Ottmar Hitzfeld critical of Real Madrid spending

Former Bayern Munich boss and current Switzerland manager Ottmar Hitzfeld has hit out at the lavish spending by Real Madrid last summer and called it unfair.

Los Blancos made a number of high profile purchases, headlined by the 91-million-euro deal to secure the services of Gareth Bale from Tottenham Hotspur. Asier Illarramendi and Isco were also expensive buys, in a summer that saw the club part with around 180 million euros.

Although some of that was recouped through the sales of Mesut Ozil, Gonzalo Higuain, Raul Albiol and Jose Callejon, the nine-time European Cup winners’ net spend stood at around 70 million euros when the transfer window closed in early September. And the following month, it was revealed the club’s debts stood at around 500 million euros.

In an interview with Futbol Tactico, Hitzfeld said that sort of spending should not be allowed if a club already carries huge debts, and encouraged clubs to be responsible with their finances. Bayern Munich run a tight ship and are known for their financial prudence, while Premier League leaders Arsenal have actually come in for criticism  from so called football experts for not spending money they don’t have and only splashing the cash when they have raised the finances themselves.

Hitzfeld stated:  “It [Bale’s signing] is incomprehensible. I do not understand how you have so much debt. It seems unfair that Madrid can buy these players with the amount of debt that they have. It’s not fair.”

“[Bayern] are a healthy club, which have no debt,” he continued.“They will only sign players according to their own economic potential. They have paid large sums, but have never owed money to any organisation or club. There is no comparison between the teams.”