VALENCIA FOOTBALL CLUB IS AT RISK OF BANKRUPTCY

The liquidity problems are forcing the Spanish football club with a century history to take extraordinary measures. Recently, the club's management has offered its players participating in the 2019-2020 season to get salaries not by the bank transfer, but with the bank-bills.

It is assumed that each of the players will be able to cash the bills out starting from September 2020.

It is known that the meeting between the financial director of the club and the players took place last Monday. And although the players were told that this measure was forced, this did not add much optimism to them. The club explains this step by a drop in income due to the sporting results of the last season, as well as the consequences of the pandemic.

The bills will expire within a year, but players will be able to receive them in two weeks.

We should recall that the previous season was marked by disappointing results for Valencia. The team of “bats” found itself in the ninth place of the Spanish championship, despite the most expensive composition of the team. Russian player Denis Cheryshev is fighting for the football club as well. The crisis that Valencia is going through forced the team to say goodbye to Daniel Parejo and Francis Coquelin - two players with the highest salaries.

The informed sources of the club itself indicate that the payment of salaries with the bank-bills is a normal world practice, which is supported by the club and no additional guarantees from financial institutions are required for this. However, not everyone agrees with this.

The chief financial officer, Inma Ibanez, had to make a special visit to the town of Paterna, go to the changing room and meet the athletes before training to explain all the details of the payment mechanism. The president of the club, Anil Murti, as we know, was not present at the meeting. He explained the situation with the club in general terms back on Saturday, on the eve of the meeting.

The players refused form the new form of payments, fearing that the bills were not backed by real money.

The players are currently being convinced that the club managed to reach an agreement with the bank - the lending institution is allegedly ready to be responsible for the players’ payments in case they want to discount the bank – bills before their expiration date. According to experts, if an agreement with the players is not reached, the club will face a complete bankruptcy.

Recently, a number of Spanish media has reported that the club is obliged to return € 38 million to its main shareholder. However, the press service of the sports club hastened to deny this information via Twitter. The official representatives stated that the rumors about the club's financial problems were greatly exaggerated, and the money was indeed provided by the shareholder as financial aid during the pandemic.