Valencia CF future in danger?

This is huge news, the future of Valencia CF is right now basically up for grabs with court ruling to be made for the 2009 initiative to sell its shares to Valencia members.

If the ruling is in favor of the plaitiff it can spell disaster as all the good work the club has done in the past 2 years can come down crushing and bringing the club once again in a messy situation with people fighting for

Valencia CF shirts to be unveiled Friday

Valencia CF will unveil the shirts Friday, these will be without logo because no sponsor has reached an agreement with Valencia CF yet.

There are some small rumors that Toyota might be interested to be the sponsor again, but I personally think its going to be a Spanish company and I think its going to be signed very close to the start of the season.

The shirts will also go immediately on sale. 

For those who do not know, Spain is in a big financial crisis and unless there are some real and positive changes its going to be very hard for anyone and anything to prosper in Spain.

Comments now use DISQUS

I've updated the blog to use the DISQUS comment system instead of the blogger one, so that more people can comment. Unfortunately in the process the blogger comments were removed, although they are still on the blogger server and can be available should I revert back to the blogger comments system.

I'm currently working on two more pages and trying out external PHP and MYSQL databases to run a fantasy like system although right now its way off.
I'm also working out on different player ratings overlays, testing out new fixtures overlays and whether to have 2010/11 and 2011/12 fixtures on one page or move them to 2 pages or drop the 2010/11 fixtures.

I will probably place a poll on all these issues in order to figure it all out, but I will have it  all sorted out before the new season begins that is for sure.

Valencia CF wallpapers batch 2

With news quite low for today I guess I have time to put on some wallpapers I've created.

I'd like to once again give the initiative for the creation of new wallpapers for Valencia CF, if you're a fan of Valencia and have the skills, please create new wallpapers. You can send them to my email at slickr12345_at_yahoo_dot_com or upload them on the internet and send me the link so I can point them out to people.If you are a website and want to join the initiative just call for wallpapers creation on your website.
I'd like everyone to share the wallpapers so they are widely available so you can contact me and collaborate.

Note: more variants will be uploaded at the facebook page, so check us out on facebook for a few more variants. More wallpapers will be released in the future.

So here they are:

Juan Mata to transfer to Arsenal?

Spanish radio "Nou" said last night from sources it claims close to Valencia CF, that Juan Mata is close to signing with Arsenal.

Sources close to Valencia said than Arsenal are likely to mount an offer this week for Mata in the region of 20 million euros.

Reportedly Arsene Wenger wanted to sign Juan Mata even before the U-21 tournament, but decided to wait after the U-21 European Championship ended.

Interest for Juan Mata have shown numerous clubs, including Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Inter and Juventus.

Source: valencia-balkan

Have Valencia CF transfer deals so far been good?

Hi there ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to take some time and talk to you about Valencia CF current transfer deals and have they been good or bad for the club.

First of all lets start with the big earners and players that have been in Valencia CF for a very long time.
Players like Vicente, Joaquin, Del Horno and Albelda. All had high wages, Albelda and Vicente were from the time when Valencia CF was very successful and both are part of club history.


Was letting go Vicente Rodriguez the right move?
- I think so, but not because of his sporting performance, not even his high wage, it could have been lowered and offered him a 1 year contract extension, but because he is just too much injury prone and with Mata taking the left wing position having such a club icon sit time and time again on the bench was not going to be useful.
So I think the club made the right deal here.

The Joaquin Sanchez saga?
- Well ever since Joaquin made the decision to join Malaga, Valencia could never stop Joaquin from leaving and he goes on to new pastures and big paycheck so he made the right decision, and Valencia could probably not negotiate a bigger transfer fee and we have to look at it realistically. So we got what we got and even though this really weakens the team, because we are without proper cover at the right wing for Pablo, we should move on.

Del Horno and Aldelda?
- Well Valencia CF is right wanting to sell Del Horno, since his arrival to Valencia from Chelsea FC he has barely played and when he has played he has failed to impress. So since he has only 1 more year left on his contract and he is the top earner in Valencia CF right now, we should look to sell hi at all costs and even try to break his contract in agreement with him.
As far as Albelda goes it was a smart thing to extend his contract by one year, he will provide cover and even a challenge to Topal for the defensive midfield position and I think the club gains so much from his leadership in the dressing room.

Defense positions

I could understand Valencia staff wanting to sign Kevin Gameiro and I wanted to, but realistically speaking he would have actually been a big mistake for Valencia and we should be thankful that he chose to sign for PSG. Lets get real and admit that we don't need a fourth striker and even if we needed one we have a young one waiting in the youth team, his name is Paco.

So from the start the most important positions to reinforce the squad were the central defense, right back slot and left back slot or left wing slot.

Lets not kid our-self, with Vicente gone we can either buy a left winger to be a replacement for Mata or move Jordi Alba to be Mata's replacement, but then we would be often short on replacements on the left back spot and what happens if Mathieu got injured?

Loan players position
I'm going to talk a bit about the returning players from loan and I think most of them are not Valencia quality and should go with the exception of Feghuoli who just came to Valencia last season, but maybe Emery made a mistake instantly cutting all of them. I mean we could have tried Sunny if Emery wasn't really overreacting in every situation.


Goalkeeper positions

So lets see our goalkeepers situation now. Cezar left on a free transfer, Renan will probably be let go for nothing since we own Inter some money, Moya was loaned out to Getafe and 3 million were spend on a goalkeeper.

To tell you the truth this is absolutely ridiculous business, if Alves came for 1.5 million euros I would have been okay, but we wasted 5 million on Moya, we let go Cezar for free, we couldn't care less about Renan and we bring in a goalkeeper that cost us 3 million euros and he is going to be a second choice to Guaita?
It doesn't make sense, because its stupid, its bad decisions and decision made in haste.

I can't see Alves being better than Moya to tell you the truth, and if you were to make the point that Moya wants to play, we could also make the same point for Alves, he wants to play as well. At 25 years old I don't think anyone would want to be a second string goalkeeper, unless you come from the youth team and haven't gotten the chance.

Best option would have been to buy some decent goalkeeper for 1 million or even make Renan as back-up and call up Saul as the third choice goalkeeper when needed.

Midfield positions

Daniel Parejo joined Valencia CF really soon after the season was over and at 6 million some would call it a bargain, I call it ridiculous. Why would be the first question, he is a good player, young and has potential, why is this a bad transfer?
The answer lies that Valencia CF valuation of the player was that of Getafe, which was at 10 million euros, he isn't that good and certainly not very proven. But when you know the fact that Valencia has actually paid more than the required 5 million to buy the player, in order to prevent Real Madrid from taking him after his first season with us is just ridiculous.

But lets get away from all the technical and financial aspects and look at the sporting ones. Valencia CF did not need a new midfielder and especially not an attacking one, if we want an unproven but young and very talented attacking midfielder we actually got one in Isco. He is right now probably the best youth attacking midfield in Europe, you think Neymar or Nasri or whatever is better? They are all unproven and having one breakout season doesn't made you a great player.

And we still have Tino, Banega, Feghuoli and even Mata who can play as attacking midfielder. In fact when Silva was injured 2 seasons back, Ever Banega played as an attacking midfielder and he actually did pretty well when he wasn't required to track the ball and come and defend, he actually had quite a few assists at that position.

But ultimately we should have kept those 6 million, plus the 10 million from the failed Gameiro signing and tried to sign really quality defenders, and I'm not talking about the ones from Segunda division, I mean real quality and proven defenders.

The fact that Ever Banega may leave is also not a real explanation, since he may potentially stay and even if he is certain to leave, Parejo is not the kind of player to replace Banega, they play very differently and in different position.

Forward positions

The fact is that we didn't need Gameiro and even though it would not have been a terrible purchase, it would have been an unnecessary one and would have really limited out ability to purchase any significant defensive reinforcements.

If Valencia CF really need a forth striker then Paco is the perfect option and along with Isco could really make a splash in at least some matches.

The outcasts
Renan Brito, Miguel Brito, David Navarro, Del Horno,  Sunny, Manuel Fernandes, Hedwiges Maduro, Michel, Aaron Niguez and Chori Dominguez. These players are all on the chopping list by Emery and are all on the transfer list by the club.

I think Valencia CF should move quickly to sell most of the players that returned from loan as getting even half a million for each player is better than just loaning them out freely and loosing them for free next summer.

As far as Miguel, Navarro, Fernandes, Maduro and Chori we could get some money for them, so we should be careful about their transfer. I even think that Maduro should stay as he is a very versatile player and can play in defense as well as midfield.

The verdict
So far Valencia CF technical staff has reacted without guidance, without objective, without rationale.

When the season ended we brought a goalkeeper, even though we had 4 goalkeepers already and a great youth one in Saul, so that is technically 5 goalkeepers and we bring in the 6th. Does that make logic to anyone except Braulio Vasquez and Unai Emery?

We came off chasing attackers when we needed defenders, luckily Gameiro made the best decision for Valencia CF, probably because he loves Valencia CF so much and realized that our club needs defenders and not attackers.

Then after we were rejected by Gameiro, you'd think our main objectives would be defenders, no we bring in a midfielder, an attacking one and at 6 millions euros with a 2 year buy-back option. Since when does Valencia bow down to Real Madrid? We stole Mata from them and didn't have a buy-back, this is why we have been able to be competitive, if Mata or Soldado or all these Real Madrid players that play from us had buy-back clauses we wouldn't have a team right now. 

So far we've wasted far too much money on not needed reinforcements and can't even sell one player and the ones we don't want to sell like Joaquin leave for pennies.

So Manuel Llorente wake up and put your people in order, make our main objective to bring in quality defensive reinforcements and do not once again make the mistake of bringing not needed players and even have buy-back clauses on them. I don't get it, why did Parejo had to have a buy-back option?

Official: Malaga sign Joaquin Sanchez

As I've reported yesterday and previously when I told you that within 24 to 48 hours the future of Joaquin will be resolved, today is the day that it was made official by Malaga CF website. Reports said it was going to be revealed Monday, in order to pump up the signing of Jeremy Toulan and not divide the attention, but I guess someone at their website didn't get the info.

Anyways as I've said yesterday in my previous post I wish Joaquin the best of luck in his new club and hopefully he and Malaga will not be a threat to Valencia CF in the new season.

Malaga signed Joaquin Sanchez for 4 million euros or 4.5 million euros with various clauses and unluckily Valencia management were not able to increase the transfer fee to 5 or 5.5 million euros.

Joaquin Sanchez is the seventh arrival to Malaga CF after the arrivals of Diego Buonanotte, Martin Demichelis, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Nacho Monreal, Jérémy Toulalan and Joris Mathijsen.

Valencia CF agree transfer fee with Malaga over Joaquin

Just as I've already reported at http://clubvalenciacf.blogspot.com/2011/06/joaquin-sanchez-could-leave-in-next-24.html that a deal is very close between Valencia and Malaga about Joaquin, well now lasprovincias reports that a preliminary deal has been struck between both sides for 4.5 million euros.

I can tell you that Valencia staff is not very pleased with the deal, but will probably sign the deal after they make one more push to increase the transfer fee to 5.5 million euros.

I expect the deal to be signed tomorrow and revealed next week on Malaga's website.

I wish Joaquin the best of luck, he was an important player for Valencia, even though he never really lived up to his purchase price.

Juan Mata to Barcelona?

Marca reports that Barcelona's coach Guardiola has given his blessing for the signing of Juan Mata if the deal with Sanchez fails.

For those who do not know Barcelona are currently trying to sign Alexis Sanchez from Udinese and are offering 28 million euros and Jeffren for him. The player wants to join Barcelona, but Udinese have recived a 40 million offer from Manchester City and want to sell the player to City.

Reportedly Barcelona want to bring two high profile and qulity players this summer so they are unable to raise the offer for Sanchez. Barcelona reportedly have 50 million euros for transfers, plus any selling they do.

Another option is Giuseppe Rossi from Villarreal but Barcelona have already had 30 million bid for the striker rejected and reports have it that Juventus are planing to offer 40 million euros for Rossi. This leaves Barcelona with the option of signing Juan Mata who is reportedly to be let go if an offer of 30 million euros comes through to Valencia CF.

Paco to fight for senior team place

Paco Alcacer will train and travel with the senior team in the preseason in which he'll have a chance to try and impress Unai Emery and possibly be included in the senior team for the whole season. This was talked between Valencia CF Braulio Vazquez and Paco's agent.

In case Paco doesn't make the cut, he'll either return to the Mestalla team or be loaned out, depending on the player choice.

This is in essence some encouraging news for Paco and since Valencia was aiming for a 4th striker in Gameiro, Paco may very well have a real chance at grabbing a place at the senior team.

Valencia court blocked a 90 million hotel

Lets get away from all the sporting news for a while and talk about some of the other stuff going around our favorite club Valencia CF.
Long story short the Valencia court has blocked an agreement between the city council and Valencia CF when Juan Soler was president to use the ground around the Mestalla to build a hotel.

The problem is that while Mestalla owns the ground in its original plan or contract it was supposed to be for sporting development, meaning additional fields or dressing rooms or stuff like that and the previous owners have argued that the land was sold cheaply and they were being lied to that it will be used to build sporting buildings and the court ruled in their favor.

You may ask why do Valencia CF even need a hotel? - Well its a way to increase the value for the land for one, as you know Valencia is looking to sell the current stadium and having a hotel next to it will certainly increase the price, but more importantly Valencia CF may sell all its land, including the hotel to build and if it doesn't manage to sell it, well then the hotel will bring additional income to the club.

Valencia is a tourist city and there are quite a few tourists from all over Spain and European countries so building a hotel is a good business.

Juan Mata Spain U21 report

Spain U21 are in the finals, but not as everyone expected. If you'd asked any "expert" before the game they would have all told you that Spain U-21 are going to cruise to victory by 2 or 3 margin. Well the match turned out to be a lot more interesting as Belarus scored a goal in the 38th minute after a weird shot that luckily went into Spain's net. De Gea had absolutely no work, no saves to make for 90 minutes, except getting the ball out of his net.

As the second half started Juan Mata found itself in a good position to score, jumped to a cross, but was barely late to head the ball. After few minutes Juan Mata made a superb pass and found Adrian alone on goal, but the striker missed the goal with his shot.

Spain U21 managed to score a goal in the 89th minute and bring in into extra time and Mata was once again instrumental in Spain's win as he started the action that lead to Spain's second goal.

In the end Jeffren fired a powerful long shot and made it 3-1 for Spain U21 with Mata having a solid showing once again.

Joaquin Sanchez could leave in the next 24 hours

Transfer talks between Valencia and Malaga are going rapidly over the transfer fee of Joaquin and could finish up quickly with an outcome that both clubs can be pleased.

Malaga has increased the transfer fee money for Joaquin to 4 million and with few clauses it would reach 5.5 million euros.

Valencia is pushing for 4.5 million euros raw money and additional 1.5 million in clauses. Valencia is very likely to accept a 5.5 million total offer from Malaga in order not to loose out Joaquin in six to twelve months for free.

How things turn out is anyone's guess at this point, but expect Valencia and Malaga to reach an agreement within the next 24 hours or 48 hours at max.

Valencia CF news

Vicente Rodriguez is set to go to England as reports have that he is being chased by 3 England clubs, though not everything is set and there are rumors that he is going to go to a Spanish club. Whatever the case I wish Vicente the best of luck.

New Atletico Madrid coach wants to bring Diego Alves and Bruno Saltor to his new club. I don't know if he'd herd, but Diego Alves just signed for Valencia CF few weeks back and is surely not going to be leaving for Atletico Madrid anytime soon.

The case with Bruno is different as his contract ends next season and he could well be on the way out for a little more than 1 million euros. I think the situation of him leaving is 50-50% depending on how the transfer market turns out for Valencia in the next 2-3 weeks.

In the case of Miguel Brito he is on the transfer list with a price tag of 4 million euros, but so far no club has shown any interest in the player. The player himself has expressed that if Valencia want to sell him, he'd like to return back to Portugal.

In some good news Ever Banega played the full 90 minutes for Argentina against Albania in a friendly match in which Argentina won 4-0. Ever Banega played quite good, spread the ball well and covered quite a bit of ground, but the main star of the match was Lionel Messi.
Anyways with Ever Banega possibly being sold this summer, maybe it isn't that great, although there were reports that he may in fact stay in Valencia.

Juan Mata Spain U21 report 2

Spain U-21 squad faced Ukraine U-21 squad and beat them convincingly 3-0. Juan Mata was once again the main player on the field and scored two goals for Spain U-21 ensuring Spain placed first in the group and will be in the semi-finals.

For the first goal Mata was basically at the right place at the right time and with only the keeper to beat he scored. The second goal came from a penalty, but his overall play was very good as well, although not as striking as his previous performance.

Mata has so far scored 2 goals and provided 2 assists, making him a standout player so far in the tournament. 

This tournament is very good for Mata as it makes Mata a better player, gives him more experience and its good for Valencia as well because he is our player and when he returns to Valencia he will come as an improved player.

Valencia CF wallpapers

Hi there, our friends at www.valenciacf.cz have sent me some cool wallpapers from their website and I'm posting them right now.
These will be followed by more wallpapers at a later date when there isn't much news to write.
Again if someone can create VCF wallpapers or already has some unseen send them to my email adress at slickr12345_at_yahoo_dot_com

Preseason friendlies

Valencia CF will have quite a few preseason preparation matches. There are curently 6 confirmed matches and 2 more matches that can happen, but again all of this can change and its not 100% certain.

Preseason fixtures:
19.07.2011:PSV vs Valencia
23.07.2011:Leicester City vs Valencia
30.07.2011:Sporting (L) vs Valencia
02.08.2011:Hamburg SV vs Valencia
06.08.2011:Liverpool vs Valencia
12.08.2011:Valencia vs Roma

Valencia CF interested in Nicolas Pareja

Spanish newspaper Marca is reporting that Valencia CF is interested in signing Nicolas Pareja who currently plays in Spartak Moscow.
Nicolas Pareja is 27 years old, is Argentine nationality and plays as center back. He has played once for Argentina senior national team and 5 times for Argentina U23 team in the 2008 summer Olympics.

Before he joined Spartak Moscow he played for Espanyol for two seasons and before that he played for Anderlecht for two years as well.

Reportedly Braulio Vasquez is going to travel to Moscow where he will meet with Spartak Moscow's representatives and inquire about the possible transfer for Pareja.

Valencia CF are said to be offering up to 10 million euros for the services of Nicolas Pareja. Valencia CF has at most 10 million euros for a central defender and this is big money that Valencia wants to spend on unproven player.

I'm not sure if this news is true or not, I believe it to be fabricated or maybe sort of inquiry about the player and price which doesn't mean anything, but if this news ends up being true that it is certainly bad business.
Nicolas Pareja is not worth 10 million euros, he is barely worth 5 million considering he missed half the season last season and previously he played for Espanyol, not really a big achievement.

Malaga serious about signing Isco

As if Malaga can't do anymore damage to Valencia CF with the Joaquin saga, now they are looking to Valencia CF best youth player Isco Alarcon and reports are that Malaga is seriously thinking about reaching the buy-out clause of 6 million euros for Isco.

Before going to vacation Isco said he likes it in Valencia and plans to continue in Valencia for many years.

Hopefully Malaga won't tarnish any last bit of reputation they might have left from before and stop their interest in Isco.

Juan Mata Spain U21 report

Juan Mata had an amazing showing today for the Spainish U-21 side against the Czech Republic U-21 side. Juan Mata provided 2 assists to Adrian and was probably the best player on the field for Spain under 21 squad.

Mata provided several more through balls, was very active on the field and linked up well with Muniain and Adrian.

Ever Banega wants to stay at Valencia CF

Ever Banega has suggested through the social networks that he wants to stay with Valencia CF. You all remember that Ever Banega tweeted near the end of the season how he would look at offers this summer, he then went on to describe that tweet as a joke to a friend and now he says he wants to stay at Valencia CF, has no problems with anyone at Valencia CF and wants be be at Valencia CF for a long time.

Well the thing is he has been seen drinking and staying up late in the morning hours numerous times, he has been seen smoking, he has been hanging out with trouble boy Chori Dominguez and has openly written he will look at offers to leave Valencia CF this summer.

Now the tables have turned and Valencia CF is looking to offload him, so they are going to use the Copa America 2011 to have Ever Banega's price increased.

Is there a possibility that Valencia CF does not sell him? - Yes there is a small chance that he may stay with Valencia CF, but it will all depend on how much Valencia CF spends on reinforcements.

Do you remember when I reported 7-8 months ago that Valencia CF would have around 16 million euros for reinforcements depending on where it will finish in the Champions League this summer? - Well as you can see Valencia CF has already spend 3 million on Diego Alves, 6 million on Daniel Parejo and that means Valencia CF is left with 7 million euros more for transfers. I mean maybe at max we are left with 10 million euros to spend, but that is very unlikely so Valencia will need to sell, otherwise we would be going in the red in the transfer market, for the first time in 3 seasons actually.

I don't think the decision has been taken that Ever Banega will be sold 100%, but chances are its very, very likely he is going to be sold. Evidence of this is that Llorente and Braulio just promised at the Rami presentation that they are looking at signing two more defenders, so that would mean Valencia is likely to spend more than 10 millions euros going forward.

Malaga setting up a final offer for Joaquin

There are conflicting reports coming from Spanish media about the situation with Joaquin. Some report that Malga is very close to signing Joaquin, while others report that Malaga are willing to wait 6 months to a year to purchase Joaquin.

There are also reports that Joaquin was seen meeting with the Sheik, the new owner of Malaga if you didn't know and eating lunch together. Joaquin was reportedly with his manager and the Sheik was with staff from the club.

Based on an educated guess I'm fairly certain this is what is happening: Joaquin Sanchez has reached a deal with Malaga so now the ball is between Malaga and Valencia, but this so far is known, the new stuff is that Malaga aren't willing to offer more than 5 million euros. So what they have in mind is to make one final offer for Joaquin that is going to be around 5.5 million euros, but as always the final sum is based on clauses like the number of times Joaquin plays, how many assists, goals ans stuff like that.

Previous offers were 3.5 million euros in cash and then 1.5 million in clauses. Right now Malaga is likely to offer 4.5 million euros cash and 1 million in clauses. If the offer is refused by Valencia CF, then Malaga is probably going to wait 6 months and try and sign Joaquin in the winter transfer for probably much lower transfer fee or wait until next summer and get him for free.

Official: Daniel Parejo joins Valencia CF

As I've reported 2 days ago here Daniel Parejo was officially cleared by Real Madrid and is now officially a Valencia CF player. He is still not yet officially represented and there is a deliberation now whether to be a presentation in the next days just on the official Valencia CF website or in person, when Parejo returns from the U21 tournament.

Daniel Parejo was purchased from Getafe for 6 million euros and a loan deal involving our goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya, but wait here comes the bad part about this - Real Madrid have attached a 2 year buy-back clause on Parejo.

Valencia CF had agreed the transfer of Daniel Parejo for less than 6 million euros, but actually increased the payment to try and prevent Real Madrid snatching him out, because the current clause says that they must pay triple his current transfer fee to buy him back. This would mean if Real Madrid want to buy-back Parejo they would need to pay 18 million euros.

Real Madrid stood strong in their buy-back clause and Valencia crumbled in the negotiations, which I think were absolutely poorly planned. First of all I don't value Parejo at 6 million euros, second of all I don't like Valencia CF players having buy-back clause's and third I don't think Getafe's evaluation for the player of about 10 million euros at the beginning of the negotiations  should have been accepted by Valencia CF.

And I know I've been overly critical in my last 2-3 articles about Valencia CF business, but I feel that Valencia CF staff can't be taking these situations lightly and doing any mistakes when we are talking about such important topics.

This season could make or brake Valencia CF and if we don't do ourselves some justice this summer its going to be a long and tough season in which not everything will go our way. I think the 2 year buy-back clause should have been avoided, could have been avoided and even if it couldn't be avoided we should have looked at cheaper and better midfield options.

Official: Valencia CF 2011/12 dress revealed

Valencia CF late last night at the hotel Torres de Serrano revealed the new dress made by Joma for the 2011/12 season. The new dress was presented by Adil Rami. The new dress is the replica of the year 1979 when Valencia CF won the King cup.

The new 2011 dress is called "Senyera" and while it has a lot of history to it and its with the colors of the Valencia region, its looks plain and pretty bad, its not terrible, but I think it should have been modernized or just outright design new dress, don't borrow a design 40- years old

Not to look like I'm against the region colors, I'm not, but the dress design is pretty bad and this is what happens when you take a dress that was worn more than 40 ago and bring it to the new age, it looks old, it looks plain, it looks boring. I'm sure the dress could have been modernized a little bit, especially after we were spoiled with some amazing looking dresses in the last couple of years.


My question is to Joma and Valencia: Who will buy this new dress, its not only supposed to be something to wear at games, its supposed to have selling properties, you know to get Valencia CF out of the financial situation it is.

I think the dress design is a huge mistake and I wouldn't even be surprised if Valencia changed the design mid season after low amount of shirts sold.

Don't get me wrong, the new shirt is not terrible but it could have been much, much better.

Adil Rami official Valencia CF presentation

Today French international Adil Rami was officially presented as a new Valencia CF player and basically the first reinforcement this summer, although his contract has been achieved since the winter transfer market.

Adil Rami signed for some fans, there was a lot of reporters, of course Valencia CF technical secretary Braulio Vazquez was there and he went through a sort of fast medical, which is more of a ceremonial thing that anything, as he has previously gone through extensive medical tests.

He spoke shortly to the media and had this to say:""I am very happy to be in Valencia. For me it is an honor to be in this club. Amunt Valencia."

Adil Rami has had a great season with Lille with whom the won the French league and French cup and has played all of Lille's matches, except few when he was injured.

Tomorrow Adil Rami and Joma will have a big reveal in which the new Valencia CF dress will be revealed and Adil Rami will be the model obviously. The new dress is expected to be in the colors of the region Valencia.

Valencia CF transfers speculation

There has been a lot of news the past couple of days in the transfers department and the biggest news has definitely been Kevin Gameiro doing a 180 degree flip and joining PSG, instead of Valencia CF.

But as I've said this is probably a good thing in disguise and Valencia CF staff will now focus their attention on signing two defenders. Since our piggy bank has all of a sudden increased by 10 million euros we didn't spend on a forward, we can now spend 10 million more on defense. Valencia is looking at signing a right back and another central defender to accompany Adil Rami.
Valencia CF will not look to buy another striker as the current 3 strikers are deemed sufficient by the technical staff and coaching staff.

Juan Mata has once again been linked to a move away from Valencia CF, this time with a move to Liverpool, but as you'd imagine this is not true at all. Juan Mata has said he is happy at Valencia and wants to stay and the club want to keep him as well. In fact I know for a fact that the club is trying to build a team around him, because right now he is our best player.

Then there is the situation with Joaquin Sanchez and his transfer to Malaga which reportedly is closer and closer and Malaga has increased its offer from 2 million euros to 3 million to now 5 million euros for the winger. I think Valencia CF will still push for 7 million and hopefully we'll be able to get 7 million, but whatever the case Joaquin is very, very close to going to Malaga.

The deal with Getafe about Daniel Parejo is sealed and done. The wait was on Real Madrid to officially confirm they won't exercise their option to buy-back the player and the deal could go through. I have reasons to believe that Real Madrid have given it the go and we are now waiting for just an official statement from Valencia CF that they've signed Daniel Parejo.

Gameiro disses Valencia, goes to PSG

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente and Lorient president Loyce Fery had a long and tough negotiation yesterday in London, but actually managed to reach an agreement for the transfer of Kevin Gameiro.
Manuel Llorente gave and increased the bet to 10 million euros, at what point Loyce accepted the transfer fee.

But in an unbelievable turn of events Kevin Gameiro dissed Valencia CF and had chosen to accept the offer from French PSG.

Kevin Gameiro had decided with the "guidance" of French national team coach, more like bribery or something, where he essentially threatened Gameiro to go to PSG or he will be dropped from the national squad and from the upcoming European Championchip and of course Gameiro broke and accepted the PSG deal. He should have called Laurent Blanc bluff and moved forward to join Valencia, just as he declined offers from a ton of other clubs.

Lets just say that the Valencia delegation was visibly disappointed and confused by this move by Kevin Gameiro. After tough negotiations, putting aside a lt of other transfers and even paying 10 million euros to bring him, this has been one of the most bizarre happenings in the newer history of Valencia.

Valencia CF loosing Kevin Gameiro

Well its almost certain that Valencia CF is going to loose Kevin Gameiro, as Valencia and Lorient are unable to come to an agreement over the transfer price. Even though Gameiro has been very vocal about coming to Valencia, Lorient president isn't budding one bit and keeps his firm position.

The fact that Llorente came out public and said that Valencia CF won't pay 12 million euros to bring Gameiro just sort of seals the fate of this transfer.

There are two other options but they are probably bad for every party involved and one is to use the Uefa legislation that allows a player to buy out his contract and the other one is to basically wait out a year and get Gameiro for free.

Both of those options are bad because if Valencia used that Uefa legislation it would damage its reputation and this fares bad for our sponsors, fans and how other clubs would view Valencia.

The option of waiting out 1 year is also pretty bad, especially from the players perspective and even from Valencia's side as who knows what will happen in one year, maybe Gameiro will become bad, maybe we would find cheaper but better forwards, etc...

Ruben Baraja assistant coach of Atletico Madrid

Superdeporte reports that Ruben Baraja the third assistant coach of Atletico Madrid.
Gregorio Manzano will be the new head coach of Atletico Madrid and the second assistant coach is Juan Vizciano.

Ruben Baraja played 3 years in Atletico Madrid B team and 1 year in Atletico Madrid senior team before joining Valencia CF in the year 2000 and achieving huge success.

Valencia CF wallpapers initiative

Hello ladies and gentlemen, fellow Valencia fans. I was looking for Valencia CF wallpapers and it seems that there are overall less than 20 Valencia CF wallpapers and maybe few more if you count the Valencia players wallpapers, but the point if that there is too little of them.

So if you know some VCF wallpapers that can't be found on google or can create new ones, please message me on my email: slickr12345_at_yahoo_dot_com.

I'd like when people search the term Valencia CF on the internet there to be a lot more wallpapers, that people can put as backgrounds in their desktops and just be amazed. So I'm starting this initiative to create VCF wallpapers and if there are people out there that know their Photoshop stuff I'd like to call to make Valencia CF wallpapers and of course send them to me or host them at a website and email me the link.

I may turn this into some sort of competition for the best wallpaper if there is enough wallpapers forwarded towards me.

Daniel Parejo transfers to Valencia CF?

Daniel Parejo transfers to Valencia CF? Well not so much, but with negotations between Getafe and Valencia and the player himself finished, reports suggest that all parties wait on an official response from Real Madrid. They were not going to exercise their buy-back clause as they already purchased Altintop and Sahin and their midfield is already jam packed.

So basically once Real Madrid officials respond that they would not be buying back Parejo the transfer will complete and Parejo will become a Valencia CF player. Reports suggest that Valencia will be paying 5 million, plus putting Moya as a bargain tool as well.

Personally I'd rate Parejo 3-4 million euros, he is very young, very inexperienced, hasn't achieved too much and has played in Getafe a middle table team at best, previously he played for Queen Park Rangers and Real Madrid B team.

The Joaquin Sanchez situation explained

Latest reports suggest that Joaquin wants to continue with Valencia and feels good in the team and in the city, but is unwilling to take a proposed pay cut of 2 million euros, or in other words from 3 million euros salary he gets right now to 1 million with the new proposed contract.

Joaquin obviously wants 2 million from Valencia if he is to consider staying, while reports suggest that Joaquin will earn about 2.4 million euros in Malaga.

Let it be clear that Joaquin Sanchez has in fact reached an agreement with Malaga, this agreement was reached even before the season ended and basically Joaquin is sort of using the agreement with Malaga to get Valencia to pay him at least 2 million euros salary to stay with the club, or else he will just move to Malaga. Valencia would not like to loose him next season for free, but there is another problem and that is that Malaga are prepared to offer only 4-5 million euros for the release of Joaquin right now, while Valencia would like to get around 8 million euros.

Right now Valencia has 3 options: 
Option 1: Give Joaquin a 2 million per season contract, increasing Joaquin stay to 2014.
Option 2: Keep Joaquin for another season with his current contract and loose him for free next season.
Option 3: Continue negotiating with Malaga and try to increase the transfer fee to at least 6 million euros or more.

Option 2 is just outright the worst thing that can happen and its almost impossible that the team is going to go for that option. Basically this option would ensure a huge salary for Joaquin which is not something Valencia wants and then loose him fro free the next summer. This is a no gain option for Valencia in any regard.

Option 1 would also be a loose situation for Valencia. What Valencia wants to do with these new contracts is to reduce its annual salary expenditure and allow the team to gain bigger profits so it could pay off interest from the bank, but also return some of the loan and gradually reduce the interest rate.
So having Joaquin earn 2 million or more defeats the purpose of the new contracts and its quite unlikely Valencia is going to reach Joaquin's salary demands.

Option 3 makes the most sense and unless Joaquin has a change of heart and decides to stay in Valencia at all costs, its highly likely Valencia will sell him. The biggest problem right now is that Malaga has offered 3-5 million euros, 3 million being the initial offer and 5 million being the max offer.
It all comes down to how much Joaquin is valued and the negotiation skills of both the parties. For example transfermarkt values Joaquin at 10 million euros, I personally value him 8 million because of his expiring contract, otherwise I'd say he is probably worth 10 million.

Joaquin Sanchez close to leaving Valencia CF

As soon as the season finished, reports started coming out stating that Malaga wanted to purchase Joaquin and as time progressed the reports have been stronger and stronger, with reports recently saying that Joaquin wants to leave and that he has reached an agreement with Malaga and just waits for Valencia to agree the transfer fee with Malaga.

Valencia CF president Manuel Llorente offered Joaquin a two year extension, but with a pretty big pay cut and it seems the player has rejected the offer and went with Malaga's offer which offers him more money. Obviously Joaquin is a player only interested in his monetary situation and not his sporting one and not to mention the club situation.

But he is too old, too inconsistent and I feel like this season was probably his best since he signed with Valencia and I think his level will drop dramatically next season. The fact that Malaga want to purchase him is actually good news for Valencia as we can now cash in something on him, offload him since his prime has been over for a long time and he will only get worse and worse, not to mention Valencia will be saving about 3 million euros early when/if Joaquin is gone.

Having said all this Valencia should not give him for free and if we can negotiate between 7-8 million euros that would be great. If Malaga try to get him for 4-5 million euros we should immediately reject it and keep him even though he would leave next season for free. I think Joaquin value is around 6-8 million euros, it would have been more, but he has only 1 year left on his contract so its almost impossible to get 9 million or more for him.

Miroslav Klose to sign for Valencia CF?

There have been reports in Germany, especially now in German Bild that Bayern Munich striker Miroslav Klose is basically days of signing an agreement with Valencia CF and becoming a Valencia CF player.

This is as you would imagine not true, Klose has had talks with Malaga about coming over there, but he is not going to join Valencia, never was and never will. Valencia is trying to sign Kevin Gameiro right now and only if the negotiations with Lorient fail, will Valencia possibly look for another striker.

But Miroslav Klose has been talking with other clubs in Spain, as well as clubs in England and would not be joining Valencia.

Summer transfer market - Who should Valencia CF buy?

Who should Valencia CF purchase?

Goalkeepers – Between Vicente Guaita, Miguel Angel Moya, Diego Alves and Renan Brito Valencia are currently in no need of a goalkeeper, in fact Valencia needs to sell in this department otherwise it will just lead to massive unrest between the goalkeepers as each of these players will want to get playing time.

Cezar Sanchez has already left for Villarreal, even though Valencia coach Unai Emery was counting on him being the 3^rd choice goalkeeper, but I guess in the end this benefits both sides as having so many goalkeepers is never such a good choice, from financial point of view and sporting point of view.

Defense – This is the area that needs the most reconstruction as for several seasons now it has been the weakest link in the team and no matter what reinforcements are made its still continues to be the weakest link, either testament of how good the other areas are or just how bad Valencia defense is.

Right now the whole defense needs to get rebuild from the ground up if Valencia is to challenge for more than 3^rd place next season. Having said this Valencia is planning on selling David Navarro, Miguel Brito, not renewing with Stankevicious and the arrival of Adil Rami is certainly a step in the right direction, but with Del Horno loan ending and arriving back, Jordi Alba possible move as a left winger, there is much to be addressed here.

Valencia is still going to need to find a great right-back and probably bring one additional center back as we have two that are very likely to leave.

Midfield – This is probably the strongest area of our team with good quality and quantity and at least 2 players on each position. We have no doubt Valencia’s best player Juan Mata, the experienced and always reliable David Albelda staying for yet another year, two great players in Pablo and Joaquin battling for the right wing spot and of course we have Topal who has excelled in the defensive midfield role, Tino Costa who has really replaced Even Banega more than adequately when he was injured and having problems with his weight, not to mention we have depth here in Fernandes and Maduro who wait for their opportunity.

This doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be changes here, with Ever Banega possibly leaving and Vicente’s departure has left the left wing slot shorter by one man and needs to be addressed.

We also have the returning of Feghuoli, Michel, Sunny and other so there needs to be some offloading and reshuffling of the cards if you will. 

Attack – This is the area that realistically doesn’t really need strengthening with Roberto Soldado, Jonas Gonclaves and Aritz Aduriz all capable of scoring goals and playing well its probably the best area right now for Valencia.

Even though Valencia doesn’t really need strengthening in attack, Valencia is still going after Lorient’s Kevin Gameiro, Valencia’s summer transfer target that failed to materialize. Valencia and the player have reached an agreement and the problem right now is the transfer money, with Valencia offering in the region of 6-7 million, while Lorient asking 10-12 million euros.

Whatever the case Valencia can function with 3 and 4 players in this department and there shouldn’t be major problems considering Valencia is going to play in 3 competitions next season and has plans to go far in each one.

Opinion: This is the season where Valencia needs to rebuild and sort out its ranks. It needs to bring quality, yet cheap players, players that have huge value for money and players that can really shine and have future in the team, getting close to Barcelona and Real Madrid and go further and further in the Champions League and Spanish Cup.

We should sell or release quite a few of the players and of course bring in quality reinforcements all the while keeping our bank within 10 million differences between expenditure and income. 

Few of the considered players that made the top 10 list of quality players and value for money:

Marvin Martin, age 23 – midfield (attacking), Sochaux, 6-8 million, 6/10

Roman Ermenko, age 24 – midfield, Dynamo Kyiv, 4-5 million, 6/10

Maximiliano Pereira, age 26– right back, Benfica, 7-8 million, 8/10

Alan Dzagoev, age 20 – attacking midfield, CSKA Moscow, 7-10 million, 6/10

Andreas Beck, age 24 – right back, 1899 Hoffenheim, 5-6 million, 7/10

Benedikt Höwedes, age 23 – center back, Schalke 04, 9-11 million, 8/10

Mario Götzem, age 19 – attacking midfield, Dortmund, 12-13 million, 7/10

Note: Top 10 list is filled with top quality players that represent value for money and the decisions are based on statistics, watching every available video of the players in action and of course various articles on the players.

PLAYERS IN: Diego Alves (purchase, 3 million), Renan Brito (loan end), Benedikt Howedes (purchase, 10 million), Maximiliano Pereira (purchase, 8 million), Adil Rami (loan end), Asier Del Horno (loan end), Stephen Sunday (loan end), Miguel Angel (loan end), Manuel Fernandes (loan end), Roman Ermenko (purchase, 5 million), Isco (from VCF Mestalla), Paco Alcacer (from VCF Mestalla), Sofiane Feghuoli (loan end), Chori Castro (purchase, 18.000), Aaron Niguez (loan end) and Kevin Gameiro (purchase, 7 million).

PLAYERS OUT: Cezar Sanchez (free transfer), Miguel Angel Moya (sell, 2 million), Renan Brito (sell, 1 million), Miguel Brito (sell, 4 million), David Navarro (sell, 2.5 million), Marius Stankevicious (loan end), Asier Del Horno (sell, 1 million), Stephen Sunday (sell, 1 million), Miguel Angel (sell 1 million), Manuel Fernandes (sell, 5 million), Ever Banega (sell, 16 million), Sofiane Feghuoli (loan), Alejandro Dominguez (sell, 4 million), Aaron Niguez (sell, 0.5 million), Paco Alcacer (loan).

Players in cost: approximately 33 million euros

Players out income: approximately 38 million euros

Total: approximately 5 million euros in profits

Benedikt Howedes is a central defender who plays for Schalke 04 and is probably one of the best defenders in Europe right now and at only 23 years of age he has his whole career ahead of him to improve. It’s going to be a hard battle for Schalke 04 to release him, considering he is one of their main players and his contract is set to expire in 2014.

What’s in Valencia’s favor is that it can offer him Champions League football and more high level challenge in Spain. Valencia is also more prestigious than Schalke 04 and can also offer Beneditk a better contract. I think with good negotiation we can get him for 10 million euros and Valencia should make all efforts to sign him before his price skyrockets next season, similarly as I’ve predicted with my winter recommendation Leinghton Baines who’s price has now skyrocketed since he is considered one of the best players in England and beyond. 

Maximiliano Pereira is a right back playing for Benfica and is currently one of the best right backs in Europe without getting too much hype. His price is still reasonably low because the hype hasn’t really caught to him, but he is an excellent player and at only 26 years old he has great value.  He played all the matches for Uruguay in the world cup 2010 in which Uruguay finished 4^th place.

The biggest problem right now is that Real Madrid are after left back Coentrao, so if he is sold, it’s very unlikely that Benfica will risk selling another one of their defenders, in this case their right back. It’s all going to depend if the player wants to play for another club. Valencia can offer him Champions League football and more opportunity for him, so it will all depend if Valencia can make an agreement with the player and then pressure Benfica. Whatever the case I’m just listing the best possible options here if Valencia is going to be a team that can challenge for titles.

Roman Ermenko is a midfielder playing for Ukrainian team Dynamo Kiev and is a potential star. He is not better than Ever Banega, he is not even established yet and his performances in Ukraine have been quite varying from amazing to bad, but I feel he is to explode really soon and really rise as a top player. You can watch his games in the Uefa European League and see what I’m talking about. He has really big potential and showed off some of his skills in the European league this season, providing 6 assists and basically finishing as the top assistor. I think he is going to shine next season and Valencia would be smart to snatch him up for 5 million euros, maybe even lower with smart negotiations.

He is one of the cheapest options and provides good value for money. Valencia is likely to purchase him for 5 million or even less if they mounted an offer.

Chori Castro is a left winger playing for Mallorca right now and with recent reports that his contract has a clause that lets him leave for 18.000 euros Valencia would be crazy to miss out on this kind of opportunity. He is a good player and while he is nothing special, he will primarily be Mata’s replacement when he is injured or rested. What is good about Chori Castro is that he is a direct runner and differs quite a bit from Mata so that can open up few variants against various oppositions. 

While he is not that young in football years, he probably has his best 4 years ahead of him and if Valencia signs him on a 4 year deal he can be a great asset.

Kevin Gameiro is a striker currently playing for French team Lorient and is one of the hottest properties in France right now. Valencia already had reached sort of an agreement with the player and is basically negotiating with Lorient about the price of the player. Kevin Gameiro has been very vocal that his preferred destination is Valencia and has rejected reportedly 11 offers from other clubs.

This kind of player with such quality and especially determination to come to Valencia must be purchased no matter what. How often do you see players wanting so badly to come to Valencia and are actually amazingly good. Valencia should try to get him at all costs and offer anything between 7-9 million euros. 

Players out explanation: Valencia CF basically needs to rebuild and it must start by selling some of its weaker players. With Cezar Sanchez already gone we should continue to sell both Renan and Moya and reduce our goalkeeper count to 2, while if there is a need bring Saul from the youth team as a 3^rd choice.

Miguel, Navarro, Stankevicious and Del Horno should all be offloaded as they are just draining the clubs resources, especially Del Horno who is currently the highest paid player in Valencia. 

Navarro’s time is over and he is just not good enough for Valencia, Stankevicious is also not good enough and doesn’t deserve to be purchased and Miguel has been having all sort of problems outside of football with criminal charges against him, reckless driving charges, bad relationship with Emery and he is also not getting any younger. 

All of the returning midfielders from their loan deal should be finally sold, as most of them have only 1 year contract with Valencia and we should get some money from them.

Manuel Fernandes should be sold and Valencia should get to make as much money out of him, but not risk not being able to sell him. 

Ever Banega has been amazing in the 2009/10 season, but this season he has returned to some of his older problems like staying until late in the morning hours drinking alcohol, coming late to training and getting fat. He is young and very talented, but I’m afraid he is one of those players that are never going to fulfill his true potential and Valencia would be smart to sell him after the South American tournament when his price is inflated and get as much money out of him to fuel some of the purchases. With clubs like Inter, Roma, Tottenham and more interested in his signature there is likely to be some bidding wars.

Aaron and Chori should be sold and get some money off of them, no matter how small it is, although I think Valencia can cash in about 4 million on him, while Paco should be loaned out to some segunda of primera team in order to gain experience.

With the possibility of Valencia even turning profit with these changes, the club can even make a more aggressive push in trying to sign some of these players, like for example offering 9 million for Gameiro, 12 million for Benedikt or even go for some cheaper segunda B purchases that go around 1-3 million and get an additional right back for example, allowing to possibly even sell Bruno.

Next season options: