In the wake of a hugely disappointing campaign that was compounded by arch rivals Barcelona walking off with an historic treble, Madrid knew they had plenty of work to do this summer to close the gap not only on Pep Guardiola's all-conquering team, but also a number of other sides.

The fact that Madrid were no longer considered to be among the very elite of European football - they had failed to get beyond the last 16 of the Champions League in any of the last five seasons - grated on Perez and during his election campaign he made clear his goal to get the fallen giants back to the top of the pile.

He also promised a "spectacular project" with "great players and a great coach" to achieve that aim. And having presided over the famous 'galacticos' policy when during his previous tenure he spent huge amounts on the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo, nobody would have dismissed his latest comments as simply election hyperbole.

And the returning president has wasted no time in putting his words into deeds.

Just 24 hours after returning to the post he previously held from 2000-06, Perez presented Manuel Pellegrini as the team's new coach, and then a week later Madrid had secured the services of Brazil superstar Kaka.

Persuading AC Milan to part with the jewel in their crown reportedly cost Madrid a massive 68 million euros (£59million), but the Spanish giants now look on the verge of swamping that fee with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Manchester United have accepted what would be a world-record £80million offer for the Portugal international, and Madrid hope they can agree terms with the player and complete the move in the coming days.

If there are no complications, and the fact that Ronaldo has never hidden his desire to one day play for Madrid suggests there should not be many, then it will have taken Perez little over a fortnight to achieve what the nine-times European champions have failed to do in the previous three years - get Kaka and Ronaldo.

Kaka was one of the election pledges of Ramon Calderon when he was voted into power in 2006, while for the last two years there has barely been a day go by without Madrid being linked to Ronaldo.

Madrid upped their efforts to land Ronaldo last year, but not only did they fail to do so but they soured their relationship with United in the process, culminating in Sir Alex Ferguson famously stating they would not sell the Iberian outfit "a virus".

Perez, who masterminded the arrival of David Beckham from Old Trafford in 2003, immediately stated his intention to try to smooth over any existing problems with United though, saying: "I shall be talking with Ferguson and [chief executive] David Gill to build bridges.

"If one day there is a chance of [Ronaldo] playing for Real Madrid, that would be an honour for us.

"But if I had to choose between the friendship with Manchester United and the signing of Ronaldo, I would choose the friendship."

Those bridges appear now to have been mended, although the astronomical transfer fee is sure to have played a significant part in that.

If, as expected, Ronaldo completes his switch to the Bernabeu then it means Perez will have sanctioned four of the most expensive signings in history, having also brought in Figo (£37million), Zidane (£46million) and Kaka.

The expenditure is not set to end with the £139million spent on Ronaldo and Kaka either, with the likes of Valencia trio David Villa, David Silva and Raul Albiol, Liverpool's Xabi Alonso and Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery all being linked with the club.

It remains to be seen which of those players end up at Madrid but, if the last fortnight is anything to go by, we are likely to find out the answer to that sooner rather than later as Perez wastes no time flexing his financial muscle.