1-0: Great header, but what was the GK doing? Our corners will improve with Borja. 2-0: Cani loves that pass (a saucer in ice hockey). World-class finish by Santi. 3-0: Very unselfish by Cani. I wish he’d be more assertive in general, though. 4-0: Great overlapping movement from the front six, leading to an easy finish for Cani. 5-0: Powerful strike from Nilmar. He’s not lacking in confidence. Not quite: Nice save on Jozy; great skill from Montero. Both should start in Belarus.
I didn’t see it coming a few weeks ago, as the World Cup wound down. I didn’t even really believe it a week and a half ago. But now it looks almost certain that Jozy Altidore is staying with Villarreal for the season. The reasons this assumption can be made now:
By my calculation, that all adds up to him being squared away in the squad. How much playing time he will get is still yet to be determined.
On other notes, reports of Gonzalo’s demise were a bit premature. He has apologized to the club, and things seem to have been worked out between him and Garrido. Now we will have a much more solid core going through the center of our back line, with Gonzalo, Marchena, and Musacchio, backed up by the youngsters. That feels pretty good.
A lot of this has been mentioned in the previous comments – thanks to everyone for keeping up with things for us here – but Villarreal have gone out and seem to be making a few waves in the transfer market, following the big signing of Borja Valero.
First, Villarreal have signed Facundo Coria from Velez Sársfield, who will spend a year in the B team. The club paid 800,000 euros for 50% of his economic rights, and signed him on a five-year deal. Coria is Argentinian, and just turned 23(5/28/1987). This past year he played for Argentinos Juniors on loan from Vélez Sársfield, scoring four goals in 32 appearances. He has been playing at the top level in Argentina for three years now, and should be ready to make the transition to the A team after a year of adjustment to Spanish football.
Thanks to Kenez for the update, Villarreal have now completed seven signings for the B team. These include: Marcos Luis Perez, Joan Truyols, Airam Cabrera, Hector Sanchez, Castellani, and Dervite (French defender from Tottenham, signed on a 3-year deal, I believe).
Villarreal are also reputed to be going after a couple of players from Sao Paulo, Hernanes and Joao Miranda. I know next to nothing about them, other than the fact that Miranda is a center-back, and Hernanes is a midfielder. Anybody with more information, please chime in.
In psuedo-transfer news, Giuseppe Rossi has apparently come to training full of energy and with big plans for the season. He has made a lot of statements suggesting that he is ready to stick out another year on the Spanish coast, and wants to score at least 17 goals for the club this year (you can listen to an interview with Rossi through this link). He is happy with the Valero signing, recognizing his importance to Mallorca. He also said that he hopes Altidore sticks with the club, and indicated that Altidore would be happy to do so.
Finally, in news of players leaving, Ariel Ibagaza has signed with Olympiacos. We all knew he wasn’t sticking around Vila-real, but he was a great player while he was here, and we wish him well.
A couple of interesting matches today, as host nation South Africa takes on Mexico in what should be an entertaining match. The vuvuzelas will be going strong for the Bafana Bafana as the represent Africa in the continent’s first ever World Cup. Mexico has high hopes of escaping the group, which will probably necessitate a victory tomorrow.
In the second match, there is a bit of Yellow flavor coming from South America, as Villarreal boys, past and present, represent the submarine. Diego Godin is one of the few Villarreal players that actually ended up making a WC squad, and he is set to shine (and potentially grab enough attention to ensure that Villarreal no longer has Uruguayan first team representation). The other projected Uruguay starters from Villarreal-past include the unpredictable Diego Forlan, and the reliable Sebastian Eguren. Both players are missed by many loyalists, myself included, and I can’t help but continue to cheer for their success. It will be a lot easier with Forlan when he moves on from Atletico, though. Uruguay is my dark horse to make a serious run, perhaps into the Quarters.
Villarreal:
There is some club news, including the ever-present possibility of Europe. The Yellow Submarine has not given up hope for a European adventure next term, and it looks like it will take continued woes for Mallorca to make it happen. According to El Periodico Mediterraneo, UEFA could shortly cancel Mallorca’s paperwork. Were that to happen, Villarreal would almost certainly be assured a spot in the Europa League. The money would be great for the club, as would the European experience for the youngsters.
Villarreal has made a formal offer, which is expected to be accepted, for 22-year-old Argentinean midfielder Gonzalo Pablo Castellani, who currently plays for Ferrocarril Oeste, which I believe is in the Argentinian second division. You can expect him to play for Villarreal B next season.
And you should know, you support a great club. Villarreal has announced continued efforts to support the fan, providing free and reduced-price tickets for fans who do not have work. Overall, ticket prices are being reduced. The club’s goal is to maintain 18,000 season ticket holders. Not many other clubs would work at maintaining their base in this fashion.
The rest of the news is generally in the realm of departures.
As noted by previous comments, Ivan Marcano has been loaned out to Getafe, with the option to purchase. I am not sure he will ever recover the trust of the Villarreal faithful, but I am not so sure about loaning him to a team that we have to admit, at least for a year or two, is a direct rival. If he turns things around next season having put another year of experience under his belt, we could really regret this move.
And in what is a sadder move, although it hasn’t been finalized, there are serious rumors that Joseba Llorente could be moving on after two seasons with the club. Admittedly he went through his cold spells, but rarely do you ever come across a guy with more heart. The current rumor is that he could be sold to Basque side Real Sociedad, the club of his hometown. Kenez pointed out that we purchased him for about 5.5m euros, and the current deal looks to be about 3m. I think if the economy was a bit better we might be able to pull another million out of a deal like this, especially assuming that Real Sociedad holds on to its promotion spot, but I think it could be a good deal for everyone involved.
It also seems assured that Damien Escudero will be moving on. I do not believe it has been finalized yet, but (and this is a bit stale, I know) he has been linked with Boca Juniors. Whether he ends up there or not, it seems the stars did not align for his time on the Mediterranean.
A couple of Italian clubs, including Palermo and AC Milan, have been linked to Villarreal loanee Bruno Renan, the Brazilian midfielder. We signed him, I believe it was two years ago, and if we sell him, it should be at a profit.
Villarreal hero Robert Pires will be playing for another team next season. I know I am not merely speaking for myself when I say that Villarreal fans will miss him.
Speaking to the media, he said, “I spoke with the club yesterday and they told me they weren’t going to keep me on because they were changing their philosophy for next year. I accept the decision because I knew my adventure at Villarreal would have to end one day. I am pleased to have been able to play in the Spanish league before retiring, and want to thank the club and the fans.”
I am saddened by the loss, but it is an understandable move by Villarreal. It also is likely the best outcome for Pires. His playing time had dwindled significantly this term, and next season were he around, he would likely be surrounded by many new faces as some of our most high profile names are linked away from the club.
VillarrealUSA will always hold Pires in a place of honor. If the rumors of his futbol adventure continuing in the States, I look forward to inviting him to watch a Villarreal match with members of the VillarrealUSA penya. Having met him in November, he is a class act, and may just be willing to join us for a beer and some Yellow Submarine viewing.
Interestingly, Fernando Roig spoke to the players before officially giving Valverde the axe. I doubt that the conversation was determinative, but it seems pretty clear that Valverde could not have had that much support in the locker room at this point. A number of players had been more or less calling for a change, and it looks like the feeling was at least somewhat widely held.
On less happy news, we have poor, poor Sebastian Eguren. Someone please correct me if I am reading this wrong, but it looks like Eguren is signed with Lazio, but they may have no plans to use him. The Italian team just signed Thomas Hitzlsperger as their apparent efforts to avoid keeping Eguren were in play, and now it looks like Eguren might be hopeless for six months. He will be given an opportunity to get his blood pressure down – if that really is an issue at all – but you have to feel terrible for the guy. Hopefully all of this is rumors and things can work out. I would be happy to see him back at Villarreal, but it looks like that ship might have sailed.
For those of you wondering why Valverde went without Rossi, perhaps that wasn’t all his fault. Apparently Rossi came down with a case of the flu and couldn’t go the full 90. Who knows how having Giuseppe start would have changed the game? It looks like, from the opinion expressed at this site at least, that it might have been the best thing to happen for the club’s future.
Injury-wise, it looks like Javi Venta will be available for the Yellow Submarine when they travel to the island of Mallorca this weekend. His hamstring is getting back to 100 percent, and he hopes to be ready to go.
And as a side note regarding the website, VillarrealUSA is now into its 25th month of existence (if you go into the archives, there are a few posts that I lost due to server problems in the beginning). The site now consists of over 800 posts and over 4,700 comments. Thanks for all of your contributions to the quality of the site! ENDAVANT!
We at VillarrealUSA thought that Sebastian Eguren was happily on his way to Lazio. As did he. As did Villarreal. And, we think, as did Lazio.
But that might not be the case. There are reports that he has failed a medical examination because of high blood pressure, and that he may be returning to eastern Spain where his situation would not work for anyone. Lazio would be out a midfielder they need. Villarreal would be with a midfielder that (unfortunately) they do not want. Eguren would be looking at a severely diminished chance of finding his role into Uruguay’s World Cup squad for lack of playing time.
But Villarreal are denying that he is coming back. So, as of right now, I do not know if anyone knows what is going to happen. We’ll do our best to keep the situation updated here.
Villarreal CF may not be a selling club after all…
At the time of this post, it seemed that Argentine striker Marco Ruben was on his way to Wigan Athletic in the English Premier League. Following the rumors in Marca, he was dropped from the B team squad for the 2-4 victory over Salamanca. Then he praised Wigan’s Spanish-speaking coach and Central and South American players. But then the transfer got bogged down in the details. Well, it looks like those details were enough to keep him on Spanish soil.
So what does this mean for Ruben’s future? Does he move up to the A team now that he is a hot commodity? Or does he remain on the B team to keep a lower profile? I’d like him as the A team’s fourth striker, but if he’s going to play as little as Jony Pereira did, then it makes no sense. Hopefully the B team gets to safety soon–they’re well on their way–and then we can see the cantera in the Primera.
At the same time, Sebastian Eguren should be on his way to Italy. Lazio gets the Uruguayan midfielder (don’t call him a center back) on a six-month loan with an option to purchase. We get 700k euros for the loan and from 3.5 to 4 million euros if Lazio buys. I consider him a Pellegrini reclamation project; he doesn’t fit many coaches’ systems. I hope he makes Uruguay’s World Cup squad, as that’s his logic for the move.
As for Villarreal, I’ll take the money and live with Bruno’s growing pains. He has to get a chance sometime. And with Senna’s decline, we need to know now if Bruno is capable in central midfield. After that, Matilla and Marcos Gullon deserve an extended look.
EDIT: And it’s official, Eguren to Lazio. I know it’s a standard press release, but it sure sounds like he’s not coming back. Best wishes to him.
Big news for the B team: Marco Ruben is off to England to play for Wigan Athletic. He moves to a team in 14th place in the Premier League, only 3 points above the drop zone and Jozy Altidore’s Hull City. Marca had been discussing this rumor for a few days. If we got the reported figure of 5 million pounds, which apparently is what we paid to bring him over from River Plate (Argentina) in 2008, I think the transaction was a success. We can’t expect all of our signings to turn into Luis Antonio Valencia, so I’m not sure why we should hold out for more.
Ruben’s progress here was blocked by Rossi, Nilmar, Llorente, and Altidore (if he returns). Even if one striker is sold, beyond Jony Pereira’s recent departure, Joan Tomas and/or Jefferson Montero deserve a look with the A team. Looks like we are doing business this year and cashing in on some of our assets. Sad to see Ruben go, as he does have a bright future (capped by Argentina and scored on his debut), but he’s not irreplaceable. The B team will struggle a bit more, however, but they just need to stay up.
Though not confirmed, Sebastian Eguren also looks to be on his way. Goal.com suggests that Lazio is interested, which makes sense because we played them in the Europa League. A 6-month loan deal with a 5 million Euro buyout clause sounds like a good deal for all sides. I’d love to have the money right now, but there’s no reason to think that Eguren won’t fit the tradition of Serie A destroyers (Gattuso, Vieira, etc.). We will confirm once it’s official.
On a related note, FT Salamanca 2-4 Villarreal B. All 6 goals in the second half; talk about action. Salamanca took the lead early, then Matilla had a penalty saved, but Jefferson Montero tied the score soon after. Good to see him stepping up in Ruben’s absence. Goals from Gerard Bordas and Joan Oriol sealed the result; Salamanca pulled one back, but Bordas got his brace in stoppage time. What a team! Up to 4th place, 1 point out of the promotion spots.
A lot of this has been discussed, but there are a few things that are worth noting, all of which reflect, I believe, Valverde’s influence on the team.
Jonathan Pereira has been sold to Betis for 3.5m euros. Overall, it isn’t the worst deal for Villarreal. It is disappointing that we never got a chance to see what he really had to offer, especially considering that he was a product of the Villarreal youth system, but I had a pretty strong feeling that he didn’t quite have the skill we would require at that position. Don’t get me wrong – he is definitely a promising player – I just think he would have spent a career on the bench, which, for a striker, is like a death sentence. Villarreal have apparently retained a percentage of his future sale price if he moves on from Betis.
Sebastian Eguren, part of the heart and soul of Villarreal in the last embers of the Pellegrini era, looks to be moving on. Valverde has clearly found favor with Bruno, and as discussed on here previously, has some B-team talent at the position to work with. Something didn’t click between Eguren and Valverde, and Eguren (very understandably) is concerned about his starting role with Uruguay for the summer’s World Cup. He could be moving on by the end of the month. If he does, I will really miss him. He has been one of my favorite players of late.
Marcos Gullón sees the possibilities of greater playing time with the A-team. He is only 20, but seems to be a possible piece of the Valverde puzzle, and has already expressed appreciation for Valverde’s giving him the call up for the Valencia match.
On that note, one thing that Valverde has going for him is that the B-team players that are there, waiting to be pulled up, are sure to provide him with some loyalty. I am definitely not one of the biggest fans of Valverde’s style, but I can learn to live with it if Villarreal can win. I believe there will always be the possibility of returning to the truly beautiful game, but the reality that is so hard to face is that the coaches who can lead a team in that style and be successful are few and far between. Valverde has not yet accomplished the success side of the coin, but I believe that he may if given enough time and patience. Obviously, that isn’t going to be good enough for some fans – you don’t have to look any further than the comments sections on some recent posts – but knowing the management of the club and the club’s well-displayed ability to scout talent, Villarreal can work a balance and retain much of what made it Villarreal to begin with.
One last thing, Diego Godin is on the verge of renewing his contract with the club, stating that to do so has always been his intention. I think one thing we can all agree on is that Godin is a great player and can be the anchor of our back line.
Welcome fellow fans of Villarreal CF, especially those in the United States! This is the website of VillarrealUSA, the official United States penya (supporters group) for Villarreal. The penya is primarily based in the US, but incorporates views, and welcomes members, from around the world.
You can contact the authors on this site by email: maddi - maddi [at] villarrealusa [dot] org, nick - noc [at] villarrealusa [dot] org, or sidarth - sidarth [at] villarrealusa [dot] org.
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