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Pedro’s move to Stamford Bridge will be a boost to the Chelsea squad as well as his childhood club Raqui San Isidro who will receive a small sum of the transfer fees. Raqui as the club is generally called, is currently facing bankruptcy but will now be able to repay their debt after receiving money from Chelsea.
Raqui is a small club in the fourth-tier of the Spanish football league. Although the club had a brilliant season last year, where they came second in the Canary Islands league called the Preferente, it didn’t mean anything in terms of the clubs financial situation.
The club president Jaime Lorenzo in an interview shed light to the hardships faced by the club, and the effect the money coming from Pedro’s deal would have on them.
"In the three years that I have been president of the club I've been through several [transfer] embargoes,” said Lorenzo.
”When I took over the club it had €300,000 debts and now it only owes €22,000 in social security plus a loan to a building society."
Lorenzo’s strategies have eased the burden faced by the club, but admits that nothing he did or could have done would measure to the aid coming in from London.
As Pedro played in the club till the age of 17, the club will receive a portion of the Spaniards transfer fees according to the FIFA's 'training and solidarity mechanism'. The sum which the club would receive is estimated to be in the range of €450,000.
Raqui has big plans for their future
While the club is proud of the 28-year-old’s achievements in Barcelona, they will forever be indebted to him for making this deal possible.
"With this money that is coming to us, we will be able to clear all of the debts hanging over us," said Lorenzo to Diario de Avisos.
The club though have bigger plans for the money as they are planning to buy apartments in the neighbourhood so that they can sustain themselves for the future.
"We will buy some apartments," said Lorenzo, "in order to rent them out and guarantee the club some money. It will mean we're not dependent on subsidies from the local authorities in the Canaries.
"We're going to hold a general assembly of members with the intention of writing into the statutes that these flats cannot be sold nor mortgaged. It will guarantee is some €5,000 or €6,000 per month."
Pedro officially completed his switch to the Premier League from Barcelona on Thursday after Chelsea met his buyout clause of £21m grabbing the signature of the Spaniard ahead of Manchester United. The 28-year-old signed a four-year contract with the Blues after spending almost a decade with the La Liga giants.
