Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish League, assured that they cannot look "the other way" with Barcelona's economic problems as that would cause the League to collapse.
"Barcelona is very important for the league, but if we look the other way, it would be a serious mistake. Our competition would collapse. Perhaps now its president will call me angry, but it's the truth," Tebas admitted this Thursday at the industry forum and football that the Financial Times organizes in the English capital.
The president of LaLiga also denied that they envy the Premier League, although he acknowledged that the English championship "is the best product in the world." "No, no, I'm not jealous of the Premier League. On a commercial level it is the best product in the world and for LaLiga it is very difficult to be at the same level due to the differences between the two countries," he admitted.
"We have learned from the Premier, in terms of television rights. We aspire to be at their level, of course, that is what we are trying to do, but no, we are not envious, because there are also elements that have not been done well, such as allowing the owners invest at a loss, which is something that has to be reduced and that doesn't make sense", acknowledged the president of the League.
Asked about the spectacular spending of the English teams in the last winter market, with clubs like Chelsea leaving more than 330 million euros, Thebes stated that "if you are constantly losing money you introduce inflation and affect the rest of the teams in Europe". "Maybe Real Madrid can spend the same as a Premier League team, but Barcelona can't, and Madrid doesn't and inflation doesn't increase."
Tebas was also remembered for the times when Real Madrid was the one who left millions to create a 'galactic' squad: "I don't miss it, nor do I want it. I don't want Real Madrid to buy what they want with ease. We have to adapt to the situation of the industry today. We want a balanced competition", he sentenced.
The president of LaLiga also spoke about the Super League again: "We have to analyze why this Super League appeared, if we have to improve the governance of the sport, for example. The system we have sometimes benefits the big teams more and we have to find a better balance," he warned.
From London, Thebes also referred to possible sanctions against Manchester City, which has been accused of breaking more than 100 financial rules in the Premier League. "In 2017 in a forum organized in Manchester, I already criticized PSG and City. Ferran Soriano (City CEO) asked me to go to the club's facilities, he was angry with me. Nothing has changed since then, now it has been opened this case, which in my opinion has taken a long time. They have broken a hundred rules. The appropriate decisions will have to be made."
"City and PSG were sanctioned by UEFA without being able to play in European competitions and TAS was the one that changed it. Perhaps we have to review the role of TAS in all this," Tebas said.
