Foreign capital seeks business in Second

Jeff Luhnow, new president of Leganés. USA TODAY USPW (Reuters)

Not only the big leagues attract foreign capital, known for all the generous operations of the sheikhs and various billionaire businessmen or investment funds that buy clubs in the Premier, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A and LaLiga.

But the Spanish Second Division also seduces and that is how it has been seen since the end of the season, as Zaragoza, Sporting and Leganés have passed from hands, from local owners to planetary investors.

And, although Zaragoza has been in ruins for a long time, the same does not happen with Sporting or Leganés, cycles finished by weariness or wear.

But the magnet of the SmartBank League, after the recent economic injection of the CVC investment fund, is clear because the purchases seek to generate value and capital gains, to have players owned to buy cheap and sell expensive and,

Tiredness of Sporting

.

For some time now, the same refrain has been heard in the Molinón, the mass reproach of “Fernández, go now!”

The fans, demanding and tired of the fact that their team did not compete in the First Division but even in this course avoided relegation to the First RFEF by a hair's breadth, asked President Javier Fernández on the penultimate day to take Villadiego's.

Wish granted.

“Because of the social mass that Sporting has and because of the illusion that soccer generates in the city, this club is attractive for any investment fund.

And the fact that this year's sports march was so bad, in addition to media pressure, has boosted the sale," says Eloy Olaya, a renowned former Sporting player.

Fernández, who inherited the position from his father José -now deceased but a great fan of the club and football- packed his presidential bags after 28 years with the family at the club.

This was agreed after a meeting in Madrid with Orlegi Sports, a Mexican group led by Alejandro Irarragorri, which disburses an amount close to 40 million for the shareholding package of the Fernández family.

The Orlegi Group has already acquired the Atlas and Santos Laguna clubs in the Mexican league, as well as Tampico Madero in the Expansion League (Second Division), even though they recently split because they did not meet their business expectations.

It remains to be seen if a capital injection is made to shore up the club's accounts and avoid the need to transfer players, even though the club's net debt is 9.25 million.

But improving the recent past is a requirement for Orlegui Sport, also in Mareo because it is the worst year in memory of titles in the quarry, only with the laurel in Alevines.

“People yelling 'Get out now!'

She is excited about the change.

But they must know that now the decisions will be made by people from outside Asturias and Gijón.

But that's how professional football is and we hope that in a few years we won't have to regret it”, Olaya points out.

Change of cycle in Leganés.

A couple of weeks ago, the former owners of Leganés -the maximum shareholder Felipe Moreno and his wife and at the same time president Victoria Pavón- held a meal with the club's workers to officially say goodbye, a last detail that was applauded and thanked by all as has always happened during the 14 years they have been at the helm of the club.

It was goodbye, as well as welcome for the Mexican-American Jeff Luhnow, owner of the Blue Crow Sports consortium -it has investors from the USA, Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Canada- and currently president of Cancun FC, former player for more than a decade and Major League Baseball analyst for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros.

“We want to implement a lot of technology,” says Lunhow, who in 2020 was fired from Major League Baseball for a year because it was discovered that he orchestrated a sign-stealing plot between

and

during the campaigns that the Astros won the World Series (2017 and 2018).

But Lunhow, with a vocation to strengthen the quarry based on talent detection, is also interested in the great tourist attraction of Madrid, that the club is a quarter of an hour from the Atocha Station and the possibility of moving players between its clubs and do business with the movements of the players.

His idea, in any case, aware of other unsuccessful examples such as the Chinese Chen at Espanyol or Lim at Valencia, is to reside in Spain to enhance the good of his predecessors, who had the club healthy but after so many years in the charge understood that it was their turn to take a step to the side, worn out from the hustle and bustle.

“They have completed a cycle and have seen that the investment group that arrives has enthusiasm, desire and gasoline.

Royal Saragossa.

With the fans tense for adding nine years in the second rung of Spanish football, the owners of Zaragoza, a club with heraldry and a notorious social mass, decided to turn the tide.

Thus, with César Alierta (former president of Telefónica) at the head, they understood that it was time to sell, unable to redirect the entity economically and sportingly.

Several proposals arrived -among them one from the Orlegui Group- and they opted for that of an investment group led by the Mas Santos brothers (Jorge and José, of Cuban roots, sons of the famous anti-Castro politician and businessman Mas Canosa).

Shortly after, the club announced in a statement the acquisition of 51% of the shares of the investment group, in which Joseph Oughourlian (president of PRISA, the publishing group of EL PAÍS) also participates.

The Mas Santos brothers, moreover,

They own Inter Miami, and manage the French Lens and the Millionaires of Bogotá.

"The wear and tear of the previous board was enormous and there was no illusion left", says Xavi Aguado, Zaragoza's historic player;

“and this group brought together more good things than bad, knowing that they are from outside of Spain but that they have the idea of ​​reviving the club”.

“They are very serious professionals, with very clear ideas and who also listen.

The priorities are mainly those of understanding the club, respecting its values, knowing its roots, reinforcing all ties with such important fans and contributing resources”, resolves the new general director, Raúl Sanllehí, former director of football at Barcelona and Arsenal. .

But at the moment it is already known that the money they contribute is to make up the net debt of 68 million and that it will not be possible to invest in the wage bill.

"That will cause players to go to other clubs and it will not be a seductive team, so the project cannot be for a year," Aguado resolves.

“Growth should be organic and progressive, not artificial.

There is a very good base, but also a considerable debt and it has gone through difficult times in recent times”,

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