The last big money buy for Real Madrid was Bellingham and between the summer transfer of 2020 till date, Real Madrid has spent a total of €303.5 million on purchase of players. That's to say, in the last 5 years, Real Madrid spent this amount of money and had sales of players within this same period at €301.35 million. I'm just marveled at this because before now Real Madrid was known for spending big but now seems it has changed and it's the other teams that are the big spenders now.
I think Real Madrid are not spending big this summer because they have not found a player that will need them to spend much money on, for now Madrid are moving smart and getting the best deals possible in the market. It shouldn’t be about who spends most but who does the best deals.
Their management is quite astute in assessing the team's needs, and this, coupled with sound financial management, allows them to make occasional spending sprees and know when to stop. Real Madrid is known as a major team with sound financial standing.
They always have star players every season, and even a significant number of them. Yet, they still manage to maintain financial stability, and even though they have so many star players, it doesn't lead to internal problems like player egos. Even if they do, they are quickly resolved.