valencia set to make profit next year

Valencia's Mata Looks Likely To Exit

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Once the tipping point is reached departures become inevitable and the slide becomes harder to arrest than ever; what starts as an emergency solution risks becoming a permanent situation, the enshrinement of inequality and the inability to compete. Handled well, the effects can be palliated but, barring a sudden shift, the trend is unavoidable. Spanish soccer has reached that tipping point. Valencia certainly have.

David Silva and David Villa had to leave Valencia. The consequences of them staying were unthinkable. Lumbered with two stadiums -- one they could not sell and one they could not afford to finishing building, standing as an empty monument to the collapse in Spain's economy and the construction industry in particular, as well as the wastefulness of the former owner -- the club faced the possibility of disappearing altogether.

Manolo Llorente, the president, had rescued Valencia with the assistance of the local government but still needed to service the debt left by predecessor Juan Soler. Silva and Villa were the key, bringing in almost €80 million ($112M) with their moves to Manchester City and Barcelona respectively.

But if the consequences of them staying were unthinkable, the consequences of them going are concerning too. The initial, crippling debt remains and will do so until Valencia can find a buyer for Mestalla and, allied to the direction that Spanish soccer has taken, that serves to eclipse the country's "other" clubs -- of which Valencia is the strongest, finishing third for the last two years. The realization of that very fact only hastens it. When Silva and Villa left, they made the departure of other players all the more probable.

The tipping point had been reached. When Silva and Villa left, Valencia rebuilt remarkably well. With a sensible plan, and led by determined, skillful negotiators, they constructed a competitive side and still had a profit in excess of €45 million ($63M). But it was not competitive enough. Valencia won the league in 2002 and 2004. This season it finished 21 points behind second placed Real Madrid. And that was an improvement on last season.

Valencia is one problem, and the debt remains a hungry one. The players, conditioned by that situation, are another. All players want to win things; good players think they have to. When you can't compete, you leave. And when you depart, the team you leave behind can compete even less. It is a vicious circle. The hierarchy of clubs gets ever more defined. So far this summer, Valencia has been among the most active clubs in the transfer window.

Dani Parejo and Diego Alves have signed already. But that is a prelude to movement in the other direction.

The man nearest the exit door is Juan Mata -- both because he wants to compete and because Valencia know that he is the player most likely to raise a sizable transfer fee. He would make a superb signing for any number of clubs joining the queue.

Mata stepped out of the shadow of Villa and Silva to become the central figure for Valencia this season. Now, someone else will have to do the same.

Last summer Barcelona were among Mata's potential destinations; this summer, England is. Liverpool is a genuine possibility. Last summer resistance was possible with Silva and Villa to sell; this year it is futile. The good news for Valencia comes in the shape of a check for around €25 million ($35M), another lifeline provided by selling off the family silver.

The price may be a little steep but Mata is worth it. The son of a soccer player, he joined Real Oviedo at 12 and Real Madrid at 15. He won the European U-19 Championships with Spain in 2006 and was second top scorer, named Player of the Tournament. The Real Madrid Castilla side he joined in Spain's Second Division included Jordi Codina, Miguel Torres, Sergio Sánchez, Javi García, Estéban Granero, Rubén de la Red (who has been forced to retire with heart trouble), Adrián, and Álvaro Negredo. All of them are First Division players, but only one of those is still at Madrid -- and Esteban Granero returned to the club after a spell at Getafe. Opportunities were limited. So Mata, too, moved on -- forcing an exit to join Valencia at 19.

And that is where he met Ronald Koeman. Koeman is not exactly popular in the East coast: when Valencia sacked coach Quique Sanchez-Flores in week nine of the 2007-08 season, it was in fourth place, just four points off the top of the table; when it finally sacked Koeman, his replacement, they were 35 points off the top and just two points clear of the relegation zone. It had secured its worst away result in 25 years, its captain had taken the club to court, and players were queuing to leave.

But Koeman was largely obliged to act as he did by Soler. And, besides, he did one good thing: he gave Mata a chance, putting him into the side on the left of a front three, cutting in from the wing and combining with David Villa.

Few had heard of him at the start of the season; by the end, he had scored twice against Barcelona on the way to winning the Copa del Rey and was a virtual ever-present after Koeman took charge, playing 24 league games and scoring five goals.

The following year, with Koeman gone but the case convincingly made, Mata scored 11 times. The year after that, five. Then, last year, nine. A World Cup win followed, as did the match ball -- "stolen" and spirited away under his shirt. That was not the only thing spirited away: so were Silva and Villa. Valencia had to sell and it had to compete. Together, they are almost the paradigm of the player that leaves La Liga's lesser lights, big teams that can't quite be big enough: either you join Madrid or Barcelona or you leave Spain altogether.

It could have derailed Mata. The men he combined with best had gone; men he got on well with off the pitch as well as on it. Instead, at 22, he took responsibility. Intelligent and instantly likable, he has studied at university and is making strides with his English. Mata has been a remarkably consistent performer in at team that has often been erratic.

Fast, skillful, and creative -- dangerous heading up the left wing or inside from the right, dashing from deeper beyond the front two -- he has an impeccable touch and swift, precise passing. As he has shown at the European U-21 championships, he can also take a more central, playmaker's role.

He scored 10 times and provided 12 assists. Only four players provided more. And those are the ones that were taken: he provided 73 assists in total last season.

At the end of the season, the soccer statisticians at Opta put together a team of the season. Mata was one of only two outfield players included to play for one of Spain's "other" clubs - the other was Santi Cazorla. The pity is that when that happens, they tend not to be playing for one of those other clubs for very much longer.

Gil wrote:You went get Mata for £20m as you've destroyed the market with the £35m & £20m Carroll and Hendo deals.

Gil wrote:You went get Mata for £20m as you've destroyed the market with the £35m & £20m Carroll and Hendo deals.

Sepi wrote:

Gil wrote:You went get Mata for £20m as you've destroyed the market with the £35m & £20m Carroll and Hendo deals.

A Chelsea fan talking about destroying the market ??

I thought you knew the English market...and Henderson value will add up to 16M....3M less than your amazing Ramires

BeautifulGame wrote:

Gil wrote:You went get Mata for £20m as you've destroyed the market with the £35m & £20m Carroll and Hendo deals.

Does this mean Chelsea wont get Modric for anything less than 60 mil as you have demolished market with 50 mil for Torres 30 mil for Luiz and 25 mil for Rameires.

Gil wrote:
LOL at this guy making up transfer prices.

Ramires was £17m (a starter Brazil)
David Luiz was £21m + Matic (one of the top 10 CB's in the World)


Torres was overpriced but prior to his Chelsea transfer he was still regarded as one of the Top 5-10 strikers in the World (only an extremely bitter Liverpool fan would deny that) and is one of the most profitable footballers in the World when it comes to marketing. The likes of Ibra & Kaka went for similar exorbitant prices.

Decent service and a proper summer's rest for the first time since 2007 & he'll be banging them in regularly.

*waits for some pleb to mention Shevchenko whilst forgetting the major difference is Torres has already done it on a consistent basis in the PL*

che wrote:not to mention that the debt is down by almost TWO HUNDRED MILLION in two years, that is astonishing

iftikhar wrote:Valencia is my favorite team in Spain and I have supported them for last 14-15 years. It's nice to see they are getting on their feet, slowly. But €4 million profit is not going to do any good when you have a debt of €370 million.

They have to keep selling players to get out of debt, which is their first priority. They can't sell the old stadium (even if they find a buyer) as that will leave homeless. So the chances of any quick fix is none.

I wonder why arn't they selling the new stadium!!! The reality of moving in there even in five years is zero.

They have a tall task, and for many years to come. Sell the best players to service the debt and buy good talents who can be sold in 2-3 years. All these while maintaining a squad that will ensure CL, year after year.

While a new (& filthy rich) owner can make the debt (or substantial part of that) go away, this is not on the horizon. Meanwhile, they must work on propping-up their revenue. At €95 million, it's not doing justice.

P.S. If Liverpool wants Mata, we will pay the fair price.

che wrote:we can and will sell the old stadium, the president extended the mortgage on mestalla until the end of next season when, if we don't find a buyer, we will hand the stadium and the land to bancaja in exchange for wiping out the ~240 mil debt we have with them... then we take out a loan to finish the new stadium and rent mestalla while the new one is getting finished

and as i said in the opening post, selling players is no longer a priority because
a) we're pretty much down to two valuable players and would be left with absolutely no marketable assets if we sold both banega and mata
b) their replacements would cost a substantial part of any received transfer fee, so in the end only a tiny amount would go towards the debt while decreasing the quality of the squad, which is pointless

Art Morte wrote:€ 4m profit on a financial year when the club sold Villa for € 40m and Silva for € 30m isn't that great, really.

Without profit from player trading, Valencia's annual revenue is between € 90-100m ( http://clubvalenciacf.blogspot.com/2011/02/valencia-cf-earns-14th-of-barcelona-and.html ) and a wage bill of € 78m is still too big for that revenue.

So I wouldn't say that Valencia CF are no longer under financial pressure to sell players, although that Villa & Silva money has given them more time to keep a hold of some players.

iftikhar wrote:@ che, I don't understand how you proved me wrong!!!

1. Yes, a profit does make you more credit worthy. But all lenders are going to look at your debts as well as the profits. So €4 millions in profit is up against €370 millions in debt.

2. The road-map for the stadiums are costly & time consuming, my points excatly.

3. Regarding players sales, no arguments but how excatly your points contradicts mine!!!

4. In the heat of the arguement, you forgot to discuss the revenue issue. I mean seriously, how many teams in CL earn that little!!!

5. Yes every clubs have debts. But it must kept at servicable level. When a club don't have enough commercial revenue, they have to liquidate assets.

I hate to see Valencia selling their players or sliding back to the hole they were in. But what you see today is the result of years of neglect.

iftikhar wrote:@ che, I don't understand how you proved me wrong!!!

1. Yes, a profit does make you more credit worthy. But all lenders are going to look at your debts as well as the profits. So €4 millions in profit is up against €370 millions in debt.

2. The road-map for the stadiums are costly & time consuming, my points excatly.

3. Regarding players sales, no arguments but how excatly your points contradicts mine!!!

4. In the heat of the arguement, you forgot to discuss the revenue issue. I mean seriously, how many teams in CL earn that little!!!

5. Yes every clubs have debts. But it must kept at servicable level. When a club don't have enough commercial revenue, they have to liquidate assets.

there is a set deal with bancaja to turn over the stadium if we don't find another buyer... and yes, the deal is set, it was supposed to happen this summer but the board decided to take the chance of one more year of finding a buyer