Alafouzos reportedly sets plan to be debt-free by 2021
Panathinaikos majority shareholder Giannis Alafouzos reportedly sets plan to be debt-free by 2021, with more investment, a low budget, and an emphasis on producing players from the academy.
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Panathinaikos sit in an uncharacteristic position on the ladder at the moment, as they have for the last few seasons. Currently in a mid-table logjam battling it out in an attempt to finish in the top-six, the club has endured its fair share of financial hardship over the last few years.
The on-field results and performances have not been there as the club has seen its best players often leave. On top of this, the wage bill has dramatically fallen. The budget remains low and there is a strong focus on producing players from the club’s Academy.
This has been the case ever since the unpopular Giannis Alafouzos publicly announced in September, 2017 that he would no longer be investing at all in Panathinaikos. However, since then his stance has changed and he is significantly helping in clearing the debt at the club - the debt he helped create in the first place.
According to Greek sports site “to10.gr,” Alafouzos has set the objective for Panathinaikos to be debt-free by 2021. He has been investing millions into the club in 2018 and 2019, and according to reports, this looks set to continue at a modest rate.
While investment has helped clear a huge portion of the debt, reducing the budget has also been a key factor. According to the same report, the budget will remain low for the near future, with an emphasis on producing players from the academy.
New technical director Xavi Roca shed some light into this when he joined the Greens. The Spaniard stated that he “did not come because Mr. Alafouzos promised an increase in the budget.” He went on to say that he will work with what he has at his disposal.
Fresh investment into the operations of the football club and an increase of the budget will only happen once the club is completely debt-free. As a result, the first priorities for now remain keeping the budget low and allowing Xavi Roca to use his scouting networks, and repaying the debt through share capital increases. Only once this is done will we see more funds being channelled into the football division. This in turn, will make the club more attractive to potential investors.
