Rayo Vallecano boss Paco Jemez has criticised the quality of La Liga on the eve of the new season.
This summer has seen several Spanish players move abroad, most noticeably to the Premier League, and Jemez says it is a situation that is weakening the quality on offer in Spain.
In fact, the 43-year-old declared La Primera to be ‘not the best in the world but the third or fourth’.
“Except for Real Madrid and Barcelona all the other clubs are forced to sell their best players and that weakens our competition,” stated Jemez in an interview with radio station Union Rayo.
“The big clubs are going to get even bigger because they continue to sign the best players and the rest will get smaller because they are obliged to sell. Our League is not the best in the world, as much as it hurts me to say it.
“Although we have Barca and Madrid, it is now third or fourth best. The German, English and other Leagues that seemed like they could not overshadow us are doing exactly that.
“That’s because of the economic situation in our country and at our clubs. Everything in football is changing by necessity because of debt. Now it seems clubs are spending according to their income, with some of them frightened and others that will have to disappear so the rest can carry on the same way.
“At Rayo we are required to spend a very small amount of money in respect to what we earn, so that makes us compete on unequal terms. There are teams that spend what they don’t have and others forced to spend a lot less than they earn, as in our case, so the disadvantage is massive.”
Elaborating on the subject, Jemez acknowledged he had found it difficult to strengthen his squad, given he needs to sign players who cost nothing and who must come to the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas for sporting and not financial reasons.
“When a player goes to a club, 95 per cent of the time the main thing is the financial aspect. No matter how well your team plays or how well he fits in, if another club will pay him more he’ll go.
“We’ve all been in this situation at one time, but the majority of players who receive an offer, one that is usually superior to Rayo’s, end up leaving. So we lose a lot of players to other teams and can’t compete, not even with some Segunda outfits.
“For example, we tried to sign a player from Deportivo de La Coruna, a club that could be about to disappear with enormous debts, but he wanted to stay there because he is paid more money.
“I’d like someone to come and tell me how that’s possible,” he concluded.
