Andres Blazquez gave another interview in which he addressed many topics, first and foremost the investments in Genoa: «The certainty of always being in the usual ranking range of Turin and Fiorentina allows you to plan investments in the medium term without having the nightmare of a fall to Serie B. To be able to do that, we still have to grow in economic terms and fix the costs. In terms of the cost of the squad, we are between half and a third of that of the clubs that take part in the cups, except Bologna who this season have done something fantastic. If we manage to put together a team worth 40 million in salaries, we will have a competitive squad for the European cups, perhaps as early as 2025-2026, but to get to that point we still need a few years».
The Spanish manager’s reasoning is full of data and figures: «If we manage to bring recurring revenues to around 90-100 million euros in the next three years (Genoa will reach 75 million in the 2023-2024 season, ndr) we can get up to 50-55 million in wages. Capital gains? For me it’s luck, not management: it can go well for a year, two, but it’s difficult for a club to find a talent to place on the market and to be able to settle the accounts. The Ferraris stadium brings us 300 thousand euros per match, if renovated it could bring us 700 thousand euros in revenue from tickets, hospitality and merchandising on match days. The Liguria Region can make a contribution for the new Ferraris, if only for a reason of fairness with La Spezia, where it guaranteed a third of the expense for the Picco stadium. Furthermore, Bucci is one of the mayors with the greatest working spirit I’ve ever met and we are lucky that he is in favor of renovating the facility” explains Blazquez.
Mayor Bucci recently took a small jab at the Genoese clubs, CEO Blazquez replied: «Genoa was ready a year ago but, to do something together, we had to respect the moment that Sampdoria was going through. Once their ownership changed, we started working in a very productive way and we want a UEFA category 4 stadium».
Genoa transfer market chapter: «Martinez is now almost Inter’s, there are other players we will sell, but most of them are not starters. We aim to have a positive impact of 10-12 million by managing to invest, as we did with Vitinha, also in anticipation of some exits. The investigation into Gudmundsson? It is not a simple process, but Albert has always said he is innocent, we believe him: this has not influenced the interest of other clubs in him because the market for strikers has not yet started. We want to keep Spence, but it depends on Tottenham. Retegui remains unless there are pharaonic offers. If I wanted to fix the accounts immediately, I would sell the best and the balance sheet would immediately benefit: but for what future? Each of our initiatives is aimed at increasing recurring income precisely so as not to finance ourselves on the market through sales» explains the CEO of Genoa, interviewed by Calcio & Finanza.
Finally, the precarious state of health of 777 Partners which risks, according to some authoritative newspapers, leading to a change of ownership within Genoa: “I have no indication from them on this, we continue to invest and increase the value of the club in the long term. I am an employee of Genoa and not of 777 partners and what happens above our heads we sometimes learn above all from the press: A-Cap is the creditor, there was a meeting with them and from what we understand an agreement was reached to fix the football governance. The affair is external to us even if it concerns us on a media level, but on an ordinary work level things have not changed, we check the finances weekly with the group and nothing has changed: there are absolutely no problems regarding the Genoa world. Nicolas Maya, a member of the Genoa board linked to 777 Partners, has resigned, and now we will insert an independent person who comes from the world of finance and not from the football world. He won’t be the only one, we would like to put at least two people of this type on the board of directors” concludes Blazquez.
