AS.com

Jorge Mendes, José Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Radamel Falcao's agent, defended investment funds in football during the conferences held in Dubai: "I believe we're all in favour of transparency. It is not true that an investor decides the future of a player, that is always decided by the club. Logically clubs require financing, and third party financing is the only way that clubs like Atlético Madrid can fight for the league with Real Madrid and Barcelona."

"Financing is the only viable option for smaller clubs, without it there wouldn't be balanced competition for trophies, with the big clubs getting bigger and the small ones getting smaller. For instance, in my country there isn't the economic power to compete with rest of the clubs in Europe. Unless we go in search of legal financing, Benfica won't be able to sign Di María and Porto won't be able to sign Falcao," he added.

"Small clubs don't have the money so they need financing through a bank or investment fund. The only way they can pay is by gaining a percentage of the players' economic rights; the Premier League is a very powerful league and doesn't need the same system," he insisted.

Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, Atlético Madrid's managing director, also addressed the matter: "In South America slavery was abolished a long time ago, but there are still some that control another person's fate. At Atlético Madrid we work with funds, that is how we can compete with Madrid and Barcelona. We have a budget of 120 million compared with their 400 or 500 million. Without this external financing from funds and banks we just couldn't compete against them. But this financing does not mean the investor decides a player's future."