head Elche CF, Joaquin Buitragojust like every year it came out this wednesday flower presentation to the city’s patron saintHe evaluated the current situation of the team after the departure of important players such as. Lucas Boyé, Pere Milla or Ezequiel Ponce and ensure that no matter how much money they make from sales, they can’t spend it all on transfers of other players because that doesn’t guarantee success.
How do you see the team at this start of the championship?
During these first four days we saw how much that determination, that effort grew, and we all know that while the results are not consistent with our image, the path forward coincides with the image and what we saw last Saturday. Santander’s race. If we continue in this line, of course, it will not take long for the fruits to come. We are entering the season with great hope this year, the team is growing and going from less to more. The latest additions need to gradually adapt. They arrived late due to market conditions and I fully trust the coach’s wisdom and right arm to prepare them in a short time.
Do you still see Elche as a clear candidate for promotion after the outgoing and incoming players?
We tried to create a very competitive team for the Second Division. Among the players we brought, Sergio León is a very hungry player. Those who came (Borja Garcés and Sergio Carreira) filled the positions of other football players who left. We still need to cover some, but with the versatility of the many players we have, we can cover all positions and deal with possible send-offs, injuries and other situations that may occur.
Two free tiles remain. Do you consider the possibility of signing an unemployed player?
The sports commission evaluates, sees the needs of the team and sees whether what is available is suitable for our needs and economic possibilities. Because we will not pay a particular player more than we understand their worth. There are two free chips, but we can also use the kids from the subsidiary, as the coach did, because we have to give them outlets and display them, because some of them are of high quality.
In some sections of the fans, even the coach has voiced this, there are some disappointments because they wanted to retain the majority of the roster from last season and in the end there are only 11 players left with key players leaving. Do you understand that fans might be worried or have some uncertainty about the team’s luck?
I do not think so. We aim to keep the blockage from last season, but some players also have personal wishes and we can’t go against the tide as a result. There are players who offer them contracts that are way above the wages they pay here, and the point is to form a group, all united and all on the same track. In this sense, we have formed a very homogeneous, competitive team.
The situation was not the same in Elche, which received large sums of money through transfers and at the investment level. How do you explain that so many are entered and not invested in all or a large part of it?
We realize that most of the time we cannot achieve success with an expensive staff or a staff with great numbers. Last year in the Second Division, for example in Malaga, they had great numbers and were eventually relegated. What is important is what is the salary limit, what does it mean to evaluate what we have. We didn’t have to sell out of necessity like other clubs, but we wouldn’t say we had to spend it all while generating revenue, as often times this doesn’t guarantee that spending money on specific players will guarantee performance.