Getafe president confirms sale to Dubai group

GETAFE, Spain (AFP)– Getafe president Angel Torres on Monday confirmed the sale to the Spanish top flight club to Royal Emirates Group, which is chaired by a member of Dubai's ruling Al-Maktoum family.

"The decision to sell the club is because, logically, the more years that you are in the first division, the greater the risk of getting into debt. It is difficult to compete in this league," he told a news conference.

"Each year that you are in the first division you get into more debt, we could not put more money, the banks were not lending to us, so we had to go out and look for investors," he added.

Getafe, founded in 1945, has only been in Spain's top flight since the 2004-05 season.

The club finished sixth last season but are languishing in 14th place in the 20-club league this term, four points above the relegation zone.

Torres said he managed to negotiate an increase in the club's annual budget to 65 million euros from the current 45 million euros with the new owners so as to be able to recruit new players.

He said the club's name and symbol would remain the same and the jobs of the 140 people who depend directly on the club would be maintained.

Royal Emirates Group announced Thursday it had signed a deal to buy the club for between 70 and 90 million euros.

It said the"purchase contract" was signed in Dubai by Torres and its managing director, Kaiser Rafiq.

But the finality of the deal was cast into doubt on Friday when Torres told reporters at Madrid airport on his return from Dubai that Getafe had"not yet been sold".

"First I have to inform the board of all the things that were done, then I will give a news conference."

Two other Spanish clubs have been bought by Gulf-based buyers over the past year.

Qatari billionaire Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Thani bought Malaga in May 2010 for 25 million euros.

And Bahrain-based Indian tycoon Ahsan Ali Syed bought debt-hit Racing Santander in January for a reported 30-40 million euros. Its players said Tuesday that they are still waiting for promised back-pay from last season.

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