The End Of Valencia - Everyone Must Go - But Where?
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Spanish Inquisition: The End Of Valencia - Everyone Must Go - But Where?
If Milan or Madrid are in some kind of crisis, we need a new word for Valencia.
Soler destroyed Valencia
A couple of weeks ago, the Valencia CEO delivered a message that the world has been waiting for what seems like an eternity. Something we have long known but club president Vicente Soriano and his henchmen refused to publicly acknowledge. We all knew it, but we needed to hear it.
Apparently, they have a little bit of debt. OK - that we knew - but Gomez dared to go where no Che had gone before: he admitted that Valencia are likely to be forced into considering the sale of their star players in order to stay afloat.
And right he was. Without an overzealous, happy-go-lucky Sheikh handy, €450 million won't just fall out of the sky to save the souls of Soriano & Co.And they, of course, can only make feeble attempts to clear the wreckage left by former president Juan Soler, who took a club on the up and set them on a self-destructive downward spiral completely unlike almost anything ever seen in the history of Spanish football.
Firing, hiring, then firing some more seemed to be his solution to just about everything. A four-year reign of unbridled self-destruction saw the club crumbling long before the on-field capitulation of last season and this. The cost of treating employees behind the scenes (as well as some in the spotlight) like disposable handywipes caught up with him in ways he quite clearly never thought possible. He tendered his resignation in March 2008, leaving the club resembling something of a post-iceberg Titanic.Caught between one stadium that is quite literally falling to pieces and another that is halfway through construction and unable to be completed due to the global recession (which has hit Spanish construction about as hard as every fan dreamt of hitting Ronald Koeman at this time last season), the club really has nowhere to go, geographically or financially.
It goes without saying that, like every other pre-programmed, media-trained drone of a footballer, not a single Valencia player has really laid out on the table just how the cracks showing upstairs have affected them at ground level.
They haven't even been paid in weeks. The fact of the matter is that there aren't just cracks upstairs, there are full-blown hemorrhaging, internal plate-shifting, earthquakes and debris falling from the roof in the dressing room. Which, given the current state of the Mestalla, probably isn't that far from reality.
The bottom line is that not even having Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on their books - just for the purposes of selling them - could save Valencia at this point. At very best, they would be able to break even, temporarily, before the creditors come back, maneuvering for more Mestalla money that simply isn't there anymore.
So by now you can imagine, while any attempt to make or save money seems futile, every little really does help. The club has to sell any assets it can, and those most readily available and marketable are the players.
This is a club that was one of the main representatives in the Spanish national side that won EURO 2008. It's not a bad squad, even if many of the recent signings have left something to be desired.
David And David - Valencia's Two Goliaths
Since falling off the international radar as they did last season, Valencia are now a club known only for two players: David Villa and David Silva. The rest may not as well exist.
Both staked their claim to being world class stars at EURO 2008, with Villa in particular shining, finishing as the tournament's top scorer.And it has been Villa who has carried on this run of incredible form into the domestic season, often single-handedly winning matches for Los Che, scoring spectacular and vital goals on a regular basis. He is considered by many as the best striker in the world, yet he is playing at the worst 'big' club there is.
His loyalty to Valencia has been commendable, if not somewhat dumbfounding. It's not his hometown club, and in fact, he had already been very prolific before joining in 2004 from Real Zaragoza. He has enjoyed next to no success at the Mestalla on a team level, yet he has been all too eager to stay when leaving would have been not just easy, not just lucrative and not just successful - but all three.
Only now is his future finally becoming a matter of public uncertainty. The player himself has said very little, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that David Villa will leave Valencia this summer. Barcelona are heading the way for his signature, possibly as a replacement for the prolific yet problematic Samuel Eto'o.
Coming in behind are Man City, who have the money but not too much else going for them at the minute. Kaka's decision to stay at AC Milan set a monumental precedent. Many will now follow suit, and Villa, for one, is more than likely to follow his example. City would only stand any chance of interesting him if they win the UEFA Cup.
Real Madrid were close to signing him last summer, but wouldn't go the extra mile that was being asked of them by Soriano, who was all too eager to keep new coach Unai Emery on his good side. Now, the Merengues have brought in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who is scoring goals as freely as he did in the Eredivisie. Is there still room for Villa? Maybe. A bidding war of Clasico proportions for the country's finest could take place this summer.
Then there are Chelsea and Liverpool, who are both looking to revamp over the summer with new managers and new contracts in the air. Either of them could yet venture to Villa's villa as a surprise bidder and maybe, despite the striker's apparent preference for remaining in his homeland, gatecrash the Spanish party. The man himself, meanwhile, seems almost entirely disinterested.It's not unfair to even say that Villa's loyalty is greater than Silva's, which is more than a little confusing, as it is the latter who came through the ranks with the club.
He's considerably younger than Villa and a more versatile player with exceptional technique. He can be deployed all over midfield, but tends to operate best as the central playmaker behind the strikers; think of him as a more free-moving Juan Roman Riquelme or perhaps a slightly more savvy Joe Cole.
He was allegedly the subject of interest from Manchester United late in the summer but announced that he would only leave Los Che for another club in Spain, "such as Barcelona or Real Madrid".
As such, Juventus may be hard-pressed to land him as their successor to Pavel Nedved, as has been reported sporadically in the continental press over the past few weeks. There has been fleeting interest from English clubs, but none of it concrete.
There was a time that Valencia insisted they would never sell Villa or Silva. Then there were murmurs that one had to go. Now, surely, both will be on their way. If the club's current slide continues, they may not even qualify for the UEFA Cup. They were second at the turn of the year.
Villa and Silva aren't the be all and end all of Valencia. Shrewder coaches and sporting directors worldwide will be keeping their eyes open for some bargain hunting this summer.
Raul Albiol has been the unfortunate victim of attempting to be part of a defence so tragic, it is only made to look good because Atletico Madrid somehow do that much worse every week. He nevertheless is a young, promising prospect of great physical stature - he impressed in Spain's win over England - and he has been linked with Arsenal on more than one occasion.
There are also the wingmen, Joaquin and Vicente, once the pride of Spain and now all but forgotten. The former remains an inconsistent enigma, while his left-sided compatriot has finally gotten over the worst of his injury worries. Both could find themselves on the move this summer. They're not young anymore, but still have a couple of good years to offer.
There is also the rising star of the season, who has by and large been enshrouded by cloud after cloud of catastrophe, in Juan Manuel Mata. The versatile Real Madrid youth product was snapped up by Valencia and has come into his own, more or less serving as Los Che's second most decisive forward of the season. He has scored and provided goals in equal measure and could easily end up at a Spanish rival, or even in England.
The Portuguese pairing of Manuel Fernandes and Miguel are also likely to attract interest. Fernandes in particular, with many years ahead of him and substantial Premier League experience already under his belt with Everton, is almost certain to return to the world's most lucrative league this summer.
Any kind of substantial recognition is otherwise sparse when concerning the remaining players at the club. Warhorses such as Ruben Baraja, David Albelda, Miguel Angulo and Carlos Marchena are likely to follow the club right the way down to the ground. Because that's where they're heading, and what a shameful moment it will be for Spanish football. -
Villa will be heading to Anfield, to join his compatriots Torres, Alonso, Arbeloa, Reina, Rafa, Riera...half of spanish national team...lol
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Anyone willing to play for free?
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Originally posted by omgukilledkenny:
Anyone willing to play for free?
come S. league. .
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Originally posted by maskedangel:
come S. league. .
i think they'd rather play for free.