The Atlético General Manager, Jésus García Pitarch, evaluates this past season

The season has come and gone and it’s time to assess everything that went on. The ‘rojiblanco’ side accomplished their goal set at the beginning of the season: to earn a spot in Champions League. Jesús García Pitarch, the Sports Director, appeared before the media and analysed the team’s situation. The first thing that he wanted to highlight regarding the athletic department was: “the job done by Javier Aguirre and Abel Resino. We achieved the goal that we set at the beginning of the season: Champions League, thanks to them. In the past two seasons, the only teams that qualified for Champions League each year were Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid.”

The General Manager continued to speak about the state of the team from the Vicente Calderón and said that “the team never stopped believing it itself in the past few years. We’ve been able to build up the squad, asset wise we’re going to have a 140-hectare Sports Complex and a New Stadium. Both facilities will begin to undergo construction during the 2009/2010 season. As regards the athletic parameters, we’ve focused on two: not to spend more than 80 million euros of the budget on signings, transfers, repayments, etc. and for the squad not to have more than 20 or 21 players under contract.”

García Pitarch wanted to explain the reasons for which the team will not be able to have more players under contract and said that “we have confidence in our youth system. We’re the team that contributes the most players to the lower categories of the Spanish National Team, with 22, and we have 50 in the regional teams. Atlético B, with an average age of 18.8 years old, was the youngest reserve squad. Next season this team will have seven ‘juveniles’ and an average age of 19 years.”

Concerning the possibility that Kun Agüero and Diego Forlán could be transferred by the ‘rojiblanco’ organization, García Pitarch wanted to make it clear that “we don’t intend to sell them. We wouldn’t like them to leave the organization even if another team pays their buy-out clauses.”

García Pitarch didn’t hide from any of the questions that he was asked about. The statements made by Kun Agüero relating to the fact that he’d like to play with Messi were explained by the Sports Director. “We all know Kun, and sometimes he jokes around and his words are misinterpreted. Agüero has repeatedly stated that he’d like to stay. He even said it when we had big offers for him. I don’t doubt his continuity at all. For this reason, there’s no plan B for if Agüero or Forlán leave, as it would be a bad omen to have one. Our players are who they are and some are amongst the best in the world, but I’m not thinking about that now because they seem happy to me and if they weren’t, they wouldn’t perform well. This Club is no less grand than those who love it, but the feelings felt here cannot be reproduced in those other institutions.”

Money for signings
The supporters of the team that plays at the Vicente Calderón are very scared that a Club will pay the buy-out clause of the stars of the ‘rojiblanco’ squad and that they’ll leave the organization. Suso asserted that “we have five or six players who could play at any team in the world, and it’s normal for the best teams to want them. But our Club competes at the same level, and in the best competitions, as the rest of the teams. That’s why I think that they’ll stay with us.”

“I spoke with Kun, Forlán, Simao and Maxi, and they are all strongly committed to the organization. There are two or three positions that we want to strengthen. We could do that by getting back players who belong to the Club, and through the transfer market,” he stated.

One of the aspects that García Pitarch wanted to pay special attention to was the fact that there are many rumours circulating around the team. “We can’t make appearances to deny what shows up in the press every day. People have talked about the arrival of Quique Flores, Luis Aragonés, Kiko, Juande...”. he assured.

With respect to the possible arrival of Sergio Asenjo and Juanito, the head of the front office was clear and emphasized that “we have open negotiations going with Real Valladolid for the goalkeeper, but nothing has been finalized. Regarding Juanito, we’re interested, but the player is under contract with Betis until 30 June. Both of them are close, as they’re interested in playing with us.”

The next question that he was ‘interrogated’ about had to do with the continuity in the team of Maxi Rodríguez. Pitarch cleared up that “we’re not looking for another Club for him. Abel’s extension wasn’t subject to the departure of the captain. The information that came out wasn’t exact. With respect to the salary of Diego Forlán, it’s not implausible that we’d retouch it. We held a meeting with his agent and the Club will increase his contract as we’re able to.”

Continuity of Leo Franco
García Pitarch touched on each and every one of the matters revolving around the ‘rojiblanco’ institution. Even the most delicate ones. That’s the case of the contract rescissions of Seitaridis and Maniche. To this respect, Suso stated that “the decision wasn’t about their performance; there were many influential factors. We demand a certain involvement and commitment from those who form part of the organization. You have to deal with the pressure and we ask that of everyone.”

The only player who is finishing up his contract at the Club is Leo Franco. For the moment, the Argentinean hasn’t renewed his contract. The Sports Director revealed the negotiations which “began halfway through the season. We offered him a generous amount and we didn’t get a response. When there were seven weeks left in La Liga, they wanted to take up the negotiations again, but we thought that it wasn’t the right time. We don’t know what Leo’s decision is. I’ve tried to speak with him and he’ll come to Madrid shortly, and then we’ll sit down to talk and we’ll see what happens.”

Finally, he gave a brief review of the state of the team and gave his opinion that “we’re calm, as we don’t have to get rid of any notable footballers. Our situation doesn’t demand us to transfer any important players, with the exception of the possibility that a team pays their clause and the player’s will is to not remain with our Club. We’ve re-established and recovered social and athletic stability, which seemed impossible, thanks to the work done by all departments of the Club and the unconditional support of the fans.”

“We have many offers for Camacho, Domínguez and Miguel de las Cuevas. I think that our policy of loans was very good this year. They’ve (the loaned players) gone from being criticized and not valued to essential players, stars and supporting players at other clubs. Although right now we have to think about what’s best for the team and for the lads. We’ll evaluate each one of their cases individually. I think that all of them can be very useful to the team,” García Pitarch said to wrap things up.

J. Díez Largacha
PHOTOS: Ángel Gutiérrez
TRANSLATION: Perry Hammond