Thursday, August 21, 2008

RCD Mallorca Valero Out and Navarro In...

It may come as a shock to Mallorca fans, but surprisingly, we have lost another player to another club following our outstanding season last year. The latest is young Argentinian midfielder Borja Valero who will now ply his trade for West Brom in the EPL. Now even the crappy EPL teams are getting our players.



Valero is a solid player who is up and coming, but from a cost standpoint, it seems like an awful lot to shell out 4.9 million for a still unproven player. West Brom basically said they will pay his buyout price in his contract and once they did that, he was theirs. They have some money to spend and it is a good move for a team that wants to stay in EPL and who cannot attract star players. Mallorca wanted him to stay, so I guess all they can do is in the future make the buyout clauses bigger. The bottom line is if a club with money comes for your player, they will get him. We need to somehow be willing to spend some money and get other players by simply buying out their sizable contract. I know they have their eye on Trejo as well so we need to try and keep him if at all possible as I think he is better then Valero.

I think Valero was for some reason unhappy in Palma because I dont think he is moving to a better club. They might have more money, but Mallorca is better then West Brom even if you foolishly think the EPL is better then La Liga. If he wanted to play English football, good for him but it is not an upward move for his career. I will not argue though that if he is successful, he could land at a bigger EPL club.

The bottom line is that our talent really showed itself last year and even our second tier youngsters are getting attention. These players we seem to replace for less money and while I hate to lose players that are good and up and coming, he can be replaced easier then a Guiza. No matter what we cannot keep losing players like this but I dont fault the club as they made WB pay full price. Time will tell if the replacements will make up for the loss.

The loss stings a little less with the word that Valencia is loaning us David Navarro for another year. He was a solid contributor in defense for us last year and improves our weakest area. Maybe this is an early present for us letting them eventually have Moya. I still dont think that situation is resolved so if you think the transfer destruction of our team is over, hold on tight until the final deadline.

Even if the club has done well to build up its midfield and tried to improve its strike force with bargain players, to think we will be as good as last year is just pure fantasy. When was the last time a mid sized or small club took such huge losses in the offseason. Every fan, including myself, has to be going crazy.

Is our new owner ready to spend some real money? We cannot simply rely on Manzano and managment to scout young talent and bring them in under the radar only to see them leave for a profit and find suitable replacements. For all the frustration we have seeing our players leave, it makes me feel better that somewhere in our club there is a system in place that finds these players while they are cheap and who are then brought in to make a difference for us.

So who is this years cheap surprise(s)? We have a few with potential so LaLiga get ready for us. We wont let these player losses keep us down for long.

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