Important for Villarreal to balance the books, says president

Villarreal president Fernando Roig has explained that restoring the club's "economic balance" was the main reason for selling numerous first-team players over the course of pre-season.

The Yellow Submarine were relegated from La Liga in the previous campaign, and have since seen a mass exodus of many of their top assets.

But despite the discontent that this may have caused among supporters, the supremo took solace in the financial stability of the club.

"We are looking for economic balance and we are getting there. We have paid everything up to date and do not owe money to anyone," Roig said in a press conference.

"We have paid out to the Treasury and as I said, this is a healthy club, which for me is very important for the future.

"In football we are at that point and it is therefore key to have the economic balance. It is essential to have that balance and Villarreal will have it.

The club have lost multiple stars including Nilmar, Borja Valero, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Carlos Marchena, Cristian Zapata, but Roig is hopeful they can hold onto Bruno Soriano in order to bounce back up.

"Having Bruno at Villarreal means we can rest assured that we can 100 per cent return to the Primera.

"The players are outstanding and are eager for recruits and signings, but some must first leave and after that we can enter [the transfer market].

"The first thing that has been done is this."