Bayern Munich director says his country has paid for Ronaldo and Messi
An angry Uli Hoeness, president of Bayern Munich and former player, has launched a blistering attack on Spanish football and it's relation to the Spanish economy.
He was commenting on news that clubs in La Liga owe hundreds of millions to the Spanish government in unpaid tax and that deals will have to be reached for it's repayment which will likely see a lot of it wiped off and never recouped.
Hoeness, quoted in Sport.es, said "It is unthinkable. We paid hundreds of millions of Euros (to Spain) to break out of the s*** (econonic strife) and then the clubs are exempted from paying the debt to pay for stars like Cristiano or Messi. This cannot be."
Clubs in Germany tend to be very well run financially and have been amongst the most in favour of new Financial Fair Play rules. Hoeness finds it a unacceptable situation when Bayern can't afford the very highest transfer fees and wages but clubs in Spain can pay these sums whilst owing money to the government, a government being helped through the economic crisis - in his opinion - by taxpayers money from Germany.
It should be an interesting situation at the Champions League draw on Friday when representatives from all three clubs will get to discuss their financial strategies in person.
It was revealed the other day that Barcelona and Real Madrid maintain a debt with finance of €752 million and have a further debt of €10.6 million for Social Security. Staggering sums. Madrid alone owe more money than the entire Bundesliga apparently.