Thanks for the well wishes, everyone. I hope to bring an analytical approach to supplement the great work that Nick and Maddi have been doing.

Here is some exciting news: Press conference at 19:00 Spanish time today featuring Fernando Roig. Presumably this is to introduce Nilmar, who will be coming for a reported 11€ million (10€ fixed plus 1€ in possible bonuses). Not bad that Roig and Llaneza walked Internacional down from a hard and fast 15€ million.

Valverde wouldn’t be commenting on Nilmar’s abilities unless the deal was done, right?

“Nilmar is undoubtedly a very good player. He’s very fast and he plays well in space. He can add a lot to the team.”

“He can bring many new and great things to the side, and for that reason, we are awaiting his transfer to be completed so that we can start working with him.”

On the way out: Cezar Arzo and Marcos Garcia, on four-year deals to Valladolid (h/t kqql). We retain an option to buy back at the end of this season. Arzo hasn’t entered into our plans for a couple of years now (on loan at Recre and Murcia), so I’m not too surprised, but he’s only 23. Garcia leaving is a bit more unexpected (at age 22), but it’s tough to fit every player into a 20 to 22-man squad. Looks like we are not keeping as many players for the B team as I would have expected…

More to come after the press conference!

EDIT: The press conference may have to do with the fraud allegations leveled at the club, which may amount to over 500,000€ (h/t jackson). But the developments on Nilmar are still a positive sign.

EDIT 2: At the press conference, Roig stated that Villarreal’s books are up to snuff and that copies of the most recent documentation are publicly available. Earlier reports claimed that the club had not fully paid the EU’s Value Added Tax.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 10:28 and is filed under Signings, Transfers Out. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.