Elche's Profitable Deal with Nico Castro

Elche has finally confirmed what was an open secret: the transfer of Argentine midfielder Nico Castro to Deportivo Toluca FC, the reigning champion of the Mexican League.

The 24-year-old footballer joined Elche in the summer of 2023 from Genk and, over the past two seasons in the Second Division, has played a total of 77 official matches, scored nine goals, and provided seven assists.

The player arrived on loan from the Belgian team, but Elche decided to exercise a purchase option last March for nearly three million euros. A few months later, the club sold him for five million to Toluca, managed by Turco Mohamed, a coach from Christian Bragarnik's portfolio, owner of Elche. It's all in the family.

The Elche club, through a statement, has thanked Nico Castro for his "commitment, dedication, performance, and exemplary behaviour," considering him "a role model on and off the pitch."

The departure of Nico Castro, one of the pillars of the team that achieved promotion, joins that of José Salinas, who has signed with Espanyol of Barcelona after failing to reach a renewal agreement.

Meanwhile, Elche has been recognised as one of the ten most financially sustainable clubs in Europe. The franjiverde entity ranks ninth in the ranking compiled by the data analysis tool Off The Pitch, being the best-placed Spanish team in this classification.

The report is based on several key financial indicators. In Elche's case, it highlights an EBITDA-Margin of 13.9%, reflecting good operational efficiency; a ROA (return on assets) of 12.7%, indicating high profitability relative to the club's resources; and an Equity-Margin of 45.5%, a sign of a balanced financial structure with a significant portion of assets financed with equity.

This ranking, conducted by the specialised media Off The Pitch, is led by SSC Napoli, Silkeborg IF, Molde FK, Manchester City FC, Clermont Foot 63, FC Bayern München, ACF Fiorentina, Celtic FC, Elche CF, AGF Aarhus.

"Elche CF values this data as an important step in building a solid project, planned for the short, medium, and long term, and focused on all its sporting, social, economic, and institutional objectives," states the franjiverde club.