Club
Mohamed El Assy: This is not like PlayStation®, players need to adapt
The UD Almería Managing Director makes an assessment of the summer transfer market and highlights the role of UD Almeria. He also says that even though the squad might be a bit small, it's very complete
'This is not like playing PlayStation®, where you choose the footballers and start playing. We've made a great investment in signings, but they need to adapt,' expressed UD Almería Managing Director Mohamed El Assy as he talked about the latest Club news during a press conference held after presenting officially latest recruit César Montes. He took the opportunity to send a keep calm message to boost the fans' confidence because although only one point has been added out of twelve possible so far, he considers the following: 'The team hasn't been lucky and deserved more.' Regardless of this fact, Mohamed insisted: 'Our supporters don't need to be worried. We've already said that UD Almería wouldn't get relegated to Segunda División.'
The squad is made up of 24 players and is now considered complete. The remaining vacancy will not be occupied with an free agent footballer. 'Maybe it's a bit small, but at the same time it's also very complete,' he pointed out.
UD Almería have been one of the most active clubs in the summer transfer window. Mohamed El Assy argued in this regard: 'We're the fifth club with the highest income from sales (46m €) and the second with the most spending on transfers, exceeding 50m €.' On that note, he added: 'For four seasons, when Turki Alalshikh acquired the Club, with three years in the second division and one in the first division, two years of Covid-19 and one year of War in Ukraine, sales have exceeded 120m € and signings 140m €. We consider this as another record. We're also the only team in the Top 5 in spending that hasn't sold any player to Saudi Arabia. FC Barcelona, Celta de Vigo, Sevilla FC or Real Betis have done it.'
Moreover, the Club CEO reflected: 'Building a squad cannot be done in a single transfer window. With Darwin Nuñez we got enough money to create a team to move forward. Now we're in that process in Primera División of creating a great squad to achieve the new goals. When we sold Darwin, we signed Sadiq, Centelles, Ramazani, Robertone, Akieme, Samú Costa... many players. The promotion team. It's our way of working, and as I highlighted before, steps continue to be taken.'
About this management he meant: 'With all the players that have, we maintain a sale percentage. We're going to receive 500,000€ for Sadiq when Real Sociedad enters Champions and 1.4m € for Darwin's goals and matches played.'
Mohamed El Assy also reported: 'We have a small salary cap remaining with which we could buy a player in the winter transfer window, however we don't consider it necessary because we believe in this squad and we like it. I've already said last year that UD Almería wouldn't have problems in the future with the salary cap because we had young players with sales potential and today you can see it.'
When asked wether some more signings could have been made it not, Mr El Assy replied: 'We thought about it, but in Cádiz players like Ramazani, Lázaro, Koné, Fernando, Pozo... were on the bench,' so we've got enough players. 'I reckon the squad is more complete. I remember that the first game that Darwin was able to play was in November and the head coach in that moment preferred to pick out Sekou. If there was another player covering him now he wouldn't be in Liverpool FC.'
Mohamed El Assy, who explained that the Club is immersed in talks to renew the partnership deal with Power Horse, in launching the Sports Complex or in designing the second stadium remodelling phase, indicated: 'We want UD Almería to be a regular Primera Division club in all aspects, with a good structure, with its Academy, Stadium and Sport Complex. Once achieved, we'll set other goals. Working with Turki it's always like this. When some objectives are met, you have to look for other bigger ones.'
Finally, Mohamed El Assy stated: 'Four years ago we came from securing the Segunda Division status and now we're the second Club with the highest spending after Real Madrid CF. In Europe, the clubs and representatives take us very seriously. We're working to secure this status also in the standings. We'll see at the end of the season if we're in the Top 10 or in the middle of the table. It may not happen this season or next, but I assure you that we'll get there very soon.'