When Atlético bought Cádiz because it was cheaper than signing Kiko: "They dismantled our apartment"

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"That was a strange time where almost everything was by word," reflects

, president of Atlético de Madrid, regarding that link that, for two seasons, existed between the rojiblanco team and Cádiz. "Many years ago (28). I hardly remember it. I think that those actions were like a guarantee in case the conditions of sale of Kiko and Quevedo were not met," he digs in a telephone conversation with EL MUNDO among some memories that he keeps blurred.

We traveled back in time until the summer of 1992. Specifically until that June 30, in which all the clubs, except Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Athletic and Osasuna, had to complete their conversion into sports corporations in the course of their career, in order to clean up your accounts. The partners gave way to the shareholders. And the Cádiz City Council had to come to the rescue of the city's team. 70% of the shares (each worth 5,000 pesetas / 30 euros) failed to be sold and the council took over that majority package as an emergency solution. "Manuel Irigoyen, who had been president of the club between 1978 and 1992, remained as one of the members of the council. In 1993, the city council sold the shares to Jesús Gil, keeping real estate assets as collateral,and Enrique Cerezo becomes president of Cádiz honorably ", relates

, who was Cádiz's legal advisor and, also, who drew up the

contract

years ago.

The purchase was not a whim of Jesús Gil. He simply realized that it was cheaper to acquire the Cádiz share package (around 200 million pesetas / 1.2 million euros), recently relegated to the Second Division, than to pay for the transfer of Kiko, the ram consecrated in the Barcelona'92 Olympic Games, and Quevedo. "For Kiko and Quevedo they asked for 300 million pesetas (1.8 million euros). I went two or three times to Madrid with Irigoyen to talk about this negotiation. After eight years in a row in First, a week after falling to Second Kiko and Quevedo were no longer there. And Arteaga would be sold to Espanyol before the first league game. The club began to dismantle itself ", details Argentine

, then the team's technical secretary.

"The one who transfers Kiko and Quevedo is not Jesús Gil. But it is true that the creditor nature of the outstanding debt converges for that purchase of the shares and the payment of the players. They both went to Madrid almost free of charge because at that time Cádiz was the seller and the creditor of both, "says Miguel Iglesias, with a millimeter X-ray of everything that happened.

"Gil went into a rage when he found out that Irigoyen had sold Arteaga to Espanyol," he adds about a player who, surely, was destined to follow in the footsteps of his two teammates.

The great offer of Deportivo

Kiko (Jerez, 1972) was the main reason that prompted Jesús Gil to acquire Cádiz. "After the relegation of Cádiz was consummated, in Riazor, Atlético made an offer for me. When my father (his representative) told me about it, we were all delighted. Then the contacts began to make my transfer more specific," says the forward to this newspaper. "I had no idea of ​​other matters, beyond that offer for me. However, during a visit to the newspaper Marca, I ran into

(Deportivo's president) and he told

, a Brazilian representative that I was working with Irigoyen, and let's see if I could tell him why I ended up at Atlético and not at Deportivo, despite the offer he had made for me. "

"I had a clause of 300 million pesetas and Kiko's was higher than mine. For much less than that amount, Gil got the shares. We were two kids who were wanting to go to a big team. For me it was something tremendous ", abounds

(Cádiz, 1969), the other proper name, who only played 19 games in his only season (93/94) at Atlético. "I had three options: stay in Cádiz, go to Atlético or wait for some team to pay my clause. When Jesús Gil arrived, that clause of 300 million was canceled."

Cádiz's adventure in Segunda, after the change of owners of the club, would end in shipwreck.

"I wanted Tato

, Miguel Ángel

and

, from Sporting, but they didn't bring me anyone. In Second Colin

started

(he led Atlético in 17 games in 88/89) as coach, but he returned home due to family problems. So I was on the bench for a few games as an interim, where

was also a physical trainer

(today at Manchester City with Guardiola), "says Hugo Vaca.

"Cherry gave away the shares"

"Cerezo calls me and says: 'Hugo, we have a coach:

'. I say surprised: 'Enrique, Naya?'. It was a coach who had gone up to First with Burgos, but they had told me a lot of his eccentricities. I didn't know him, I didn't have animosity, but I did know what was being said about him. I gave him 100 reasons not to sign him and he argued that he was a good physical trainer. We had the best coach (Buenaventura) and he told me that. The next day Enrique called me to talk to Naya. That was a disaster and we ended up going down to Second B. They had taken everything from us: the table, the refrigerator ... They had dismantled our apartment ", Vaca continues, regretting that they bet more on Marbella than on Cádiz:" They had two children: one was cared for and the other was abandoned. Tilico, Benítez and Iordanov went to Marbella.They were empowered and we were left stranded. Of course, the people who were here, who commanded, were impeccable as people. Personally, they had a sensational demeanor. But Atlético wanted to have a subsidiary and that was not accepted in Cádiz ".

The relationship between Atlético and Cádiz ended in 1995, in a hotel in Seville, near the Sánchez-Pizjuán.

"The players did not get paid and when they did not get promotion to Second (the team was in the battle for promotion with Cacho Heredia on the bench) they decided to sell the club. Cerezo gave the shares to Cádiz. Atlético did not take money for their sale and neither was he the one who created the economic problem. Jesús Gil believed he was buying a bargain and found a Gruyère cheese ", Miguel Iglesias completes.

In the 90s, for a good handful of nights, the heart of Cádiz belonged to Atlético.

While Kiko, the unintentional trigger of the operation, struggled to climb to the top he would reach with the 1996 Double: "That was a rare time."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• soccer

• First division

• Atlético de Madrid

• Cadiz CF

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