La Liga chief Javier Tebas admits he “isn’t happy” with Brexit and insists Spanish football will not necessarily benefit from the Premier League “going wrong”.
The United Kingdom’s vote to withdraw from the European Union on Thursday is threatening to change the landscape of English football forever, with Spaniards at risk of seeing their opportunities of playing in the Premier League greatly diminished, but Tebas was disappointed with the potential loss of competition.
“I have a primary global vision and that is to wait and see what happens,” he told AS.
“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions because everything depends on the future model and relationships that the UK will have with the rest of Europe.
“Not at all [am I happy with Brexit], and I mean it. I insist that we must be cautious with these issues because it’s also not an immediate termination. It will take place over the [next few] years.
“England can reach agreements as other countries that are not EU members have done, including Norway.
“It’s assumed that free movement would be lost, but we’ll see how everything pans out because [in England] football brings plenty of revenue and they’ll try to find solutions. But no, La Liga isn’t happy.
“We want to close the gap [on the PL], but I want a strong and fair industry and I’m glad no-one has gone wrong yet.
“The Premier League going wrong, hypothetically, doesn’t mean that La Liga will improve. That’s not how it works.
“I want competition, and the bigger the better. If not, our growth would be artificial. It would deceive us.
“The situation is worrying but not alarming. It remains to be seen how much the Premier are hurt.
“Anyone who thinks that Javier Tebas is happy about what has happened is wrong. We won’t grow just because others are poorer. That would be a mistake.
“La Liga grows with the more competition that there is. For now, we can’t do any more than make an assessment like this.”
