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Valencia would have faced ruin or relegation to Spain’s third tier if the regional government had not guaranteed a €74 million loan in August, president Manuel Llorente has claimed.

The La Liga club, which has debts of more than €500 million and made a loss of €70 million last season, used the cash to build a stake of 72.5 percent to try and stabilise their finances.

They had to suspend work on a new stadium and Llorente told As that he expected a further loss of between €35-40 million this season.

“Without the intervention of the regional government we would have defaulted on our payments or been relegated to the Segunda B (third tier),” Llorente said.

“We need to start playing (in the new stadium) as soon as possible,” he added. “It will have a capacity of 70,000, which will boost our income and free up the current stadium, making it easier to sell.”

Valencia finished sixth in La Liga last season and qualified for the Europa League.

Llorente’s strategy to turn the club’s fortunes around involves encouraging fans to invest and he told As Valencia was wealthy in assets, with two stadiums, two training facilities and a squad that was “the envy of the world”.

He hinted that the club might still have to sell Villa after attempts by Real Madrid and Barcelona to sign him for €42 million euros were rebuffed in the summer.

“It’s nice and popular to say you won’t sell (players) but there is a difficult road ahead,” he said. “You can always sell star players and remain competitive.”

In a frantic betting market, Peter Taylor has emerged as a strong candidate to take over the Notts County job – see all the latest betting here

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