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There have been a lot of questions about Athletic’s financial situation and why the club does or doesn’t have money for transfers.
Here’s a thread on the current financial situation.
Here’s a thread on the current financial situation.
In Spain, when a new Board of Directors take over they are held personally responsible for any surplus of money at the club. This is a law in place to protect clubs from mismanagement.
Essentially, any money that a new Board spends they will have to recover by the time their tenure is over. For example if there is a 100m surplus and they spend 25m of it they have to recover that 25m by the end of their term or they will be personally liable for the loss.
When Aitor Elizegi was voted in as president Athletic had a surplus of €200m. If Elizegi spends any of it he’s personally resposible. This is why candidates have to supply “guarantees” which cover part of the budget for their first season in charge.
Former president Josu Urrutia greatly helped future presidents when he established the 76m provisional fund. This “piggy bank” was set aside for financial emergencies and is available to any Board without being personally liable.
So when Elizegi was voted in he inherited 200m that he can only use by being personally liable and 76m set aside for emergencies.
At the end of the 2018/2019 season the current Board had to use 20m of the 76m fund to balance the books. Then after being credited part of Kepa’s sale Elizegi added 60m back to the fund, increasing it to 116m.
In October of 2019 Socios narrowly approved the budget for the season which only projected a 125,000 surplus and that was without including possible money for qualifying for Europe.
Following the pandemic Athletic will post losses somewhere between 25-35m and will have to take from the fund to cover it. With fans still not allowed in stadiums yet there will be more losses in the season ahead.
So do Athletic have money? Certainly. A surplus of 200m plus the 116m fund before covering losses. The issue is that part of that money really can’t be used by Elizegi and the money that can be used is specifically set aside for emergencies, not transfers.
Some will argue that if the fund is there they should just use it to buy Javi. It’s possible, yes, but that’s not what the money is set aside for. Elizegi has said they will only take from the fund in times when it’s needed to balance the books.
The real issue right now is that Elizegi added 60m back to the fund after being credited with part of the Kepa sale. Had they just added it to the budget it would be free to use. However that would have left just 56m in the fund that would now be needed to cover current losses.
Yes Athletic have money and are in terrific financial standing, but the money that is available isn’t for transfers. Generally speaking, spending emergency money on non-emergencies is a terrible idea and bad business.
Had Uribe-Echevarría won the election he would have had the full 200m surplus freely available because he was a continuist candidate from the existing Board. Having access to the surplus was a big part of his campaign.
While running for president Elizegi promised to find new sources of income and revenue. So far that hasn’t happened. The club could still use part of the fund to sign Javi, but that remains to be seen.
Let’s say Athletic do sign Javi. Bayern are reportedly asking 15m and his wages would be somewhere between 4-6m unless he agreed to something lower. At 4m per year on a two year contract Javi would cost Athletic 23m.
Now the club would have to take that 23m out of the provisional fund along with 25-35m to cover for losses and whatever the losses will be in the upcoming season. Bare minimum at least 50m would have to come out of the fund.
All of this comes with the club also needing to renew Raúl García, Ander Capa, Yuri Berchiche, Oihan Sancet, and others along with Simón’s new contract. The club has to be smart with money, especially following the pandemic. Javi could still come, but we have to wait and see.
