Oviedo is already looking at Vigo. From one city to another there is little more than 400 kilometers, but a lot of crumb. In Galician lands is Carlos Mouriño, owner of Celta. In Asturian lands, although he commands from a distance, Jesús Martínez, the largest shareholder of Oviedo through the Pachuca Group, has been there since this week.
Both are united by a close friendship that crosses the Atlantic. Also professional admiration. The Mexican considers the Galician almost an older brother. Mouriño moved to Mexico in 1978 and there he founded what would become his business emporium, the GES group, a corporation dedicated to the transportation and marketing of fuel. With Mouriño established as a successful businessman in Aztec lands, Martínez began his business career linked to sports with the Pachuca Group, founded in 1995.
“The relationship between the two is very good. From president to president. When Martínez came to visit Vigo, he had a great impression,” Celta sources explain. Mouriño returned to Spain in the early 2000s and in 2006 he began his career at Celta, which lasts until today. And the bridge with Martínez was always working at full capacity. In fact, Celta’s future sports city, which is in the first phase of construction in the town of Mos, is inspired by the spectacular campus that Grupo Pachuca has, with a university and hospital.
Mouriño visited it years ago and the light bulb went on for his Galicia Sport 360, a project that aims to be multipurpose, with spaces for concerts and shows, Universities, a hotel… Its price is around 150 million euros.
The sports city, in addition, has been one of the main issues of controversy between Mouriño and Abel Caballero, the mayor of Vigo (PSOE), faced with the largest shareholder for years. Several disputes over the works are in court. Now, with Martínez settled in Spain through Oviedo, “the priority for Pachuca”, relations with Celta will be “extraordinary”. Celta and Pachuca, in fact, signed a collaboration agreement for the exchange of players in 2016.
Mouriño, traveling to the United States at the moment, is also perfectly informed of Pachuca’s movements in Oviedo. If the Galician had in Martínez a perfect adviser for the implementation of his sports city, the Mexican will now have a direct contact in a First Division club. A partner to exchange contacts. In the offices of Oviedo the following is repeated: “We will get along very well with Celta.”
