The numbers that explain Valencia’s abyss: no investment, with 163 million in sales and a squad stunted by television revenue

Bottom with one point. Valencia The team is once again living on the edge of the abyss, proving that the ease with which it achieved salvation last season, and even the dream of returning to Europe, were a mirage in the desert. It is not the first time that the team has been last, but only in seven of the 92 seasons it has been in a row. First Division has reached the sixth day at the bottom of the table. The distant look towards Mestalla He warns that it is still early, that the season has just started and there is room for improvement –“It’s a bit dramatic to talk about finals now”Baraja warned ahead of the match against Girona, but the Valencian fans know who has put the slide on the team’s path to slip down and that the risk of relegation is once again very present.

Valencia has not won since April 1512 games in the course of two seasons and a streak that he had not had since the one that took him to Second in 1986. These are the symptoms of a disease that has been causing 40.8% of their matches are defeats. The reason is the abandonment of Peter Lim.

The majority shareholder does not want to continue supporting the club. In December 2022, he made his last contribution: another loan of 35 million which add up to a total of 190 since it bought the majority shareholding in 2014, and which it has been capitalizing. Without assistance, with 60% of the turnover is allocated to paying debt and a deficit of 24 million to start each year, Sports investment has almost disappeared and this is reflected in the field. With the accounts strangled, the team has shrunk.

Valencia is the LaLiga club with Greater balance between sales and purchases in the last five years: 162.90 million profit. Betis follows at a great distance with 99.95. Although the value of its squad is sixth due to the emergence of youth players such as Javi Guerra, Diego López or Mosquera and the growth of bets such as Mamardashviliis becoming cheaper every year in costs and scrupulously adjusts to the television revenue: from 84.6 in the 20/21 season, now without Europe, we have dropped to the current 60. Even so, it is unsustainable.

While historic rivals such as Atlético de Madrid have catapulted themselves thanks to a string of Champions League appearances and capital increases subscribed by their majority shareholders, Valencia have only played in the top competition three times since Peter Lim arrived: in 2015/16 with Nuno and the two to which Marcelino García Toral took them, 17/18 and 18/19. Both were the ones with the highest budgets and most expensive squads.

Now the club cannot even come close to those figures, nor even dream of signing players like them. Its reality should lead it to move between ninth and eleventh, but if it slips, the precipice is closer.

The question that the people of Mestalla are asking themselves is How long will this “contingency plan” last? Whatever it takes Peter Lim to find a buyer for his majority stake or, if he continues at the helm, his executives in Valencia estimate that The investment can only be increased two years after the new stadium is inaugurated.

If Valencia starts the works on the field on January 12, as it has promised with the City Council in order not to lose the licenses and the urban benefits, they will be 30 months of construction and could be operational for the 27/28 season.

The club must first obtain 120 million euros in financing to restructure its debt and meet the costs of the works. To do this, it has put itself in the hands of, like Barça, Betis and Sevilla, Goldman Sachs.

The Singapore tap is closed and they survive on sales that the market does not make easy. This translates into no signings. This season the deferred sale of Mamardashvili to Liverpool has been closed, but retaining Mosquera or Javi Guerra has been sold as an achievement, despite the fact that he had one foot in Atlético de Madrid.

That’s why only Luis has been invested in Rioja (around two million) and in the loans of the winger Germán Valera (Atlético), the Argentine media Barrenechea (Aston Villa) and the unknown Belgian centre-back Maximilian Caufriez (Clermont Foot).

The star addition, sought after and desired by Rubén Baraja, was that of Rafa Mirwhose arrest for alleged sexual abuse has shaken the locker room at the worst possible time.

Support for Barajas

The poor numbers and the risk that lies ahead do not diminish confidence in Baraja. Out of conviction and pure necessity. The coach isrenewed for two seasons last June and the club’s accounts do not allow for a dismissal. In addition, as a Valencia legend, Mestalla believes in the coach and that serves as a guarantee shieldBaraja is the main voice that is heard and, although he is a realist, he never speaks out against property.

The challenge he faces is the most difficult since he took over. He needs to get his players, a very young and uneven squad, to regain confidence in order to start scoring points. Two years ago he worked a miracle, now he has two opportunities in one week against Girona y health to begin to straighten the path before the stands tremble more.

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