“The Premier and Saudi Arabia distort the reality of the market”
MADRID, 4 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The CEO of Atlético de Madrid, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, has assured that they hope to “close the departure of at least two players” in order to “hire a midfielder” in this transfer market, in addition to stating that the Premier League and Arabia Saudi “distort the reality of the market”.
“I think we have a good team. This team, improved with the additions in defense that we have made, will compete with everyone, as it has been doing for many years now. Our idea is to hire a midfielder who reinforces this area of the field, as well as close the departure of at least two players that allow us to hire that midfielder and balance our cost of staff within the financial control of LaLiga”, he said in an extensive interview with the club’s official media.
In addition, he explained that the coronavirus pandemic “radically changed the transfer market”, and that the Premier League is the only league that has recovered. “(In the Premier) quite a few clubs budget to give losses, losses that are financed by shareholders, shareholders who understand that these losses are investments that give more value to the clubs. These losses are the consequence of paying high salaries and transfers,” analyzed.
“The Premier League and the new market of Saudi Arabia distort the reality of the market and this makes our management difficult. Football is evolving as an attractive sector for large investors, and this is proven by the investment in the purchase of clubs by funds American investment funds, as well as the sovereign wealth funds of Middle Eastern countries”, he continued, assuring that the Asian country “has neither our taxation on the payment of players, nor economic control by part of its League”. “It has created an environment that is really difficult to decipher in the short term, due to the uncertainty and doubts that it creates in players who are always looking to secure their future and that of their families,” he said.
On the other hand, Gil Marín described last season as “good” but “irregular”. “The second round had numbers to have fought for the title, which means that the sports planning was successful and the squad was good and balanced,” he said. “We qualified again for the Champions League, which means that we are one of the only seven clubs that have done so consecutively in the last decade,” he added, explaining that on an economic level they have finished “very close to equilibrium in the income statement”.
He also highlighted the Ciudad del Deporte concession on the land adjacent to the stadium. “This city will make Atlético de Madrid the club with the best and most diverse facilities in Europe, concentrated in the same location,” he explained. “Having a sports city was already a wish of Don Vicente Calderón, after my father, and it has been now when it has been achieved. Beyond the headquarters of Majadahonda and Alcalá de Henares, the club already has the land granted and the necessary financing for the construction of a High Performance Center, which will have five soccer fields and a mini stadium with a capacity for 5,000 people”, he stated, noting that there will be “non-traditional sports and leisure facilities”.
In another order of things, the rojiblanco president valued the team’s tour of Korea, Mexico and the United States. “The first team needs to have two initial weeks of demanding sports preparation between Madrid and Los Ángeles de San Rafael, complemented by another two weeks in which to combine training sessions with four matches against top-level rivals. Along with this sports planning, we also have to think about generating an economic income, necessary for our budget,” he said.
“And finally, we seek to strengthen our presence at an international level, since soccer is the great sport for the global masses, and Atlético de Madrid cannot renounce that globality if we want to continue competing with the other important clubs in world soccer” he added.
Regarding the current situation of football, the mattress president assured that the fans, especially the youngest, “demand a different way of experiencing the events.” “They want to participate, they want to have fun, they want to interact and, above all, they want to mix the sport itself with other shows. It is our obligation to adapt to this new way of offering our content. It is necessary for the fan to live an experience that they can share live with their friends through social media,” he said.
“They must be able to see and hear conversations between players, between players and coaches, be able to enter a locker room, be able to ask the players… In short, feel that they are part of the show. This is something that is being done in other sports such as Formula 1, basketball, American football, tennis, and we must learn from all the good things they have and incorporate it into our sport. Only in this way will we be able to retain the loyalty of an entire generation that demands a change from us,” he continued.
Gil Marín also valued the Super League project, from which Atlético de Madrid left after being one of the founding clubs. “This is not about exclusivity, about restricting the activity to a few. On the contrary, it is about globality, about everyone participating; large, medium and small clubs, with their fans. The big ones will reach more fans, both face-to-face in their stadiums , such as audiovisuals through their devices, but everyone must be able to do it. We must make football more attractive, more spectacular,” he said.
“It’s hard for fans to understand that a game ends 0-0. There are certain audiences that don’t understand that if the goal is the essence of this sport, the only one capable of unleashing passion, euphoria and frustration, how is it possible that a match ends without a goal? I think that rather than thinking about making our sport something almost exclusive to a few, even though we are the most important, we should think about integrating everyone and even considering changing some rules so that the show is more attractive,” he continued.
Thus, he considers that UEFA has changed the format of the ‘Champions’ “to accommodate everyone”. “It is up to FIFA to change the rules to try to improve the show. And to us, the clubs, to LaLiga, it is up to us to promote improvement in the facilities and digitize them to improve the experiences of the fans”, he pointed out.
Finally, he pointed out that LaLiga’s agreement with CVC provides “improvement and digitization”. “We must also modify the audiovisual product to allow fans to get even deeper into the show, changing rooms, pitch, technical talks… All of us who are part of football must work together to make our sport a better show always thinking of the fan”, he concluded.