Villarreal president Fernando Roig has criticised Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao for ‘stealing’ youth players from the club.
Roig was speaking after the remarkable 4-4 draw against Barca on Tuesday night, and was referencing players under the age of 16 being approached by rivals.
“Every year we are robbed by the great teams, every year we have players taken from us and that is because we have the best youth system in Spain,” Roig told reporters, as cited by Marca.
“That is why other clubs come to us and steal our players so now I have to come and denounce it, we are losing 15-year-olds because they are not yet professional.
“Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao are the clubs who do this, I must come out and say this because it hurts us.
“Tuesday’s result? It is Barcelona, it is always difficult, we played a great game and we had a similar turnaround to the one we suffered in Vigo.
“Barcelona won a point and we have lost two.”
