Pep Chavarría signs for Chelsea and Olot and Figueres strike gold

BarcelonaThe Empordà left-back Pep Chavarría signed this Wednesday for Xabi Alonso's Chelsea until 2031 in a deal worth 19 million euros fixed plus 3 in variables. The 28-year-old player leaves Rayo Vallecano after four seasons in the First Division and now makes the leap to the Premier League. A transfer that, moreover, will have a direct effect on Catalan football: UE Figueres and UE Olot will receive a part of the operation's money thanks to FIFA's solidarity mechanism.

Chavarría, born in Figueres, played in his city's club's youth system before signing for Olot in 2018, at the age of twenty. After two seasons at the Garrotxa club, he played for Real Zaragoza and, subsequently, for Rayo Vallecano before now arriving at Chelsea.

Half a million for Figueres and about 200,000 for Olot

The FIFA solidarity mechanism reserves 5% of the amount of an international transfer for the clubs that have contributed to the player's training between the ages of 12 and 23. In Chavarría's case, UE Figueres will receive approximately 500,000 euros and UE Olot, approximately 200,000 euros, according to club estimates.

For the Empordà team, which currently plays in Primera Catalana, the money represents practically a full year's budget, as explained by the club's president, Daniel Sala, to Cadena SER's "Què t'hi jugues?". "We haven't opened the champagne, but as if we had," he added. In any case, Sala assures that the entity wants to manage the money with "consciousness" and advance projects that it already had planned.

"It is a punctual injection"

In Olot, the impact will also be considerable. The club's president, Joan Agustí, explained to ARA that the amount the entity will receive can represent approximately one-sixth of the club's budget. "It's a one-off injection that Olot has received because Pep is a fantastic guy, who deserves the best in the world and has ended up at Chelsea," he explains. Agustí celebrates the income, but insists that it is an exception and not the usual economic reality for modest clubs.

The president of Olot has taken advantage of the case to advocate for a more balanced distribution of Spanish football resources. According to Agustí, 42 teams concentrate between 85% and 90% of direct football income, while 99.5% of clubs share the remaining 15%. "The creation of football talent in Spain is very devalued," he argues. For Agustí, Chavarría's signing is "a satisfaction" and a great example for the players who are now part of the grassroots football of Olot, La Garrotxa, and Catalan football as a whole. Despite everything, the income is an oasis in the desert of modest clubs, which work day by day and are "used to putting in cents every end of the season because there is a financial commitment and because this way they balance the results of the financial year always".