Valencia and Levante, the drama that looms if no one tackles it
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Mary, she won’t arrive by the end of the month, but I’ll buy a mink fur coat in installments.” Keep reading and you will understand me. There are two clubs in Valencia that almost shake hands. One of the Valencia players has been flirting with relegation to 2 since 22/23. The other, Levante UD landed on 21/22. Relegation to Division 2 is always a drama, of course, but if the team that is relegated has a mid-table or European team spending structure, the problem will be multiple… They multiply a lot. Liga to mitigate this effect, relegation assistance was invented, in order for the team that was relegated to receive additional income in Division 2. Usually this figure is in the range of 30-40 million euros.
Levante Aude landed and in his first year on the 2nd (22/23) he did not climb with a bald man’s hair. The president, Kiko Catalunya, a man of undeniable success Levante UD (usually a team of 2 or 2B) who spent 11 seasons in 1 of his 13 as president, made a decision, when the team was relegated in June 2022, which was to keep the bulk of the 1st Division in the 2nd. And he did this for two reasons. The first is that when a team drops from 1 to 2, the team’s cost limit drops angrily and you become a club governed by club rules that have been exceeded: if you sell players you can only sign a small part of the savings and the net profit of the transfer. That is, if you weaken yourself, you cannot strengthen yourself as much as you would like. The second is because theoretically with a staff of 1 in 2 the logical thing would be to promote more easily. Levante remained millimeters away from promotion, but did not promote on 22/23. It came out black, not red. If the bet is positive, then Levante will not have any of the serious problems that they are facing today.
Remember that the year after you do not climb, you no longer receive help to descend (30-40 kilograms) and this kills you. Then you really have to sell quickly, run and almost abandon the players. And yet it still does not reach you. Koiko Katal Ermen resigned after not being promoted and a friend of his, a colleague on the board of directors, named Gus ermenfila, took the bull. A conservative man, very hardworking, a successful businessman in his sector (luxury fur), far from football vanity which already cost this party more than 22 million euros, when he just wanted to invest at most 10. Moreover, he does not have the full power of the club because he owns only 37%, which is the same percentage as the Levante Foundation, an entity that is just a representative of the Valencian Community, but this does not put money. At the moment, Levante has a very serious wardrobe problem. It does not arrive at the end of the month or at the very beginning. Until a few days ago, I did not have salaries paid in the amount of 1.7 million euros. To finish the season, they will need at least 15 million euros, which De auchenfella no longer wants, cannot or should not put and is looking for an investor to put in exchange for a % of the club.
Meanwhile, another red or black ball is approaching. He sold, in January, some players to be able to come in and loosen the box or not to do so so as not to weaken the team that is too close to the promotion zone. “With my permission they will not sell any player, “” said the brave coach Calero, but if you do not sell someone may not collect salaries. And if they sell Levante and do not promote it, they will not get out of the vicious circle, until someone comes to pump money and buy another part of the club, with which the romance to which Levante belongs to the Valencian levantinista will end.
At least d’auschenfila is coherent and works without castles in the air on realistic, solid and forward-looking solutions, even if they are uncomfortable. At the moment, the club is desperately looking for an investment fund that will lend them 5 million euros at 11-12% with a guarantee of future sales to be able to save the problem for two or three months. But this is a short-term temporary solution. The fact is that either the club will go up or part of the club will have to be sold to another investor who agrees to invest money: either from Valencia or from Korea. The opposite is Valencia, a club whose economic dimension is almost double and at the moment has a real scenario with the possibility of relegation.
The club despite the huge spending cuts made by the owner because it is already the fifth season that the team does not play in Europe, still opens the working window on 24/25 with 116 million expenses and 100 million revenues. Of these 100, more than half (54) are from the TV, which will fall and be exchanged for the 35 that I calculated they touch to help land. All this without taking into account the low income by sponsors (21 million) and relying on the 37,000 season ticket holders contributing 16 million to the club (in the first) that will be preserved. In an optimistic calculation, it can reach 70 million in initial income compared to 116 million in expenses. And the club has a few players left to sell to get cut: Mosquera and if anything Javi Guerra devalued. If the club is not promoted in the first season, then its viability is very difficult. Bankruptcy will look out the window. If you are promoted to the first season and with player sales you cover the imbalance of 45-50 million you can get around the Big Bad Wolf. But if you were not promoted in the first season… Oofvvv.
Well, in the midst of all this, the club announces on the one hand that it will not make signings because it has almost no fair-play slot for signing. On the other hand, next January 12, he will begin work on his new stadium, which has been discontinued for 15 years. To finish it, they say that it will cost 190 million plus VAT between construction and the obligations associated with moving the stadium. They say they will pay for it with a loan of up to 325 million euros managed by Goldman Sachs. In fact the club has 80 million outstanding to spend from the C loan. The rest, amounting to 190 + VAT, must be generated from the sale of assets, especially the rehabilitated plot of land (for 600 apartments and a shopping center) for the existing stadium, once demolished, an office and commercial tower and a hotel next to the new stadium. But the club cannot receive this income until the new stadium is completed. And to finish it he needs money. To talk about these figures: a loan of up to 325 million, with the annual fee that would entail, the work of 190 + VAT and start on January 12 when you do not know whether you’re going to be in the 1st or 2nd, can only be part of the scenario of the Netflix series, or the irresponsibility of the largest shareholder, who also already made it clear that he does not lend and does not put more money in his club.
The anniversary of the club’s 23/24 accounting season, they recorded that in January they had to urgently request another loan policy from the rights and Media Fund for 20 million euros because they choked. And in a hidden but curious section it is mentioned that even the cameras in the club are rented. And in the midst of all this, no one is for a snowball. This only makes sense if the club is sold or sold and the next new owner is behind all this, prepared with a checkbook. And in this case, I do not understand that they have not already given the order to urgently strengthen the team, because if the Valencia club is relegated, Lim will not sell it for the 400 he wants, the stadium will not finish it and if he started it he will have to stop it… And Levante, perhaps, will save the match ball, but the Valencia club may fall on the track, face up, from the blow he will receive. There are enough warnings that economic drama is coming. Let’s see if you have learned anything, everyone.
