Valencia CF keen on getting Vicente Iborra

Reports from Spain are coming up that Valencia CF is seriously interested in acquiring Vicente Iborra from city rival Levante that the club is even willing to meet the payout clause.

With David Albelda all but having finished his career at Valencia CF and surely to leave in the summer, the cub officials have already found one defensive midfielder in Javi Fuego who will transfer in the summer to Valencia CF, but the club wants to add one more defensive midfielder and a more quality one so that there are absolutely no problems at that position and Vicente Iborra has been identified as the man for the job.

Vicente Iborra clause right now is 6 million euros with the ability to increase to 9 million euros.

Adil Rami out for a month with injury

Valencia CF central defender Adil Rami will be out for almost a month due to the injury he sustained in the match against RCD Mallorca. As expected he has a fractured muscle fiber and will need to rest for a longer period than first thought so that he can recover.

This bad news is offset with the news that Ever Banega is back and will be in contention for a starting spot for the next match in the Spanish league.

Ricardo Costa wants to extend contract with Valencia CF

Valencia CF central defender Ricardo Costa in a press conference today said that he wants to stay at Valencia CF and extend his contract with the club.

He said: "People already know what I want and feel. I want to stay in Valencia CF, but its not only up to me, its up to the club, the president and sporting director as well."
Ricardo Costa added: "I always give everything when I play, I'm one of the captains of the team and I'm happy here, but the club must decide."

About the coach Valverde, Costa said: "He's doing very well and the players are comfortable and happy with how things are going. He said that in the beginning of the season the players and coach change affected the team's performance, but that now they are settled and with Valverde in charge they have better understanding with the coach."

Valencia CF 2-0 RCD Mallorca Match Report

Valencia CF continues its good form in the Spanish league with another win, this time over RCD Mallorca and with 10 men for most of the match, after Tino Costa was dismissed in the 28th minute after a silly outburst of aggression, kicking a Mallorca player.

The match itself was not as interesting and had very few chances on both sides with the biggest chances for RCD Mallorca coming in the second half with two great chances, one from header and one a close range shot.

Valencia CF would basically sit back and defend the whole time with the occasional counter attacks, with the goals coming through a corner kick and the second one from a semi counter attack.
The first goal would come in the 59th minute with Ricardo Costa heading the ball in the net after a good corner kick by Canales.

The second goal for Valencia CF would come in the 80th minute through Roberto Soldado, who was released by Parejo with a wonderful through pass. The goal was pretty lucky though as Mallorca's defense and midfield were atrocious, with Parejo dribbling past 3 players before providing a great pass to Soldado.

Technical details:
Valencia CF  (2): Alves; Joao, Rami (Canales, min. 42), R. Costa, Guardado; Parejo, T. Costa; Feghouli, Jonas (Cissokho, min. 61'), Bernat; Soldado.
RCD Mallorca (0): Aouate; Luna (Casadesús, min.72'), Geromel, Nunes, Hutton; Tissone (Márquez, min. 68'), Pina, Marti; Alfaro (Pereira, min. 62'), Hemed, Giovani.
Goals: 1-0 Min 60’, Ricardo Costa. 2-0 Min 81', Soldado.

Player Ratings:
Diego 8 - several solid saves first two good saves in the first half and then two even greater saves in the second half to keep a clean sheet.
Joao 6.5 - Rarely troubled at the back even as VCF played with 10 men, but was beaten one or twice and could have done better.
Rami 6 - Good at the back until he got injured in what seemed like a stretched muscle.
R. Costa 7.5 - Solid at the back and dealt with everything that came his way, scored Valencia's first goal as well.
Guardado 6 - Good defensive play with the occasional forward array, but was limited in going forward.
Tino Costa 4 - Decent play before he was dismissed, but committed a needless and reckless challenge and was deservedly shown the red card.
Parejo 7 - Covered a lot of ground as the sole midfielder and did really great, providing good cover for the defense and bringing the ball forward. Provid5 - ed a great assist for Soldado's goal.
Feghouli 6 - Good performance, but nothing special. Mostly covered a lot of ground and went back and defended well.
Jonas 5 - Invisible for most of the match and barely got a hold if the ball. Surprised he was substituted last, although early in the second half.
Bernat N/A - Was sacrificed for a defensive substitution after Tino got red and did not have time before to do much.
Soldado 7 - Great performance by Soldado, always finding himself in dangerous positions and coming further down to claim the ball. Good run for the goal to get in a good spot.
Subs:
Ruiz 6 - Slotted well into the defense even though he was put in as midfield, after Rami was injured and did well.
Canales 6.5 - Wasn't too active, but was a decent outlet to receive the ball and provided the corner from which R. Costa scored.
Cissokho 5.5 - Mixed defensive display as he was beaten for the ball on one occasion where Diego had to make a big save to save Valencia and was suspect few more times,

Valencia CF players on national duty

Diego Alves was once again with the Brazilian team and he has become a regular there, taking over Julio Cesar, but that was not the case in the friendly vs England, as Diego Alves found himself on the bench.

Joao Pereira started as right back for Portugal and might wish he hadn't start at all, after a poor performance and an own goal.

Ricardo Costa was an unused sub in which Portugal lost to Ecuador.

Adil Rami much like Joao was rather lackluster in his performance and failed to provide adequate protection at defense, always looking like he's about to make a mistake.

Fernando Gago went on loan to Velez, but he is still technically a Valencia CF player and he had a great game for Argentina, forming a solid due with Mascherano.

Ever Banega had his first appearance for Argentina after his long term injury last year and replaced Gago in the 68th minute, continuing where Gago left over.

Andres Guardado started and played for 79 minutes for Mexico in what was a 0-0 draw against Jamaica. Andres Guardado had a mediocre game and was a big disappointment as much was expecting from him and he failed to deliver.

Nelson Haedo Valdez started for Paraguay and played for 45 minutes in what was an 3-0 victory for Paraguay over El Salvador.

Jonas Goncalves was dropped from the Brazilian team as they recently had a coach change and Jonas never really made a claim for a starting spot, though judging on the performance against Brazil he may return.

Roberto Soldado was also dropped from the Spanish national team in favor of Negredo.

Alberto Tino Costa didn't impress when he was called previously for Argentina, so he is unlikely to get a new chance anytime soon and was obviously omitted for the international game.

Valencia CF interested in Alejandro Arribas

Valencia CF is interested in bringing CA Osasuna central defender Alejandro Arribas to its rank in the summer. Valencia CF only has 3 central defenders right now and with Victor Ruiz being transformed into a defensive midfielder the club is going to need defensive reinforcements in the summer and Alejandro Arribas fits the profile.

Alejandro Arribas contract expires in 2015 so that means in the summer he would only have 1 more year on his contract, he is 23 years of age and can obviously improve, his transfer value at the moment is also at 3 million euros, though its likely Valencia CF can get him on the cheap with 2 millions or less as Osasuna are fighting relegation and may drop to the second division, but even if that isn't the case they don't have much negotiating room.

From what I've seen of him he is a decent option, Albiol would be preferred, but he is going to be too expensive and his salary would be rather large, so I don't think Valencia CF can afford him and that is why they are looking at Alejandro Arribas. Also he is Spanish and we all know Llorente is looking to add as many Spanish players in the club, so expect most of Valencia's transfer in the summer to be Spanish.

Bernat and Paco debut for Spain U21

Valencia CF players Juan Bernat and Paco Alcacer had their debut for Spain under 21 in the friendly match against Belgium. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with Paco Alcacer featuring from the start and was replaced by Juan Bernat in the 66th minute.

Here is the full match if you want to watch it, note there is about 30 minutes of pre match warm up, so you need to skip forward for the actual match: