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Valencia may be forced to sell players to resolve the club's dire
financial problems, the Primera Liga side's new chief executive Javier
Gomez has revealed.
Gomez was promoted to CEO after a board meeting on Wednesday and
Spanish media reported it was with the support of Spanish bank Bancaja,
the club's major creditor owed 240m euros out of a total debt of around
450m euros.
Bancaja refused to comment on dealings with a client and Valencia have declined to answer questions about their finances.
"The club is in a very delicate situation. It has to control spending,
grow income and sell assets," Gomez told a news conference on Wednesday
evening.
Valencia's prize assets include Spain striker David Villa and international team mate David Silva.
Gomez did not rule out player sales when asked.
"Obviously we will consider that type of action," he said. "We have to
control costs and the biggest cost in a football club is maintaining a
team."
President Vicente Soriano will continue in the post and he denied he had had his powers trimmed with the promotion of Gomez.
Soriano replaced Juan Soler as president last July but his plans to
sell the land around the Mestalla to help finance the move to a new
stadium that is under construction have not come through.
Valencia, twice Champions League finalists, have been forced to delay
payments to their players and construction work on the new stadium has
also stopped.
Gomez added: "Before, we had a plan that was based purely on selling
the land, now we need to seek alternatives. We need to win back
credibility with the financial institutions."
However, Gomez was unable to give a date for when the money owed to the
players would be paid. Spanish media reported the figure was 15 million
euros.
Valencia's financial problems have been accompanied by a dip in form.
They are out of the UEFA Cup and the King's Cup, which they won last
year, and have slipped down to sixth in the league.
A recent study of Primera Liga club accounts, based on the 2006/7
figures, concluded that many were living beyond their means and that
the global economic crisis would push some towards insolvency unless
they changed the way they operated.
Jose Maria Gay, a professor at the University of Barcelona, calculated
the combined debt of the 20 clubs in Spain's top division in 2006/7 was
2.78 billion euros.
financial problems, the Primera Liga side's new chief executive Javier
Gomez has revealed.
Gomez was promoted to CEO after a board meeting on Wednesday and
Spanish media reported it was with the support of Spanish bank Bancaja,
the club's major creditor owed 240m euros out of a total debt of around
450m euros.
Bancaja refused to comment on dealings with a client and Valencia have declined to answer questions about their finances.
"The club is in a very delicate situation. It has to control spending,
grow income and sell assets," Gomez told a news conference on Wednesday
evening.
Valencia's prize assets include Spain striker David Villa and international team mate David Silva.
Gomez did not rule out player sales when asked.
"Obviously we will consider that type of action," he said. "We have to
control costs and the biggest cost in a football club is maintaining a
team."
President Vicente Soriano will continue in the post and he denied he had had his powers trimmed with the promotion of Gomez.
Soriano replaced Juan Soler as president last July but his plans to
sell the land around the Mestalla to help finance the move to a new
stadium that is under construction have not come through.
Valencia, twice Champions League finalists, have been forced to delay
payments to their players and construction work on the new stadium has
also stopped.
Gomez added: "Before, we had a plan that was based purely on selling
the land, now we need to seek alternatives. We need to win back
credibility with the financial institutions."
However, Gomez was unable to give a date for when the money owed to the
players would be paid. Spanish media reported the figure was 15 million
euros.
Valencia's financial problems have been accompanied by a dip in form.
They are out of the UEFA Cup and the King's Cup, which they won last
year, and have slipped down to sixth in the league.
A recent study of Primera Liga club accounts, based on the 2006/7
figures, concluded that many were living beyond their means and that
the global economic crisis would push some towards insolvency unless
they changed the way they operated.
Jose Maria Gay, a professor at the University of Barcelona, calculated
the combined debt of the 20 clubs in Spain's top division in 2006/7 was
2.78 billion euros.
