He later signed Ruud van Nistelrooy from Manchester United and Mahamadou Diarra from Lyon, as well as delivering on his promise to acquire Robben from Chelsea.

A yearlong loan swap deal was also concluded with José Antonio Reyes from Arsenal moving to Real Madrid in exchange for Júlio Baptista.

Before the start of the 2008–09 season, Calderón tried to bring Cristiano Ronaldo to the club, but failed in doing so as the player wanted to stay one more year at Manchester United.

While at the helm, he strengthened Real Madrid's social responsibility programs as well as the activities of its foundation (where he is currently a member of the board) opening several academies around the world to help children improve their lives.

Currently, he workes in his law office in Madrid where he has been practising during 40 years, and participates regularly on TV and Radio Football Programs in Spain and abroad (beIN Sports, BBC, Sky Sports, Talksport, ESPN, SiriuxRadio, Newsweek and others) On 16 January 2009 and after many pressures, Calderón decided to resign as Real Madrid president following allegations of vote-rigging for the confirmation for the financial budget.