them a virus. That is a ‘no’ by the way. There is no agreement whatsoever between the clubs.

Perez is undertaking a high-risk strategy, which he hopes will multiply the club’s profit through merchandising, shirt sales, sponsorship revenue and increased ticket sales due to the high-profile image of Kaka and Ronaldo.

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