Real Madrid's Summer Spending Spree

It's been well documented the amount of money Real Madrid have paid out during this summer's transfer period for Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo...how much have they spent overall? This isn't an official list, but it's probably fairly accurate:

Player	Transfer Fee	Former Club
Kaka	$90.9M	Internazionale
Cristiano Ronaldo	$131.5M	Manchester United
Karim Benzema	$48.9M	Lyon
Raul Albiol	$21M	Valencia

That's $292.3 million if you need help with the math. That doesn't include Rafael van der Vaart or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar for a combined $46 million who came to Madrid last summer and winter. Nor does it include Franck Ribery's asking price as he has requsted a transfer from Bayern Munich.

That's alot of spending at one club, even for a giant like Real Madrid. Perhaps they haven't been paying attention to other giants like Liverpool and Manchester United who are both struggling to make loan repayments for the players that they've bought over the years. Or maybe they've been spending too much time fantasizing about having the resources that Manchester City now has.

One thing is for certain though...there's going to be a Who's Who listing of big time footballers on the pitch at the Bernabéu this season and watching their football could truely be a beautiful thing as long as it all gels together.