Atletico Madrid’s maximum shareholder Miguel Angel Gil Marin says the team must come first before any tax debts are paid.
Los Rojiblancos owe more to the Inland Revenue than any other club in Spain, with the debt exceeding €210m according to latest figures, although La Voz de Galicia maintains La Liga sources put it at around €150m.
However, the recipe for success, with Atleti prioritising sporting interests over economic ones, was revealed by Marin [pictured, right] in an interview with Radio COPE’s El Partido de las 12 programme.
“Atletico can afford to have players like [Radamel] Falcao, yet it’s also true that these players need to be competing in the Champions League, which is what allows the club to have sufficient income for budget stability
“Otherwise we have to take very, very big risks. The President and I could take these risks but they are unnecessary,” explained Marin, who admitted the club needed an income of around €30m per season to remain within budget.
Nonetheless, he admitted there had been offers for players including star striker Falcao, with some clubs prepared to pay the €60m buyout clause in his contract, although they had been rejected despite it resulting in an economic imbalance for Atleti.
“We have had offers for Filipe [Luis], Adrian [Lopez], [Diego] Godin, [Joao] Miranda, Falcao and Arda [Turan], but we understand there are players we don’t want to leave under any circumstances, so we have taken risks in that way.
“We fail when trying to do cash business with others, which will lead us to having a tough year, but sporting interests must come before economics.”
