From 2001 Champions League finalists to La Liga relegation candidates – Reasons behind Valencia’s demise

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Last relegated in 1986 

©TM/IMAGO

For football fans of a certain generation, Valencia are a club associated with real pedigree. Not only were they Champions League finalists in 2001, where they devastatingly lost on penalties to Bayern Munich, but they also won LaLiga in both the 2001/02 and 2003/04 seasons under Rafa Benítez. Valencia also won the UEFA Cup in 2004, and the Copa del Rey in 2008. In the early 2000s, the Spanish side were one of Europe’s top teams, and were brimming with exciting, entertaining players such as Pablo Aimar, Gaizka Mendieta and Rubén Baraja. 

During the 2010s their powers began to fade, but they still had exhilarating players such as David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata and regularly qualified for Europe. Now ‘Los Ches’ find themselves at a new low. Their 3-3 draw at Osasuna last weekend, in which a late superb flicked finish from Umar Sadiq rescued even a point, means that the club remain in the relegation zone in 18th with 12 games to play. Valencia were last relegated in 1986 and have only spent one season outside of the Spanish top-flight since 1930. Decisions both on and off the field have been inadequate for some time now, and relegation is a very genuine possibility. So how did one of Europe’s best performing clubs 20 years ago find themselves in this position? With expert insight from Spain, we try to answer just that.

What’s gone wrong for Valencia?

Valencia’s demise has been in the pipeline for some time, with the club’s ownership and boardroom staff responsible for a large percentage of the blame. Singaporean businessman Peter Lim became the club owner in 2014, with fans demonstrating against the millionaire’s running of the club for years. Iván Turmo is Transfermarkt’s Lead Content Manager in Spain and explains more: “Valencia’s situation is nothing new. It has been repeated in recent seasons due to the management of the club’s owner. For around a decade he has been in charge of the club to save it from debt, but in recent years his policy of austerity in terms of signings and reducing personnel costs has led to the downfall of one of the great clubs in Spanish football.”

Before Lim took charge, Valencia had amassed the fourth most total points in LaLiga history – now they have been overtaken by Athletic Club and are being closed in on by those further below. “One of Lim’s most controversial decisions was the dismissal of coach Marcelino García Toral in 2019 after he won the Copa del Rey and finished fourth in LaLiga for two seasons in-a-row. A few months later, Lim also fired general manager Mateu Alemany, who would later end up signing for Barcelona,” Turmo sheds light on. Lim also appointed Gary Neville as manager in 2015, with the Englishman enduring a disastrous reign at the Mestalla. In the last 11 years, Valencia have had 15 different managers. The lack of stability in the dugout has reflected an absence of steadiness on the pitch itself.

One of the big issues has been Valencia have been consistently selling their best players, without re-investing those funds in the playing squad. Over the past 10 seasons, the club have actually registered a positive transfer balance of +€39 million. They have spent €535m, whilst recouping €574m from player sales. “In a purely business-like manner, Valencia has sold several of its best players each summer,” says Turmo. “Giorgi Mamardashvili (who will sign for Liverpool permanently next summer), Yunus Musah, Gonçalo Guedes, Carlos Soler, Ferran Torres and Rodrigo have all been sold in the last five seasons. They have not brought in reinforcements at the level of the departures and have basically focused on just obtaining players on loan.”

“The team have also relied on the youth academy and younger talents. In fact, it had the youngest squad in LaLiga last season, the same as in 2021/22. Right now it is the third, while two years ago it was the second only surpassed by Barcelona.” Despite the lack of investment, Valencia still shouldn’t be where they are in the table – certainly based on their squad market value. As illustrated in the graphic below, when we compare the difference between current position in LaLiga and squad market values, Valencia come out the worst. They have the sixth most valuable squad in the division, but are underperforming their squad market value by 12 places.

Can former West Brom boss Carlos Corberán turn things around?

Following the dismissal of their former player Baraja in December, Valencia turned to former West Brom and Huddersfield manager Carlos Corberán. When he took over the club were bottom of the table, with just 11 points from their opening 17 matches. There has been a steady improvement under Corberán, with the 41 year old winning three, drawing three and losing three in LaLiga to date. However, he has been unable to steer the club out of the relegation zone just yet. Nevertheless, Turmo does feel there has been development under Coberán: “The team has improved since the arrival of Corberán. He is a young local coach who is making his debut in elite Spanish football.”

“Therefore, in my opinion, they have a good chance of staying in La Liga, as the teams around the bottom are not doing much better. In addition, Valencia managed to get a striker on loan in January, the Nigerian Sadiq, who, although he did not show much at Real Sociedad despite being their record signing, is a comparative advantage if we look at their rivals’ squads to escape the drop. They also brought in English full-back Max Aarons and Spanish midfielder from Porto, Iván Jaime, all on loan.” To see Valencia relegated would be a sad occasion for football enthusiasts of the 2000s, and mark a monumental fall for one of Spain’s great football clubs. Valencia have become a great example of what can go wrong at a huge club if bad decisions are consistently made.