Valencia sign Amallah

Valencia have confirmed the addition of Selim Amallah, who becomes the 4th player to join us in the summer transfer window, counting Cenk. Amallah is mainly an attacking midfielder, but can also play central midfield or left wing. He joined Valladolid back in January and managed 2 goals in his 7 appearances, reasonable for a relegated club. He's the first Moroccan player at the club since Munir in 2016-17, though he also has Belgian citizenship, having been born there, so doesn't take up a non-EU spot.

Valencia paid 150,000 for his loan and have a buy option of 7.5 million. After the foolishness of developing players like Kluivert and Lino for other clubs last season without realistic buy options, Valencia have smartened up in this window. 

The club still has hopes of adding 1 or 2 players before the window closes late on Friday. Chief importance is a forward after Cavani and Marcos Andre's exits. The problem is that, after dallying all summer, there are less than 70 hours left. The Rafa Mir deal seems to have fallen through. The main issue seems to be that Sevilla were ready to sell him, but wanted cash and a definite sale, while Valencia were only offering a loan with buy option, which wouldn't guarantee Sevilla funds to get a replacement. Valencia don't want to splash the cash, preferring a "try before you buy" approach. The club's main plan B is now rumoured to be Colombian Rafael Borre, who plays for Eintracht Frankfurt. He'd an ok first season for them with 8 in 31 league games, plus 4 in 8 in Europe, but his form dropped off last year with just 2 goals in 32 league games. People who've watched him seem to rate him ok, but these scoring statistics don't excite me. 

A winger is the 2nd wish from the club and we will see what happens there. There has been no more news on Ivan Jaime and previous windows have seen players (often from the Mendes stable) emerge out of nowhere at the last minute.

Transfer updates: Cömert and André to leave, Mir and Amallah pending

Valencia has got closer to its objective of clearing our unwanted players in recent days. It looks like Marcos André is on his way back to Valladolid. Valencia will receive 2 million and transfer 40% of the rights they own (Valladolid still had 10%), so Valencia will receive half of any future transfer. Thus ends yet another awful transfer of the Lim era. Valencia paid 9 million for the player and worse, pushed out Kangin Lee to make way for him. There are occasions on which Valencia's fanbase have been divided over a transfer, but this was one where no one was excited in the first place. Even with low expectations, he managed to hugely disappoint. 46 games played in the league and a shockingly bad 2 goals. To put that in context, Paulista has 3 in 40 games over the last 2 seasons, while Diakhaby got 3 in 29 games last season. Those are figures which almost make Ruben Sobrino look good. 

Also out the door is Cömert.

He joined for a less financially ruinous 800,000 in January 2022. He had a poor start and looked out of his depth. However, last season, pre-world cup he significantly improved, looking much more competent under Gattuso. During this time, he scored his only goal for the club, unintentional as it was, putting the ball back into the box and fluking a 96th minute equaliser after André has put the game in danger by being idiotically sent off. He goes on loan to Nantes, who had a 3 million buy option, which looks reasonable.

The last player Valencia are looking to move out is Samu Castillejo. He did ok last season after joining on a free, but as with many his form tailed off after the world cup and there are rumours of lack of professionalism and that he likes the Valencia nightlife scene a bit too much. With no offers coming in, Valencia have made an offer of 450,000 for him to rescind his contract, but the player is demanding a million.

With those first 2 deals done, there was expectation that the Rafa Mir deal could finally be closed and Valencia upped their offer yesterday to meet Sevilla's asking price. However, Sevilla then threw a spanner in the works, with their sporting director announcing that he expected Mir to stay for the season. There a few things going on here. First, Mir scored a really good goal in Sevilla's last game. It's possible, but unlikely, that that has given Sevilla second thoughts. More likely is that Sevilla are just chancing their arm, trying to squeeze more money out of Valencia. By delaying the deal past the weekend Sevilla will know that they also hurt a rival like Valencia by denying them a player for now.  A further factor is the En Nesyri situation. West Ham have made an offer to Sevilla and if he goes there then they may keep Mir due to lack of forward options. However, they've added Dodi Lukebakio and are said to be close to signing Alkmaar's Vangelis Pavlidis. With Mir trying to force an exit, I still think he'll end up with us, but it's frustrating that the deal may go to deadline day. Valencia still haven't ruled out signing alternatives and Lucas Boye of Elche and Borja Majoral of Getafe are plan Bs.

What this doesn't help is Valencia's pursuit of Selim Amallah. Apparently negotiations on that finished about a month ago, with Valencia managing to get Valladolid to lower the buy option from 10 million to 6 million. The problem is that Valencia have been waiting for departures and the player is naturally getting fed up of waiting around. To add to the difficulties, Celta have now entered the race for the player. With Gabri Veiga set to go to Saudi for around 40 million, Celta will have the cash to pay outright, which could scupper the deal for Valencia. Celta have also been linked with Maksimovic of Getafe for 6-7 million, which would be far better for Valencia, as we still own 30% of the player. One possibility if Maksimovic did go north is that Getafe could give Mayoral to us in exchange for cash and the 30% Maksimovic cash.

As always, we never seem to get business done in a timely way, which always costs us and I expect this year we'll be waiting until the final day. It would not be a surprise to see some unexpected loanees (probably linked to Mendes) end up here at the last minute either.

Sergi Canós official, Mir next?

So finally, Valencia have officially confirmed the signing of Sergi Canós, who joins for €250,000 on a 4-year contract with a release clause of €100 million. He was ready to join 2 months ago and had turned down better offers from multiple clubs to wait for Valencia, but the club's penny pinching meant it took until now to get the deal done. It's really embarrassing that, after spending €117m in his first year as owner (equivalent to €155 million today) on just 4 players (Negredo, Rodrigo, Enzo Perez and Abdennour), Lim is now resorting to scrooging and arguing over pennies on the dollar. 

Anyway, as I said in a previous post he will bring a decent amount to the table for a mid-table club (I don't think he'd have seen many games in any of Marcelino's teams.) Experience, ability to play in multiple positions and a love for the club. If there's a small worry, it's that he missed 13 games last season due to injuries, though that seems a one-off as he was available for all games the 3 seasons before that.

Valencia's attentions now turn to Rafa Mir. He gets on well with Baraja due to working together at youth level and wants to come back. I'm not hugely excited about him but he at least would be an experienced target man, we badly need an extra body up front and if he could get to double figures in goals that would help. The sticking point for now is, as ever, money. Valencia have agreed to cover his €3.4m annual salary. Sevilla have put a buy option of €8-9 million in which Valencia have agreed to. (It's a reasonable reduction from the €14m originally suggested.) The big point of disagreement is that Sevilla want Valencia to cover  €2m amortisation costs to help their financial fair play. Valencia have refused. Sevilla are allegedly offering a reduction in the buy option to €6-7 million in exchange. The clubs don't seem that far apart so with all parties wanting the deal to happen it most probably will, though Valencia are looking at other options as well with Elche's Lucas Boyé said to be next choice. 

Another option that has emerged is Iván Jaime. He's mainly a left winger, but also plays attacking midfield and right wing. He's a Malaga youth product who's played the last 3 seasons in Portugal with Famalicao. Last season was a breakout for him, emerging as the club's top scorer and being named as Young Player of the Year in the Portuguese League. He sounds like he could be a good addition though it would probably be as usual on loan to begin with.

Valencia are sinking and the captain has abandoned ship

The 2022-2023 season was a disaster. Things started well with Gattuso, but as so often happens, it was just false hope and his inexperience meant he couldn't turn things around when results started dropping. The world cup break also didn't help, with players like Cavani poor afterwards and Gattuso quitting, admitting he was clueless to turn things around. The jury is still very much out on Baraja. The club escaped relegation by the skin of its teeth. Literally an injury time goal is all that separates us from planning our first season in the Segunda since the mid-80s. And don't listen to our fans who weirdly think relegation would be a magic solution, forcing Lim out. He'd probably stay and whether he went or not, a financial hole would become the Mariana Trench.

The problems are obvious: a squad with weaknesses all over, now made worse by the disappearance of the players who were here on loan. Ok, Moriba was meh, but Nico, after alienating fans with an ill-advised interview, improved in the last few games. The biggest losses are Kluivert and Lino. Kluivert would have been a good prospect to add, but instead the club whistled in the wind while he went to Bournemouth for 8 million. Lino occasionally gets linked with a return but allegedly the player has said he doesn't want to come back and who can blame him? The transfer window started ok. The club signed Cenk permanently. I got no problem with that, since he looks like a player who can grow. Pepelu was also picked up from Levante for 5m with Canos reported to be imminent, but that was a month ago and things have frozen since then. Our first game against Sevilla away is only 17 days from now and we have a squad worse than the one that just about stayed up. Any thoughts that relegation would be a wake-up call for Lim and co have been smashed.

Right now, with Lim refusing to spend anything, the club needs departures. Cavani, Castillejo, Marcos Andre and Racic are top of the list to go. I'd keep Racic, but Baraja doesn't seem to rate him. Cavani would likely be for free. Valencia are also looking to sell Musah. Milan have offered 18 million but Lim is refusing and asking for 25 million. On the one hand I like that the club are finally not gifting players, but on the other where was this attitude with people like Parejo and Kondogbia etc? Mamardashvili's future is also up in the air and Paulista, as one of the highest earners is either expected to go or take a wage cut. None of the rest seem certain either, Thierry has been linked with the exit as well. The club probably needs about 7 signings including 3 wingers, a midfielder and 2 forwards, probably a defender too. These should have been added earlier, to have them train with the team, get used to the playing style etc, but as usual that's too much like common sense for Meriton.

Apart from Canos, the names mostly strongly linked are Rafa Mir and Selim Amallah. The 2nd wouldn't cost much as Valladolid got relegated, probably a loan to start with buy option and both he and Canos would improve the squad. Rafa Mir is the most head scratching one, since the club are pleading poverty but talking about paying around 14 million all in for him. Baraja likes him from working with him at youth level but after being ruined by Nuno when he pushed him into the team too quickly his career has been meh. He's struggled to get 10 goals a season and seems more like the profile of people like Maxi Gomez or Cavani, players who struggled here and didn't get service. Paying that much when we're hard up seems like a huge risk to me. The issue with him is the same as in 2015: we seem to be doing this as a favour to Mendes, his agent, rather than what's best for the club. (Cyle Larin is going for 8m, why not spend that on him instead?) Overall, there's also the issue that all three want to come but like Kluivert, will not wait around forever while Valencia dawdle.

With an ownership that clearly don't care, it's really hard to get any enthusiasm for the team right now. Usually I'd be looking forward to the season and seeing how new players work out but not this time. I'm expecting another hard season. We deserve better.

Valencia sign Herrerin

Valencia have announced the signing of Iago Herrerin on a free transfer as he was a free agent following the long term injury to Jaume Domenech, who is expected to be out until around March.

Herrerin is a Bilbao youth product who broke through into the first team but was mostly back-up to Kepa. He played most games in the 2018-19 season before being displaced the following season by Unai Simon. Loan spells followed before he spent last season at Al Raed in Saudi Arabia. He joins us after a successful trial with a contract till the end of the season with an option to renew for a further season.

I see some fans on social media criticising this. What's wrong with Mamardashvili and Rivero, they say? Definitely nothing in the case of Mamardashvili, but Rivero is untested in La Liga, whereas Herrerin has La Liga, Copa and European experience. It wouldn't be the first time both keepers got injured at the same time (happened last season and at the start of Nuno's 2nd season) so having an extra experienced option as cover makes perfect sense and there were few other free agents with La Liga experience available. It remains to be seen how much he'll play, Valencia is in the super cup this season, so unlike the previous two seasons, we start in Copa del Rey at round of 32 instead of round of 128, skipping two games against 3rd or 4th level sides.

Transfer window closes

It was a busy transfer window at Valencia, with 8 departures and 8 additions.

  

So to add to the previous post, Soler left. The fee was reported to be 18 million plus a possible four more in variables. Since he and Guedes contributed 22 goals and 11 assists last season so the pressure is on for the new additions to do that. A disappointing sum but as in so many cases, the club let contract renewal drag on too long and were forced to cash in for less than half of what he's worth.

Quite a few of our fans are disgruntled at the emotionless way that Soler left. Not a hint that the last game would be his last, no message to the fans and a shrug of the shoulders as he flew off to Paris. True, he's getting a lot more money, but it contrasts with the emotional exits of Cancelo and Parejo and the respectful one of Rodrigo.

In the end Tottenham refused to loan us Bryan Gil, who put a cryptic message of disappointment on his social media. Instead, the club added Justin Kluivert on loan with a 15 million buy option. He's said to be pacy and promising but not the finished article, with errors in his game. Hopefully he'll do better than his dad who managed 202 minutes played in a season where he was out injured almost the whole time.

In a surprise move, Valencia brought back Ilaix Moriba for another season's loan. His last season was a bit like Soler's recent form: utterly average and a lot of the time you simply forgot he was on the pitch. It's hard to be excited about his return, the only memorable thing I can think of was his assist in the cup final. 

3 other departures were confirmed. Maxi Gomez heads off to Trabzonspor. Again the fee is shockingly low. Valencia paid 17 million plus Santi Mina (valued at at least 15m) for him. Yet the asking price went from 12m to 9m to Valencia finally saying they were getting 6m, only for the Turks to leak that it was actually 3m. Meriton's negotiation stinks and then they complain we have no money? Maxi's transfer seemed a great idea at the time. Only 5 players had scored more than him in La Liga in the 2 seasons before he arrived: Messi, Suarez, Greizmann (who were all out of our price range) and Stuani and Aspas who were 33 and 32 respectively and also were penalty takers. Adding one of La Liga's young proven goalscorers should have worked out great, but he was mostly a flop.

Manu Vallejo, again a player we paid 5.5m for, was let go on a free to Girona. You'd think they could have at least got some cash for him, but nope. He was a player in the mould of people like De Paul, Bakkali etc, a fan favourite who never won the confidence of any manager and who had to make to with a bit part in the team as a late sub. Marcos Andre, who was linked with a departure, stayed in the end as Gattuso believes he's a player he can work with.

Racic has gone on loan to Portugal for the second time, this time joining Braga for the season. With all the new midfielders added he'll get more playing time there.

The day's most positive news is that Mamardashvili accepted the new contract, so is now part of the first team with an extension until 2027 and a release clause of 100 million, upped from the 20 million release clause that made us vulnerable to losing him.

Both Mata and James Rodriguez were linked. In the case of the latter I'd probably pass. Stories from Saudi are that he's not the player he was 5 years ago, is lazy and has increasing discipline problems. Having made his money at Real Madrid, motivation seems to be a big issue. Mata returning on a free would be a crowd pleaser and would add experience, though Meriton seem disinterested. So while it's still possible to add him, I'd be very surprised if it happened.

All in all, while it's good we made some additions, I'm not convinced the squad is stronger or in a position to challenge for top 7 and Europe let alone Champions League (out of the question for me barring a miracle.) The team did add in the 5 positions necessary: defence, defensive midfield, midfield, wing and forward but most of those players are young and inexperienced and we have to hope they step up to fill the shoes of the experienced departed. Andre Almeida and Cavani are the ones we most need to produce and in the latter's case, that means avoiding injury which is not a given, and getting service (also a longterm problem.)

Ultimately, while I hope I'm wrong I don't expect us to improve on last season's 9th place. I think the big three will be there as usual with Betis or Villarreal most likely to take 4th. I'd expect Bilbao and Sociedad ahead of us. Our main hope of Europe would rest on us or one of those teams winning Copa, Sevilla doing exceptionally poorly and some of the pretenders like Celta, Rayo, Osasuna etc not sustaining form across a season. In that scenario we could get 7th. Fingers crossed but with this ownership all I see is short term thinking and mediocrity.

Updates

 It's been a long time without updates as I've been on holiday or working. So here's a summary.

TRANSFERS OUT

Cheryshev's contract finished at the end of last season. While he had some quality moments, his time here was too inconsistent and marred with injuries. He has yet to find a new club.

All 4 players who'd been on loan (Helder Costa, Moriba, Alderete and Bryan Gil) returned to their parent clubs. The first two were no surprise but with Valencia's frailities at the back, there were calls for us to exercise the 7 million buy option for Alderete. In the end he joined Getafe instead and will probably be back at the Mestalla next game. Bryan Gil continues to be linked with a loan return for a year.

Koba was loaned out to Oviedo. He's shown flashes of potential but needs extended game time and with new additions in our midfield he clearly isn't going to get that this season.

Jesper Cillessen was also moved out, returning to his native Netherlands. Like Cheryshev, his time was us saw him injured and unavailable far too often. With Mamardashvili showing good quality after a shaky start he was not needed. The swap with Neto, which seemed a good idea at the time ultimately turned out to be a disaster for all parties as Neto spent his time at Barcelona on the bench before joining Bournemouth on a free earlier this month. 

Easily the biggest loss of the window was Guedes. While this was expected, it was still frustrating as he had finally started to show consistent form and was constantly a goal threat. The fee was also a bit on the disappointing side at 33 - 35 million plus around 4 million more in add ons. The problem was that PSG were due to get 25% of any fee above 40 million so the clubs settled for below that. It seems at best a sideways move for him, as Wolves are struggling and highly unlikely to make Europe this year.

At the time of writing, Soler's future is up in the air. This is another tough one. The club are offering a 5-season renewal but the problem is that mentally, the player seems to have been elsewhere the last few years. His performances have been inconsistent. Again, the issue is a disappointingly low transfer fee being offered by PSG: 15-17 million. It puts Valencia in a tricky position because if he refuses to renew, then the club may just have to take the cash rather than lose him for free next summer. Plus, Valencia allegedly still owe PSG from the Guedes signing. Great things were expected from Soler when he made his breakthrough. He's been a solid player but not the game changing one we hoped for.

Maxi Gomez looks all but gone with only the fee with Fenerbahce to be negotiated. Marcos Andre also continues to be linked. Another disappointment and would also free up a non-EU spot. Manu Vallejo lastly seems surplus to requirements as no coach has trusted him to play him enough.

TRANSFERS IN
For once, Valencia did most of their business in good time rather than scrambling around in the last hour on 31 August.

Samu Castillejo was the first player to join on a free from Milan. He did well in pre-season but has looked iffy in recent games with his crosses often overhit.

Samuel Lino and Nico have joined us on season loans from Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. The second has only made late sub appearances so far so it's hard to say. Lino has shown flashes of quality but also has shown a greedy streak so the jury is out.

In defence, Cenk Ozkacar joined us on loan from Lyon. He's supposed to have potential but hasn't played yet and with the injuries to Paulista and Diakhaby and Comert error-prone it's a real surprise this position wasn't reinforced more seriously.

Valencia's only money spent on a transfer was 7.5 million on Andre Almeida from Vitoria in Portugal courtesy of his Portuguese agent whose name needs not be spoken. He's highly rated but again hasn't played yet so we have to wait and see if he can be Soler's heir in midfield.

Lastly, Valencia finally made a marquee signing with Edinson Cavani arriving on a free transfer to great expectation from fans. His scoring rate speaks for itself but there are questions of whether he can repeat it after a disappointing final season at Manchester United and also if he can avoid injuries as he will be 36 in February.

Valencia continues to be linked with another attacker with Braithwaite linked from Barcelona or a return of Bryan Gil. There have been various suggestions of a "surprise addition/return" with both Mata's and Otamendi's names mentioned. 

THE GAMES
Valencia started with their customary 1-0 home win over a team that begins with G, beating Granada through a Soler penalty. A tight game at Bilbao followed with a disappointing 1-0 defeat. Last night Valencia put up a good showing against Atletico Madrid but unfortunately lost to a deflected goal after having a Musah wonder strike cancelled out. 

The positive that has to be said is that Valencia are playing much better football than we saw with BORE-dalas ball which had so many of us switching off last season. The team seem capable of stringing multiple passes together, maintaining possession and using a high press.

The negative lies in the following stats.
Against Granada we shared possession but aside from Soler's penalty we only had 1 shot on target the whole game.

At Bilbao we had 63% possession but managed no shots on target. Yep, ZERO!

Last night we went further, having 71% possession but only managing 2 shots on target, while for all their limited possession Atletico managed 7 on target.

So to sum up, 3 games, only 3 shots on target and no goals from open play. This is something that Gattuso urgently needs to fix. Our issue for several seasons has been producing little to nothing for our forwards to work with. It's partly why people like Gameiro and Maxi came and failed. The team needs to create something for Cavani or Duro to work with. As I said lots of times when the topic of replacing Marcelino with Setien came up, possession for its own sake is pointless, we need to create something.

I'll put at least a comment thread up for upcoming games. 


 

Valencia sign Castillejo

 It has been hard to write anything about Valencia recently as the team seems stuck in a downward spiral which won't change until the current owner goes.

I was tempted to put up a post saying "Valencia's transfer window so far" and leave the text blank. 😏

Generally, our recent summer transfer windows have followed a predictable pattern.

1) We get linked with every man and his dog. Often it's ex-players.
2) Anyone interesting from those linked gets bought by Sevilla, Villarreal or Sociedad instead.
3) Constant rumours about who's leaving and stories the club won't budge from its asking price.
4) August comes and we do budge and sell people way under value, as news stories about us rarely avoid mentioning "our difficult financial position." Other clubs take notice, wait us out them lowball us.
5) The additions are usually people we hadn't heard of, who emerge very late in the market. Often, we're scrambling around in the last hour or two trying to close signings.
6) The signings are almost always loans with possible buy options.
7) Exceptions to the above are when a Mendes client is involved and then suddenly we do have money.

So finally we can report a first signing. It's Samu Castillejo, formerly of Malaga and Villarreal, who joins us on a free with Milan reserving a percentage of a future sale plus some performance related bonuses (qualification for Europe etc.)

He is, inevitably, a less exciting signing than he would have been a few years ago when Milan bought him for nearly 25 million. Since then his star has fallen. He was seriously out of favour last season and played a grand total of 124 minutes! Let's hope he can recover. He usually plays as a winger but can be used as a second striker. His goalscoring rate is unimpressive, but then again, it's Valencia.

In other transfer news, the club is still trying to get offers for Guedes and Soler, with the fate of others like Gaya, Guillamon and Diakhaby up in the air. Surprisingly, there's been little news about Cillessen moving out.

The club was linked with Edison Cavani (hugely unlikely) and, more realistically with Mario Balotelli. The latter as a "past-it" star in the mould of people like Negredo or Nani seems realistic. It's hard to get exicted about it as his last 2 seasons have been in Serie B and the Turkish league, where he did at least score 18 times last season.

Official: Bryan Gil joins Valencia CF

Tottenham's Bryan Gil joins Valencia CF on a 6 months loan deal. The player has been linked with Valencia CF for the past two weeks and the negotiations moved slowly with several alternatives to the player being reported in the news. Ultimatelly Valencia CF managed to reach an agreement with Tottenham over the loan deal for Bryan Gil. 

The dispute came with Tottenham requiring 2 million euros fee for the loan deal with Valencia CF finding that unacceptable, especially for a loan deal of only 6 months. 

Bryan Gil is already in Valencia and has passed his medical examination, so the player will be available to the coach from tomorrow.

Cristian Rivero loaned out to Alcorcon

Valencia CF forth goalkeeper Cristian Rivero has been loaned out to Alcorcon for the next 6 months. Valencia CF wanted to sell the player and FC Dallas looked to be his destination, but the deal was not made for whatever reason. We still have no clue why that deal fell through. 

He is not going to have any chance at Valencia CF with Giorgi being bough last summer, initially as a B team goalkeeper, but he was given a chance in the preseason due to injuries to Cillessen and Jaume and he took his opportunity in stride and was a starter for couple of matches before making some blunders in two of the matches and was replaced with Cillessen. Long story short due to bad planning on behalf of the management, circumstances and just bad luck Rivero has not had and will not have a chance at Valencia CF.

Ilaix Moriba joins Valencia CF on loan

Ilaix Moriba joins Valencia CF from FC Leipzig on a 6 months loan deal as a direct replacement for Daniel Wass. The loan deal has no purchase option its a pure loan deal in order for the player to gain some playing time as he has been underutilized at Leipzig and a temporary stop gap for Valencia CF to cover for Daniel Wass. 

The player has not played much at Leipzig, but he returns from the Africa Cup with Guinea in which he played all of their matches. This means that he is fit and ready to start playing for Valencia CF at any given moment and chances are Jose Bordalas will give him a tryout in the cup match against Cadiz.

Daniel Wass joins Atletico Madrid from Valencia CF

Daniel Wass joins Atletico Madrid from Valencia CF for a 2.7 million fee plus half a million euros in variables. This is a decent monetary gain for the player considering he only has 6 months left on the contract and has voiced his wish to continue elsewhere on numerous occasions. 

Initially Atletico Madrid proposed a 1.5 million euros offer, but was swiftly rejected by Valencia CF and the club was ready to have the player sit out the rest of the season before selling him for such a low amount, but as the end of the transfer window was coming Atletico Madrid improved their offer and have reached an agreement with Valencia CF over the transfer of Daniel Wass for 2.7 million euros plus half a million in variables. 

Official: Eray Cömert joins Valencia CF

Its official, Valencia CF have signed Eray Comert from Swiss club Basel for an undisclosed fee said to be around the 1 million euros mark. The player joins Valencia CF on a 4 year deal and is the first player to join this transfer window.

Eray Comert is 23 years old and still has his best years ahead of him,  but he has featured quite extensively for Basel these past two years, before that he's had 2 loans in each of which he's featured 12 times. He is also a Swiss international and has featured 7 times for his national team, but has also played for the youth teams of his national team. 

Seems like a good player overall with the ability and opportunity to improve a lot and hopefully he finds himself at Valencia CF. 

Valencia CF sells Manu Vallejo

Valencia CF sold Manu Vallejo to Chinese club CF Wuhan for 2.5 million euros and 30% of the rights to the player. The transfer of the player was known weeks in advance with the only question being the destination and now we know! Valencia CF has already sold 4 players in Rivero, Alex Blanco, Cristiano Piccini and now Manu Vallejo with Daniel Wass being on the exit door as well, though Valencia CF is refusing to sell him this transfer window to Atletico Madrid.

Manu Vallejo has signed a three year deal with the Chinese club and will be hoping to make a name for himself in the Chinese super league. He was brought to Valencia CF for close to 6 million euros, but it did not work out for the player, nor Valencia CF. 

Alex Blanco leaves ValenciaCF

Valencia CF announced the sale of Alex Blanco to Italian football club Como 1907 in what seems to be a free transfer with Valencia CF likely keeping 30% of the market share of the player. Alex Blanco was surplus to requirements and went mostly unused throughout this season so his sale isn't anything surprising. 

He is now the third player to leave Valencia CF and few more players are likely to join him as well with Rivero and Manu Vallejo also on the exit door, with Wass's future also up in the air, though Valencia CF seem firm in their decision to keep him even if it means he gets to sit out the rest of the season as punishment's for wanting to leave for Atletico Madrid. 

FC Dallas sign goalkeeper Cristian Rivero

FC Dallas acquire Valencia CF goalkeeper Cristian Rivero on an 18 month loan deal with the option to purchase the player for 500k euros. Cristian Rivero was the 4th position goalkeeper for Valencia CF with the lack of planning on Valencia's part and allowing an overflow of goalkeepers. Right now Jaume also seems like dead wood as Bordalas seems to prefer Giorgi over him and Valencia CF just exercised the option to purchase him for 300k euros.

So Rivero is gone and expect Jaume to follow suit as he is just surplus to requirements right now and is on the exit door. If he isn't sold or loaned this winter, he is 100% gone in the summer. Rivero would be glad to make this switch as it is a good opportunity for him to prove himself in the MSL. 

Deportivo Alavés sign Jason

Deportivo Alavés have signed Valencia CF forward Jason for free on a 3 years deal which will have Valencia CF retain 30% on the players rights in case of any potential future sale. The player has been surplus to requirements and with Valencia CF planning on bringing a new central midfielder and defender he is one of they several players that will likely leave this winter transfer window. 

Next on the chopping block for Valencia CF is Manu Vallejo and Alex Blanco with Daniel Wass and Piccini closely following suit. 

Valencia CF buy Giorgi Mamardashvili

Valencia CF have exercised the option to buy goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili from Dinamo Tbilisi for a fee of 850.000 euros and have signed the player until 2024 with a release clause of 20 million euros. As you remember the goalkeeper managed to secure a starting spot in the team early on as he benefited from the injuries of both Jaume and Cillessen, but after two very suspect games was dropped from the starting lineup in favor of Cillessen. I guess Valencia CF have been impressed enough by the goalkeeper to exercise the purchase option, though thus likely means Valencia CF is looking to offload Jaume this winter transfer market! 

The transfer window closes: Helder Costa signed on loan

 So the transfer window closed a few minutes ago. Multiple sources saying we've added Helder Costa, and that's only waiting official confirmation.

From senior players, we lost Gameiro, KangIn, Sobrino and Mangala. Of those KangIn leaving for free is the only one that stings. Mangala was far too injury prone for anyone to care. Gameiro played a key role in the run to win the Copa but was otherwise a disappointing signing. Sobrino, apart from a fantastic debut against Celtic was just taking up a squad place. The club also made efforts to move out Jason, but could not find a taker. 

From more junior players, defenders Javi Jimenez and Guillem Molina left to join third level Albacete and Sabadell respectively. Both had a similar history at Valencia: a disastrous debut in the Copa (Jimenez got owned by Iago Aspas and gave away a penalty, Molina was sent off) and little game time after. It's unlikely they'd have played much of a role with us. 

Everyone who left did so on a free transfer, it must be decades since we got absolutely no money in the transfer window?

Of course, like the dog in the night in the Sherlock Holmes story what is probably important is not what happened, but what didn't happen. The club went into the transfer window looking to move out Diakhaby, Cheryshev and Guedes, being open to offers for Maxi and with Wass also pushing for an exit. There will be disappointment that we couldn't move out Diakhaby for Djene but the others are very good news. Cheryshev has started the season well and Wass is an experienced utility player who never gets injured. 

The best news is Guedes. This year we've seen him in excellent form. In the last 16 games he's been involved in at least 12 goals: scoring 5 with 7 assists, and those don't even count the goal scored by Wass last game where Guedes was key in the build-up.

In total Valencia has added 6 players, four on loan with buy options. Mamardashvili was only supposed to play for the reserves but impressed enough that he was given a chance due to injuries and he's taken it with both gloves. Alderete already looks like a vast improvement on Mangala. 

The others are unknown as yet but include Foulquier who is a right back capable of covering right wing or left back, Marcos Andre a forward. Hugo Duro, another forward who can play on the wings, and finally Helder Costa. I saw Costa at Wolves. He did really well at the second level but struggled to make an impact in the top flight. He's mainly a right winger but can also cover left wing. In the end the squad looks something like this:

While there are some disappointments, like not getting Arambarri, I think it's been a very good transfer window, keeping key players like Wass and especially Guedes and adding more depth. Let's hope that this squad can push for Europe.

Valencia CF sign Helder Costa

In the final minutes of the transfer window Valencia CF have managed to secure the services of Leeds United winger Helder Costa on a one year loan deal. This is a Jorge Mendes player, but actually a pretty decent one I must say and he plays as a winger on both flanks. 

I don't think Valencia CF have an option to purchase the player at the end of his loan deal, but the details surrounding the deal are scarce and we'll find out more in the coming hours and days. I think this is a solid deal and a player we needed. Cheryshev has been doing quite well on the left flank for us this season, but he is very injury prone and not the most explosive player, so having another option is a great thing. He can also play on the right flank and free up Soler from there to play more centrally if there is a need.

I think Jose Bordalas is going to stay with the team he's build up from the preseason, but as things change and as there is a need incorporate some of these new arrivals into the first team. Helder Costa joins Valencia CF on a one year loan deal with no option to purchase at the end of it if initial reports are correct, but a useful deal.