A TIMEBOMB is ticking at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The return of Florentino Perez as president of Real Madrid heralds the unveiling of Galacticos Mark II - spearheaded by the signings of Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema for a total of £178.5 million ($422m).

Back with a vengeance, Perez is still targeting the purchase of two more players - believed to be Franck Ribery and Xabi Alonso - and in his own words, is attempting to condense a three-year plan into one.

This jaw-dropping mass acquisition of megastars has already prompted suggestions of invincibility in the coming season.

But could Los Merengues be defeated from within?

Factoring in the cheaper new signing of Raul Albiol, and the exit of five players, Real Madrid now have an inflated squad size of 29.

And the alarm bells have already started to ring in the president's ears.

'Now we need to calm down a little because squads usually have around 25 players and ours now has some 35...As to new signings, I think with two more, we would have sufficient,' Perez said in true Imelda Marcos fashion after reflecting on his summer shopping spree.

Back at the Bernabeu, the head honcho would also be greeted by six fuming Dutchmen, who won't particularly appreciate the prospect of playing second fiddle to their new team-mates.

For sale

Already, Perez has signalled his intentions to get rid of his Dutch deadweight by transfer-listing the entire contingent of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Royston Drenthe, Rafael van der Vaart, and more surprisingly, the young trio of Arjen Robben, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Wesley Sneijder.

English Premier League clubs can look forward to the Great Dutch Discount after Real Madrid reportedly faxed a list of players for sale to several Premier League clubs.

The Spanish giants are also desperately looking to reduce their wage bill - Sneijder, Drenthe, Robben and Van Nistelrooy already account for well over £10m a year in wages - as well as the number of non-Spanish players in their squad and to bring in funds to supplement their transfer strategy.

The flair and creativity of Robben and Sneijder, the technical ability of Drenthe and Van der Vaart, plus the sheer prolificacy of Huntelaar and Van Nistelrooy should make it easy for the sextet to attract bids.

But almost inevitably, interested parties will begin to test Real's resolve with 'how low can you go' bids.

This Dutch dilemma represents a tremendously sticky situation for Perez ahead of the new season.

He must decide whether to continue funding a ridiculous amount for an extremely talented bunch of sulking bench-warmers and risk team morale, or to sell them at a loss and regret it should any of the Galacticos suffer a long-term injury.

It could turn out to be a Real Mad season after all.