Anil Murthy: "The Valencia CF identity and DNA has been reinforced"

Valencia CF president Anil Murthy spoke to VCF Media after the close of the transfer window, analysing the movements made in the market and the current strength of the squad.

The transfer market

I'm very happy with the results of the transfer window, for two reasons: Firstly, because we held off all of the offers that we received for important members of our squad. We decided to reinforce the team whilst keeping our best players. We signed six new players. Six players who are sure to bring a much higher level of performance to the team.

Secondly -and most important to me- is that we strengthened the identity of the club, our DNA.

Decisions based on consensus

When we appointed José Bordalás, whom we hope will be our top coach for many seasons to come, we decided that the process we would follow would be that of consensus.

Our director of football, Miguel Ángel Corona, and his team proposed many names, and we made decisions based on consensus. Everybody is happy with the signings that we made. With this consensus, we achieved the approval of Peter Lim to go ahead with the signings.

Valencia CF DNA

We have started the LaLiga season very well. We are in a position to fight for wins in every game. That's our objective. We aren't setting goals for the end of the season. The aim is to take things game by game. You can clearly see that we have recovered the DNA of Valencia CF. The DNA, values and desire to fight, compete to win and run for the entire game are back. That is fundamental for us.

You can see clearly from the first three games that the players have a lot of desire and excitement. They want to compete. This, with the leadership of José Bordalás, is complete. I am very optimistic that we will continue like this, and even more so with a strengthened team.

I've spoken with some of our captains here. They have told me that everybody is very excited and want to fight for everything this season.

Necessary measures

We elected to make this decision early. We knew that the effect of the pandemic was going to be a problem in general. You can clearly see that many clubs are facing this problem this season. We decided to face it early, in order to rebuild and make the team that we have today.

Last season wasn't good. We had a difficult situation: Not just because of the pandemic, but also with us being out of the Champions League. In that situation, you have to make difficult decisions to rebalance the books and the squad. It was a very difficult time for everybody. The decisions that we made allowed us to approach this transfer market with a lot more strength. We are here to get the fans excited again.

Commitment to the VCF Academy

It's a source of great pride for everybody that we have Gayà and Soler playing for Spain. This is a reflection of the values that we want to spread amongst our youth system. The VCF Academy is about excellence, but also values.

We know that there are many good players here. In Valencia we are going to support those who want to be here to the fullest. We have examples, in Gayà and Soler, who are leaders and who are spreading the values of the Valencia CF youth system. It's a club policy that is going to continue, and they are our future.

The return of fans to Mestalla

With what the team are doing on the pitch, the fans have even more desire to see a team with which they identify. This excitement means that Mestalla will have the same atmosphere as before. Together we are going to fight and win.