Valencia CF 3-0 Atromitos FC preseason friendly

Valencia CF plays its second preseason friendly match this afternoon at 19:00pm CET against Atromitos FC, a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super league. 

Jose Bordalas has focused mainly on fitness and strength at the start of the preseason and his primary focus is and will be the defense which he wants to make super strong, precise and Valencia's best weapon. That doesn't mean other parts have been neglected, with the team training and working on everything.

We'll see how the team performs tonight and what has been achieved so far, I have some expectations considering we beat Villarreal CF in our first match, so I'm hoping for an improved performance in this game considering we are playing a weaker opponent and I expect to see a secure win.

And as I was expecting we did see a much better Valencia CF this time around, albeit against a much weaker opponent, though still it was relieving to see Valencia CF not struggling to score goals and having an easy time dealing with the weaker opposition, which is something the team struggled last season and drew most of the games it was supposed to win.

Valencia CF won by 3 goals to 0, two goals scored in the second half and one in the second half for a comfortable win. Some of the notable mentions are Yunus Musah playing in central midfield once again and doing well until his injury, hopefully its nothing major and he can return to playing in a week or so. Jason scored a wonderful long range goal and Guedes scored a similarly wonderful goal at a closer range though.

Valencia CF coach Jose Bordalas played two different teams in each halves, giving a ton of players a chance to prove themselves, including quite a few younger players. 

Valencia CF transfer window has been a disaster

Valencia CF went into the summer with a clear plan on which players to sell, recoup 40 million euros, balance the budget and with the leftovers and some clever maneuvering sign few reinforcements, but all that changed when half the players who were going on international duty tested positive for covid19 and in the case of Cillessen was completely left out of the squad. 

Valencia CF was planning on selling Cillessen, Diakhaby, Kang-In Lee and either Maxi Gomez or Guedes depending which one got a better offer, but it soon became obvious that no one wanted Maxi Gomez, why would they when he barely scored any goals and was a spectator for the whole season, while Cillessen was supposed to go far with Holland, but that didn't work out so no offers came for him either.

Most people know how the football market is these days, with most clubs going for cheap deals, loans or player swaps, with the bigger clubs going for some big money player, but only of the biggest names or biggest upcoming talents, so spending 40 million euros on a hot and cold player like Guedes isn't realistic in this market. Football stadiums have been closed for over a year and a half and that has caused tremendous financial damage to football clubs, but most businesses have been hurt, especially small local businesses all over the world being forced to close down for weeks and months and some even years now on end. Its been a financial tragedy in which only the biggest corporations like Amazon, Apple, Google and the sort have made billions more that even before the pandemic, while most small businesses have bankrupted and closed down! 

Jefferson Lerma close to signing with Valencia CF

Colombian midfielder Jefferson Lerma is very close to joining Valencia CF with the player's agent having agreed personal contract details and waiting on both clubs to reach an agreement over the fee and payment method of the player. Since Valencia CF is strapped for cash and the player is worth some 14-15 million euro the club is looking for alternative ways to pay for the player including player swap deal, loan with a mandatory purchase option at the end of the season or just paying out in 4 increments over 4 years! 

Valencia CF is also looking to lower the fee of the player as we know English clubs tend to overvalue all of their players, so realistically his price is more in line with 9-10 million euros and if Valencia CF can add in a player swap with someone like Cheryshev or Alex Blanco then they would only need to pay 3-4 million euros.

Valencia CF is still working on selling a bigger player to try and gain some money and be able to balance the budget, but with governments all over the world shutting down the economy and preventing most human interaction from taking place, stadiums have been shut down over one and a half year now and clubs have had to deal with a huge reduction in earnings, which means clubs are only willing to pay big money for big stars or big upcoming talents, someone who is hot and cold like Guedes is not attracting too much money. 

Latest reports have it that Atletico Madrid and even Sevilla FC are interested in Guedes, but they aren't willing to pay more than 25 million in cash and prefer deals with players added to bridge the gap in money, while Valencia CF wants pure cash in order to balance the books and have a little bit of leftover money to cover for incoming transfers.

Valencia CF 3-2 Villarreal CF Friendly Match

Valencia CF just played its first preseason friendly match against Villarreal CF and it was Jose Bordalas first game in charge of Valencia CF as the team took on the yellow submarine in what was a tough first preseason friendly. 

Valencia CF starting eleven was Cillessen, Thierry Correia, Alderete, Paulista, Musah, Racic, Hugo, Sobrino, Fran Perez, Vazquez and Diego Lopez.

Villarreal CF had the initiative for most of the match and were awarded two goals for it, but Valencia CF rallied later in the second half after quite a few substitutions and ultimately managed to win the match. Jose Bordalas will be slightly worried about the performance for the first 60 minutes, there were some positives and standout individuals, but it was only after dozen of changes on both sides that Valencia CF managed to find the back of the net, twice through Manu Vallejo who came in as a substitute.

It was Denis Cheryshev who gave Valencia CF the win late in the 94th minute after positioning well and intercepting a cross from Jason, then going forward a bit and scoring.

Valencia CF is still missing quite a few players though, with Guedes, Soler, Gaya and others yet to return and start their preseason preparations. 

Ezequiel Garay announces his retirement

 Ezequiel Garay announced his retirement from professional football today.

The player had been without a club since leaving us last year. He revealed that he had been suffering with a long term injury since 2018 and had had offers from other clubs since leaving us, but felt that it would have been dishonest to accept them since the injury situation would have meant he would only have been available for one game out of every three.

Valencia first attempted to buy Garay in summer 2015 as Otamendi's replacement. It's not clear why the deal didn't happen then and we got Abdennour instead, who turned out to be a disaster. 

With the hapless Abdennour shipped out on loans we got Garay the following year and his best years followed with the arrival of Marcelino in 2017 as he formed a solid backline with Paulista. Ultimately, his decision to speak out strongly against the sacking of Marcelino sealed his fate. Given Lim's vindictiveness, he would have been released last year anyway. A serious injury suffered against Celta in the 43rd minute on 1 February 2020 proved to be the end of his career. In total he played 114 games for us over four seasons, scoring 6 goals.  

It's unclear why no one picked him up last season. He was still highly rated enough to be signed on a contract that would include a significant "pay as you play" element. Ultimately it wasn't to be and I'm sure all of us will wish him well in his retirement.

Official: Valencia CF sign Omar Alderete

Valencia CF have reached an agreement with Hertha BC for the signing of Paraguayan international Omar Alderete on loan for the 2021/22 season.

The agreement includes an option to buy the 24 year old defender and it looks like its just an optional purchase, not a predetermined one. Basically its the exact deal I reported on two weeks ago.

Now the club turns its focus on selling Mouctar Diakhaby in order to bring in another central defender, probably Jaison Murillo. In the meanwhile the club is going to continue looking for a big sale of either Guedes or Gaya, though the club might abandon that option if they can not get any sort of big money out of those two and go for the sale of Kang-In Lee for some 15-17 million euros as well as sell Cheryshev for few millions as well. 

Valencia CF new 21-22 dress

Valencia CF new shirt design leaked online, its sponsored and designed by Puma and has the new VCF fan token logo on it in the front. 

The away shirt is red with black details, which is a departure any shirt design in the the past decade or more.

Valencia CF preseason

Valencia CF is still trying to maneuver in the transfer market with little success. The number one reinforcement that Jose Bordalas wants is a new central defender is order to try and improve our defense and build from there. 

Valencia CF is also hoping to sell Mouctar Doakhaby and buy an additional defender as well, but so far there has been no interest for Diakhaby and how could there be? He has been a bad performer and in a money stricken year due to Covid19 no club is willing to spend money on an average player, everyone is looking for the next big star.

Valencia CF preseason starts on the 16th of July against Villarreal CF, then about a week later it continues with Artomitos, then Cartagena, Real Zaragoza and culminating with Levante UD on July 30th. The biggest challenge this preseason is our first match against Villarreal, but from then it actually get easier, then finally the two last matches are a decent measure to see where our team stands, I'm hoping for wins against Zaragoza and Levante to show that the team has improved over last season!

Jose Bordalas want to see new players arrive before the friendly matches start, as he wants to see those players compete and get to know their skills that way, but it seems less and less likely that he'll get his wishes. 

Remember that the club still wants to sell players in the region of 30 million euros in order to balance the budget and have a little money leftover for few cheap "reinforcements". Ultimately the club may be planning to go on a loan spree and get players on loan to help us this season with a purchase option added.

There is no other news, there is barely any transfer speculation either, unless the team sells big for 30+ million euros we can't even talk about bringing players in. In terms of who leaves there are multiple options, Guedes, Gaya, Diakhaby, Kang-In Lee, Cheryshev, Cillessen are all on the list.

Valencia CF sign Omar Alderete

Valencia CF have signed an agreement with Paraguayan professional footballer Omar Alderete who currently plays as a center back for German football club Hertha BSC, as well as the Paraguayan national team! 

Valencia CF now needs to negotiate with Hertha for the arrival of the player and Valencia CF are focusing on securing the player on a one year loan deal with an option to purchase the player at the end of the season! Valencia CF want to see how the player performs before they make a permanent move for him, but Hertha want to get some monetary gain out of it, so they are pushing for a clause if the player features a certain amount of games in all competitions to trigger an automatic purchase. Valencia CF also seems okay with such a clause. 

Valencia CF coach Jose Bordalas has also approved of this deal and seems happy with his first signing, if this is it. If VCF manage to sell Mouctar Diakhaby then the club will look to bring in Jason Murillo as the last center back.

Martin Braithwaite to join Valencia CF?

Martin Braithwaite to join Valencia CF? Valencia CF are supposedly in negotiations with FC Barcelona over the purchase of Martin Braithwaite. He is a Danish forward who joined FC Barcelona in 2020 on an emergency exception after the long term injury of Ousmane Dembele.

They paid off his release clause of 18 million euros and he has since featured 40 times for FC Barcelona and scoring 3 goals in the process. Since the arrival of Aguero from City to Barcelona this summer, they are looking to offload Martin as he is seen as an expensive substitute that will only be used sparingly. FC Barcelona are using Valencia's interest in the player to try and sway them to part ways with Gaya in what would be a player plus cash type of deal. They are hoping to pay Valencia CF 25 million euros, just as much as VCF need to balance the books for this year and give us Martin Braithwaite who they still value at 18 million euros. 

Valencia CF transfer season on hold!

Valencia CF transfer season has been put on hold as the club's plans were all shattered once the season ended. I've written many times before, but I'll do it again, Valencia CF needed 31 million euros before the season ended, once the season ended with some previous transfers like De Paul and Kondogbia the club received an additional 7-8 million euros, so the total needed to balance the budget as of right now is about 24 million euros. The issue is that ALL of the plans before the end of the season failed. Players who were supposed to be at the Euro 2020 missed out, some due to covid19 at the last minute, others weren't called up at all and even those called up haven't featured much, if at all at the Euro 2020. 

The only player to regularly feature at the Euro 2020 has been Wass, though even he due to not feeling well missed the last match against Wales in which Denmark won 4-0. As such the sales of many of the players Valencia CF were counting on did not materialize and won't materialize. So the club has to look in another direction to make money. Even players like Diakhaby who Valencia CF want to sell and who they thought can get 10 million euros for in the French of English leagues has not panned out. 

These last few days the rumor mill has been going on strong in Spain, with reports of Valencia CF planning on selling Jose Luis Gaya. Valencia CF have reportedly been approached by FC Barcelona and are they are inquiring how much they will have to pay to secure the services of the player. FC Barcelona are supposedly ready to offer 30 million euros plus a player to Valencia CF, while Valencia CF want 40+ million euros. 

I've been adamant that we should not sell Gaya, Soler, Guedes, Correia and Paulista and we should build a team around them, I believe that is the only way forward for Valencia CF to be competitive again. Valencia CF can still make those 24 million euros if they sell Kang-In Lee for 15 million euros and then basically any other player for about 10 million or so, Maxi, Cillessen, Diakhaby, etc... Truth be told we have few very highly rated players and then all the rest of them are dirt cheap and not rated highly at all. 

Marcos Andre is Valencia CF latest target

Marcos Andre is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Real Valladolid. He is 24 years of age, but so far he has played mostly for lower level clubs and B teams. The best Marcos Andre has done is with Mirandes with which he featured 38 games and scored 12 goals. 

He is a very cheap player though, he would come in at about 2-3 million euros and these are the type of players Valencia CF are looking at right now to "reinforce" the club with, they are hoping that Bordalas is a magician and can turn low level players into top level players. 

Personally I'd just keep Maxi Gomez and hope that Bordalas is able to get the most out of him, he is still a bigger talent, rather than go with some unknows who haven't had any sort of good seasons and hope that Bordalas can magically make them top level, its just too unrealistic. 

Euro 2020 has not been positive for Valencia CF

Peter Lim and the management team at Valencia CF put a lot of hope in the Euro 2021 as a way to get exposure for players and increase their value in the hopes that they can sell them at a higher fee in order to balance the budget for this year. Valencia CF initially needed 32 million euros for that, but since then due to Valencia's previous sales of players and their clauses the club has been able to get an additional 7-8 million euros.

So now Valencia CF only needs around 24 million euros to balance the budget, but as I've reported previously Meriton and Peter Lim want to settle the loans they gave to the club several years back for the purchase of some players. Unless this changes and Lim settles to extend the loan payment, VCF will be forced to pay them around 50 million euros or give Meriton players worth 50 million euros.

The Euro 2021 was the perfect opportunity to get players value to rise, especially the likes of Cillessen, Cheryshev, Guedes, Wass and even Gaya and others, but due to contacting covid19 Cillessen was removed from his national squad, while other players who contacted it as well still kept their place, but did arrive late to their national teams and therefore have not featured even once. Even Gaya who's featured a lot more for Spain has been an unused reserve this Euro and Cheryshev was used as a substitute, but substituted himself after just around 50 minutes or so.

Only Daniel Wass has been used by Denmark in both their matches, but at 32 years of age and only one year left in his contract with Valencia CF he is not going to fetch good money, especially as Denmark have lost both their games. Guedes also arrived a bit later and as such he wasn't even called up for their first match and was an unused sub in their second match. 

So yeah, even though Goncalo Guedes has raised rumors about wanting to leave, without playing at the Euro he is not going to be worth anything near what the club would have hoped and wanted. Valued by transfermarkt at 25 million euros, possibly 30 million euros a more realistic number, but still short 10 million of his value when he arrived at Valencia CF and short of what Valencia CF would need to balance the budget and bring in reinforcements. 

New sponsor for Valencia CF

Valencia CF has a new main sponsor that will be printed on the front of the shirts after the club was forced to part ways with Bwin due to overburdening regulations preventing displaying betting sponsorship on shirts. Extremely bad law that will negatively affect sports teams and will have no discernable impact on actual gaming, especially when traditional video games are literally having slot machines in their games and young kids are using their parents credit cards to purchase "packs" and/or ingame items.

Kids are being exposed to essentially gambling at 10yo through video games, but they are going after advertisement for sports clubs, talk about having no clue! 

Anyways the good news for Valencia CF is that they've found a new sponsor, Socios.com is an online company creating some sort of interaction for clubs and fans, not sure what that is all about, but regardless the most important thing is that VCF has a new sponsor and won't lose out on too much money! 

We don't know the amount of money Valencia CF will be getting with this new deal, I have the feeling that its probably less than the 5 million euros the club was getting from Bwin, but you can't compare a powerful betting company with some new online website. If I had to guess I'd say Valencia CF are getting about 4 million euros per season.

Angulo appointed coach of Valencia Mestalla

Valencia CF legend Miguel Angel Angulo has been named the head coach of Valencia CF B team the Mestalla, he replaces coach Óscar Fernández who oversaw one of the worst seasons for the Mestalla team in its history, losing most of the games and being relegated to Spain's fifth division.

Angulo is one of the most recognizable names in recent Valencia history, he played for Valencia CF for 12 seasons and was part of the squad that reached two Champions league finals and won the Spanish league. He is one of the most decorated Valencia CF players ever and one of the most known names. 

I wish him all the best, plenty of success, and hopefully after several successful years leading the Mestalla maybe even becoming Valencia CF coach.

Sporting CP on the verge of buying Wass

Sporting CP is reportedly on the verge of buying Daniel Wass and media from Portugal claim that the two clubs have agreed for the transfer of Daniel Wass to Sporting CP.

Valencia CF has supposedly agreed to a 5 million euros deal for Daniel Wass and is now up to the player to decide his future. Daniel Wass was contemplating leaving for Denmark and playing out the rest of his years there, but this could be an interesting turn of events for him.

Daniel Wass is a versatile player and I think Bordalas would want to keep him if he can, especially we have have Diakhaby, Cheryshev, Guedes, Kang-In Lee leave also. That is a lot of players and a lot of positions to cover, so I'm sure he'd like to keep most of the players unless the absolute need to sell to reach 30 million. It could actually be much less, because Valencia CF did get some money from the transfers of some of our former players as we've retained either certain share of the player or had clauses for more money which they reached. Now Rodrigo De Paul has been sold for close to 40 million euros and Valencia CF is going to get another 3-4 million euros for that sale, so that means those 31 million that we had to get would become more like 23-24 million euros.

Valencia CF after Robert Kenedy

Valencia CF coach wants Robert Kenedy from Chelsea FC who played last season on loan at Granada CF in which he scored 4 goals and provided 3 assists. He is also one one of the fastest sprinters in La Liga and Jose Bordalas has identified the Brazilian as the replacement for Guedes, and valued at only 10 million euros the club would be able to afford him after the sale of Goncalo Guedes.

As I've reported previously Goncalo Guedes is on his way out, after his father's interview saying his son's future is away from Valencia CF, Guedes has not denied his fathers claims and by bot denying them, has basically confirmed he wants to leave this summer. He is likely to net around 40 million euros, especially if he has a good euro performance, and with a small portion of the money Valencia CF will be looking to find a replacement for him and Robert Kenedy seems like Valencia's preferred target to replace Guedes! 

Ezequiel Ponce on Valencia CF radar

Argentinian football player Ezequiel Ponce who currently plays for Spartak Moscow is on Valencia CF radar. His main position is center forward, but can also play on both wings and is currently valued at 6-7 million euros. Ezequiel Ponce also has Spanish citizenship which makes him an interesting option for Valencia CF as the club are looking at relatively cheap players with low wages and having Spanish citizenship really makes him an attractive option for Valencia CF.

His best showing has been for AEK Athens in the Greek league in which he scored 16 goals in 27 league matches, he's had lesser impact at Spartak Moscow, but at 24 years old he still has time to improve. Forwards usually get in their prime at 25-28 years old. 

City council to fine Peter Lim 2 million euros

Valencia's local authorities are considering a 2.3 million euros fine on Peter Lim because of the breach of the ATE, which the club agreed to when it got the land for the new Mestalla. Ximo Puig who previously been very lenient on the issue has done a 180 degrees and would probably be in favor of a fine. 

The plan is to actually fine Meriton and its owner Peter Lim as basically the owner of Valencia CF, rather than the club itself which functions as a subsidiary of Meriton. 

Jonathan Ikone to join Valencia CF?

Jonathan Ikone to join Valencia CF?

Jonathan Ikoné is a French footballer who plays as a winger for Ligue 1 club Lille and the France national team. The French talent was one of the best players last season and as such became champion with Lille SC. He is currently valued 30 million by transfermarkt, but reports from Spain media suggest his realistic price is closer to 20 million euros. He plays as a right winger, but can play in any forward position.

Valencia CF are preparing for the loss of Goncalo Guedes who's father as many of you know said in a recent interview that his son is essentially finished at Valencia CF, and recent interviews with the player have only exacerbated that feeling as he has not denied leaving Valencia CF this summer.

Denis Cheryshev to leave Valencia CF?

Denis Cheryshev is on his way out of Valencia CF, as the club is looking to sell him and bring in a younger and inexpensive player to replace him, or maybe even rely on the younger players like Vallejo, Yunus, etc... Denis Cheryshev is in the upper echalon of earners in Valencia CF and while not quite the high earner like Maxi, Cillessen, Guedes, Gaya, etc... he is earning a lot comparatively how many times he's featured for Valencia CF.

Valencia CF are aware that they aren't going to get a lot of money from his sale, but even a modest 4-5 million euros will be enough when coupled with the reduction in his salary. The club has an issue in selling some of the players it planned to like Cillessen and Maxi Gomez as there doesn't appear to be any good offers for them and Cillessen has also fallen out of the Dutch squad due to testing positive to covid19, so that makes it unlikely that Valencia CF are going to receive any big offers for the player. I predicted that he is not going to fetch more than 12-14 million euros, goalkeepers usually don't fetch very high prices especially when they are older and if they are not considered in the best 5 goalkeepers in the region. 

Joaquin Fernandez on Valencia CF radar

Real Valladolid central defender Joaquin Fernandez is on Valencia CF radar as the team is looking to strengthen the defense in accordance with Jose Bordalas wishes and demands. 

Real Valladolid have been relegated to the second division this season and they will have to sell a number of players as they want to continue playing in the first division and some might even have options in their contract to be able to join other teams in case of relegation.

Joaquin Fernandez will come in cheap at 3 million euros and a low salary, so just the type of player Valencia CF wants. He's played for Real Valladolid since 2018/19 season as a central defender, though can also play as a defensive midfielder. 

Bordalas wants Mauro Arambarri at Valencia CF

Valencia CF coach Jose Bordalas is keen to bring at least one player from his former club to Valencia CF and his number one priority is Mauro Arambarri. Mauro Arambarri is a central midfielder who has played for over 4 years at Getafe CF, coming in first on a loan deal and after a successful year at Getafe CF they decided to purchase him for 2 million euros. Since then the player value has skyrocketed with superb performances from the midfielder. 

Jose Bordalas has already contacted the player and tried to convince him to join Valencia CF, but the biggest issue for Valencia CF is going to be Getafe's asking price. They value Mauro Arambarri at 20 million euros, though Valencia CF do have some options here and they can offer them a player plus cash deal. Getafe CF are interested in Jason, but Valencia CF can also offer them Cheryshev and even Wass who still has one year on his contract at Valencia CF. 

He is a good player and would be a welcome introduction, but what would happen to Racic in that situation, where will Daniel Wass play? With Javi Gracia it was mostly Soler and Racic in central midfield, with Voro in the end matches it was usually Soler and Wass in the center, will is be Mauro and Soler under Bordalas? 

I doubt Valencia CF would go after Mauro Arambarri, he is just way too expensive for us, the only other option I see if to offer them someone like Cheryshev or Racic himself as that is going to be the most we can undercut Getafe in terms of value, but we are going to be kind of this on the flanks, especially that left one. Manu Vallejo is more of a forward, Guedes is also much better as a second striker, Kang-In can play there, but he is also on his way out, so without Cheryshev there, who do we have left on the left flank, especially in a 4-4-2 formation? 

Carlos Soler is called up as a back-up for the Spain squad

Spain's preparations for Euro 2020 have been badly disrupted. Sergio Busquets tested positive for COVID he has gone into 10 days' isolation and the rest of the squad, including Gaya, also in isolation pending COVID testing. The friendly against Lithuania tomorrow will now be played by Spain's under-21s, who include Guillamon. As it will count as a full international, that means Hugo could get his first senior cap.

With Spain's first game in 8 days' time, there are now significant doubts whether Busquets will take part. As a precaution, Spain have called up Rodrigo Moreno, Carlos Soler, Pablo Fornals and Brais Mendez, who will train in a parallel bubble.

It remains to be seen if Soler will make it to the final squad as an emergency replacement, but this is the first official acknowledgement that he is definitely very close to becoming a full international. With his star rising, hopefully the club are not mad enough to consider a sale.  

Jeison Murillo to return to Valencia CF?

There are reports coming from Spanish media that Jeison Murillo might return to Valencia CF as the club plans to sell Mouctar Diakhaby and bring in another central defender to take his place, with David Timor also coming in as a backup in midfield and central defender. If all goes according to plan then Valencia CF will have Paulista, Hugo, Murillo and David in central defense, and David would also cover in midfield, especially if Daniel Wass is sold as he only has a year remaining on his contract.

Anyways Jeison Murillo first joined Valencia CF on a loan deal from Inter Milan, after a successful season on loan the club purchased the player, but then he never really played that season and the next he was loaned out to FC Barcelona and then in the second half of the season to Sampdoria, who then purchased him in the summer after he made 10 appearances for them, but then loaned him out to Celta de Vigo after being unused in the first half of their season.

Valencia CF gets to keep the bat logo

Just to show how crazy some of these giant corporations are, DC Comics which is under Warner media sued Valencia CF for using the bat in its designs and products. The legal issues started in 2014 and have been going on for years. How can a comic character "Batman" who uses a fictional "bat" sign on his fictional costume be considered means to sue Valencia CF who's used the bat in its logo and all sorts of promotions and stuff for over a hundred years is beyond me.

But just goes to show the lack of self awareness of these giant corporations who think they own everything and everyone. Anyways the two companies have reached an agreement and that means that Valencia CF can use the bat sign, all sorts of variations of it in all of its products, except fictional characters. 

Jose Luis Gaya to FC Barcelona

Jose Luis Gaya seems to be on his way out of Valencia CF with interest from FC Barcelona increasing exponentially as they are trying to find a long term replacement for Jordi Alba. FC Barcelona have been interested about the player for a few years now, but only this season have they've shown big interest in acquiring Gaya as Jordi Alba is now into his final years of his career and is likely not going to continue at FC Barcelona past the next season. 

I wrote in April about Barca's interest in Jose Luis Gaya and that Valencia CF was trying to tie him up for longer, but it seems like that contract extension hasn't happened and while Gaya loves the club and is happy here, its questionable how much longer can he avoid interest from big clubs like Barcelona, Bayern, Manchester City and others. 

Jose Luis Gaya is now one of the longest playing players for Valencia CF, its especially important as he comes from our youth system and is a Valencian success story. He is also one of the highest earner at Valencia CF, but again with all of these big clubs knocking on his door and being much well off financially than VCF, how long can he just ignore their calls? VCF former sporting director Alemany is now Barca's sporting director and he can easily if he really wanted to convince Gaya about switching to FC Barcelona. 

Valencia CF to sell Mouctar Diakhaby

Valencia CF wants to sell Mouctar Diakhaby and rebuild the back line in accordance to what the new coach Jose Bordalas wants. The new coach has identified Mouctar Diakhaby as the weakest link at the back and thus Valencia CF will try and sell the player and bring in al alternative with the money from the sale. While Diakhaby is not viewed in high regard in Spain, there are still some French clubs that view him in a positive light and might want to acquire the player.

Mouctar Diakhavy is worth about 10 million euros, I think that is a bit on the high side, so realistically more like 7-8 million euros. One of the names mentioned to arrive at Valencia CF was David Timor from Getafe CF and while he is generally a defensive midfielder he does also play center back and could easily slot in that position. He is also valued at only 1.5 million euros, but even if realistically his price is 3 million that is still worth it for Valencia CF, as the club would get a replacement for Diakhaby and be up 4-5 million euros.

30 million might not be enough

While Valencia CF needs about 30 million euros to balance its budget, the club also needs 50 million euros to pay off Peter Lim. He loaned Valencia CF 50 million euros and if the club does not return the money to him in the established period, which is this year then he will take ownership of several players. What a deal eh? Loan 50 million, earn players worth possibly 80 million euros. 

Now we don't really know the details of the loans, we don't know which players he'll get the rights to, but its clear that his plan with Valencia CF was to be a seller club and make him money. Say what you say, but his actions speak louder than words. 

The loans were also for players that he chose, he decided to buy, its all his doing. What next, we learn that Peter Lim actually owns the Mestalla stadium personally? What does the club own? No one on planet earth would want to even buy the club if Peter Lim owns half our players rather than the club itself. 

Peter Lim has said that he plans to use the guarantees and essentially get to own several players when Valencia CF defaults on the loans. Its two loans in essence, one for about 32 million euros and another one for 16 million euros. 

So the options are Valencia CF defaults and he gets to own several players, is it Guedes, Soler, etc...? Which players does he get? The other option is for Valencia CF to essentially have a massive sellout much like last season and sell Guedes, Cillessen, Maxi, Gaya and try and get 80+ million euros in order to pay its debts. 

Daniel Wass wants to leave

Not much good news on the Valencia front. Reports say that Wass is looking to leave as he feels like his time in Spain is up and would like to return to his native Denmark. 

Wass' statements, in contrast to Guedes' father are at least respectful: "People underestimate the size of the club that Valencia really is" but also says that he thinks it may be the right moment to leave. Ultimately he acknowledges that it's down to Valencia.

Wass joined us from Celta in summer 2018 and in his 3 seasons, he's played 131 games, managing 8 goals and 14 assists. Probably the most important of those was the equaliser at Mestalla against Chelsea in the Champions league, even if it looked like a fluke. Unspectacular figures, but for me he's been a very useful squad player, being able to cover right back, right wing and back-up for central midfield and especially since he hardly ever gets injured.

Clubs mentioned as possible destinations are either the club of his youth, Brondby, or FC Copenhagen. Wass has a year left on his contract and the club were already working on an extension of a year, with the possibility of one on top of that. Valencia are unlikely to get much: maybe a million or as little as half a million in transfer fees. 

For me, I'd do what I could to keep him, due to the useful squad role he plays. I'd even consider just letting him run out the last year of his contract. 500,000 isn't going to be much help to Valencia's finances.

So what do you think? Keep or let go?

Valencia get Mamardasvhili on loan

 Valencia have confirmed the addition of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamaradasvhili from Dinamo Tbilisi on a one year loan. He's a bit of an unknown and I haven't been able to find out much on him other than that he's 20 years old and highly rated, but La Liga is obviously a significant jump in quality from the Georgian league, which is ranked 40th out of 55 by UEFA.

It's unclear where he'll fit in, he appears to be too highly rated to spend much time with the reserves but this addition would seem to confirm that we're going to have changes in the goalkeeping department, though as I already wrote, Cillessen's departure is somewhat more complicated by his absence from the Euros. 

If there is one good thing from this, it's that the club are, for once, getting some transfer activity done early, rather than wait until the last minute as is usual. Bordalas can therefore assess him in training. It's also unclear what buy option if any we have on him. I'll update if it is announced.

Jefferson Lerma to Valencia CF?

Jefferson Lerma to Valencia CF? According to Spanish reports Valencia CF is considering the purchase of Jefferson Lerma who plays for English Championship club AFC Bournemouth and the Colombia national team.

He is a defensive midfielder who occasionally plays as a right back and is good all across the midfield, so a versatile player who can play several positions and has quite a bit of experience playing for his nation and few Spanish clubs as well before arriving to AFC Bournemouth in 2018. 

The biggest issue for Valencia CF though is that the player is valued extremely high, we all know players in England are almost always overvalued and this is once again the case, but even if Valencia CF somehow manage to negotiate a lower fee we are still looking at about 10 million euros.  

Cillessen will miss the Euros

 Very bad news from a Valencia perspective...

Cillessen will miss the upcoming Euros. He tested positive for Covid, has had to self-isolate and was forced to miss the team's training camp as a result. He was expected to be the Netherlands' first choice goalkeeper in the tournament but Frank De Boer has therefore decided to omit him altogether.

Cillessen is one player I really don't want to sell as finding a good goalkeeper is tough, but as he is one of the highest wage earners in the squad, he's a prime target for an exit. Valencia would have been hoping that he'd have a good tournament and that would push the price up, so this is a real setback.

Valencia earns €6 million in "prize" money

 Cadenaser report that Valencia have earned €6 million in "prize" money. I used " " because, of course, Valencia did zero of note to earn any prize money. It comes instead from bonus clauses in the contracts of players that we gifted last summer and season to other clubs.

Starting off, there's "El Capitan" Parejo. Villarreal's Europa league win brought us €2.25m from him. It doesn't really take away the sour taste of him being gifted to a rival for free but at least it's some money.

Coquelin is the second. We at least got some transfer fee for him, though it mostly cancelled out debt we still owed Villarreal for Cheryshev. To that we can now add €600,000, again from their Europa league win.

While those sums are nice, the whole situation is still a huge net negative. Even if they lose all Champions league games by hefty margins, Villarreal are guaranteed 31 million for participation, plus €1 million per point and around €8 million for TV money. Make it 40 million minimum with possibility of 20m more. That allows them to both outspend us and to attract players.

A last case which brought in even more money than those was Kondogbia. Valencia got €2 million due to Atletico's league win and €1 million because they reached the quarter finals of the Champions league. Again, better than nothing, but it would be far better to see Valencia earning money on its own rather than getting drips and drabs from rival teams' success.

Ultimately, this money does reduce the amounts needed to close the accounts. Instead of nearly €31 million, €25 million in player sales will now balance the books.

Guedes father: My son is done at Valencia CF

Very harsh words coming from Goncalo Guedes's father Rogerio Guedes on Antena 1. He said that with no Champions league or Europa League Guedes is done with Valencia CF and that his future lies elsewhere. He said that he did not know if Guedes will leave this summer, but that his long term future is elsewhere. 

I mean yeah VCF is out of any of the European competitions and we all know the reason for that, but Guedes has had very poor spells where people have questioned just how could Valencia CF pay such amount for him for such low return. So its not like he's been a standout performer all this time and carrying Valencia CF on his back, he's at times been part of the problem, so its unfair of his father to now disrespect the club like that. Yeah the club is run very poorly and we all know that, but again its not like certain players have risen up and carried the team on their backs, they've faltered even before many of the bad decisions. 

Guedes had a great first season, especially the first 6 months, but really slowed down towards the end and then in the second season after his injury he never recovered, a whole season he played poorly. 

Paco Alcacer in exchange for Goncalo Guedes?

There are reports from Spanish media about a possible swap of players between Valencia CF and Villarreal CF. Villarreal CF won the Europa League which netted them 8 million euros, but for each previous win they also earned quite a bit of money, so overall they would have earned anywhere between 20-25 million euros, plus they qualified for the Super cup which nets them additional 4 million euros and they qualified for the Champions League which will net them 19 million euros just by being in the group stage.

So they've got quite a bit of money and they want to improve their squad for the next season and have identified Goncalo Guedes as the perfect option for them. While they have received quite a lot of money its still not enough to outright purchase Guedes, so they are offering Paco Alcacer in addition to a large sum of money to facilitate the move. 

Would you accept this offer or do you think Guedes is not an option to sell, tell us in the comments.

Valencia CF interested in David Timor

With the arrival of Jose Bordalas as coach of Valencia CF there has been a lot of speculation about possible arrivals from Getafe CF, players which the coach is keen to bring to Valencia CF and who would really strengthen the squad. One of the most talked about names is David Timor who is a defensive midfielder, but has been used by Bordalas as a center back and even an offensive midfielder, a variety player similar to Daniel Wass who can be used at few positions depending on the need.

His market value is also very low and he would be an realistic option for Valencia CF as David Timor is valued at only 1.5 million euros, even if is valued at 2.5 million euros its something that Valencia CF can afford and would be a solid value based deal. 

Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili to join Valencia CF?

It seems like Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashivili is going to join Valencia CF, in fact according to the players agent the deal has all but been done and its just a matter of closing down the final touches. The goalkeeper will arrive on a one year loan deal with a purchase option at the end of the season.

If we do sign this new goalkeeper that tells me that the club is planning on selling Cillessen, there is no other option. Jaume is a low earner and selling him would barely bring any money to the club, while Cillessen is a high earner and if he has a good Euro with the Netherlands his price might as well reach 15 million euros, with addition of cutting his salary the club is going to gain a lot of money.

I think they are hoping that between Jaume Domenech and Giorgi Mamardashivili one will turn out solid and able to establish himself at the nr.1 keeper. 

Jose Bordalas is a step up over Javi Gracia

Jose Bordalas wasn't my first choice, but I think out of the pool that Valencia CF was realistically looking at he was probably the best choice. He is experienced Spanish coach who's experience is exclusively in Spain and while Javi Gracia is also an experienced coach, he did not have the same drive and ambition. Javi Gracia was the typical mid table coach that you hire to maintain your position if you are scared of doing worse. 

Jose Bordalas on the other hand is much more ambitious and is always looking to improve his team and himself, he is constantly pushing his players and himself to do better and that is very important in a coach. He's shown with Getafe CF that he can take a weak team and significantly improve them over time, instill new tactics and instill a fighting mentality in his players. I think what Javi Gracia lacked the most was instilling drive and fighting mentality in the players, I saw it every time Valencia CF was defending, all of our players were marking the opposition players very loosely, giving them so much space and time to work with. There was no urgency in our play, even when we were relegation threatened there was no urgency in the play at all and it showed in the results. 

Shock: Several players with Covid19 to miss National games

In really terrible news several Valencia CF players have been diagnosed with Covid19 and will miss playing for their national teams. Thierry Correia was the first one to be diagnosed with Covid19 and he will unfortunately miss the Euro for under21 for Portugal, next up is Maxi Gomez who will also miss games with his national team and most recently Cillessen has been diagnosed with Covid19 and will miss at least one match, though supposedly will still play at the Euro. Same story with Goncalo Guedes, but fortunately for him he will be able to play for Portugal once the two week isolation ends. 

Not the end of the world for some of the players as they will still get to play for their national teams after the isolation period ends, but for Correia and Maxi they will not be able to represent their teams. Really bad for them and for Valencia CF as Maxi's international performances might have significantly increased his value in case VCF decides to sell him. 

Thankfully Jose Luis Gaya has tested negative and will feature for Spain, so some good news in all this bad news. They are all asymptomatic as well, so no issues with their health at all, but a real bummer to have to miss international competition. 

Valencia CF to rely on loans to get players

Valencia CF made it official that they have appointed Jose Bordalas as new coach on a two year deal with an option to extend for a third. So congratulations to him and hope that it will be a fruitful match.

Two players have already left the club in Kevin Gameiro and Mangala, so essentially Valencia CF is a central defender short and an attacker short. Don't forget that Valencia CF has to get 30 million euros to balance the budget so that means more players leaving. 

Since Valencia CF doesn't have any money for player transfers unless they sell big and the only player worth more than 30 million euros right now is Goncalo Guedes which I believe would be a mistake to sell. This leaves the club with the only other option available and that is loan deals. Peter Lim and the club management plan to add replacements and fill up the squad with loan players who have cheap purchase options at the end of their loan deals.

My prediction and the most likely case would be Maxi Gomez and Kang-In Lee leaving for a combined 35 million euros. Now we cut one of the biggest salaries in the club, that basically frees up over 15 million euros, so Valencia CF could make a discovery in the second division and search for bargain players. But even at bargain prices we are looking at at least 5 million euros for players, possibly more if they've had an excellent season. 

Jose Bordalas becomes Valencia CF coach

Jose Bordalas is Valencia CF new coach. The club has reached an agreement with Getafe CF and the coach for his arrival at Valencia CF on a two year deal plus an option to extend his contract a 3rd season. The club has also negotiated with Getafe CF for the release of the coach without a fee, but they've demanded a player or the removal of the 30% ownership clause from Maksimovic that VCF have. So far its unclear what the exact agreement is. The most likely option is that Valencia CF will loan a player to Getafe CF for one season with an option to purchase that player at the end of the season. That player is most likely Jason, but could be anyone really. 

In terms of Jose Bordalas and Valencia CF, the coach agreed a 2 year deal with Valencia CF with the option of one more year. 

Not my number one choice, but truth be told the options this season were limited and we would never get a good coach like Rafa Benitez back with Lim at the helm, so its the best of the rest. Best coach from the bottom half, half glass full type of deal. Now we have no choice but to stand by the choice and support him for the good for the club. He is definitely not a bad coach, he is defensively sound and plays a rigid type of game. If he can continue with the Voro fix in defense and have the team solid defensively we can maybe win games on the counter through Guedes, Yunus, Soler, etc... I'm expecting Kang-In Lee to leave BTW, because the chances of extending his contract are slim. If we do keep him for one more season and he gets a good amount of playing time, he might reconsider, but that is a very long shot.

Valencia CF next coach

Rafa Benitez to coach Valencia CF again?

The most important decision in the following weeks is what coach to appoint to lead Valencia CF. We know it can't be a relatively new coach, we've tried that many times even before the Lim era and it hasn't worked. We've done it with former Valencia CF players like Pellegrino, Djukic, we've done it with British stars like Gary Neville, we've done it a lot of times and in the past decade its never worked. You could say it worked with Benitez, but that was 2 decades ago and when he came to Valencia CF he was coaching a first division club. So he wasn't really that new and again that was over a decade ago, these days it would be harder to succeed for an inexperienced coach as he has to develop new younger players and improve the team he has, Benitez when he arrived had a solid team that just needed the right method to make it work.

Coincidently though Rafael Benitez is free and his last few stints haven't been a great success, his Real Madrid stint was a failure, he then went to New Castle and failed to rescue them from relegation, but did bring them to the premier league the next season before being sacked, and ultimately he went to China for a big money deal, but he had no offers from any big European clubs.