Transfers update

It's the slow season, so a lot of transfer news shouldn't be expected and with the world cup starting, a lot of things won't become clear until after. A lot of clubs are, understandably, holding on to talents with a view to selling them after the world cup when the values rise.

After the last summer transfer window, when Valencia signed Gabriel and Murillo in the last week and Pereira and Guedes on loan on the last day, we have been quicker off the blocks this time.

Uroš Račić is the first signing of the summer (if you discount Kondogbia.) He signs on a 4-year contract with a 100 million euro release clause. He's more of a defensive midfielder, who also plays in the centre. As such, he's more of a back up for Coquelin, who in turn is second in the ranking to Kondogbia. This is pretty much a "depth"/"prospect" signing along the lines of his countryman Maksimovic rather than a high level signing to improve the squad. 

He looks pretty decent in the official highlights reel but I'd never set too much store by those as they can make any player look like Messi.

Other than that, like most of you, I'm in the dark and we'll have to wait and see. The club's attempts at signing young "prospects" on the cheap haven't been good in recent years. Bakkali looks like he's returning to Belgium. Medran is a goner. Maksimovic has been good as a free signing, but understandably wants more game time and would need it to develop. Santi Mina is the only one approaching a success and it's questionable whether 10 million and two disappointing previous seasons even counts to get here.

This will be the first signing of the Longoria era. The other hope is that it will not affect the club's policy of bringing talented youth like Alcacer, Gaya, Lato, Soler and Ferran into the first team.

The other transfer moves are still to be confirmed. Cancelo continues to be linked with various Italian clubs, though the club seems to be holding out for 40 million, having rejected a 15m plus Marko Pjaca offer. 

The club have unsurprisingly confirmed that they will not exercise the Vietto buy option. The forward line remains up in the air with the official position being that the other three forwards are for sale if the price is right, that being 20m for Mina, 30m for Zaza and 80m for Rodrigo (some sources say 60m for the last.)

Kevin Gameiro is the player most linked with us, with various sources claiming it's a done deal but official confirmation has yet to arrive. He looks most like to replace Zaza, who continues to be linked with a return to Italy. I'd edge towards keeping Zaza, but I can understand the situation. Marcelino prefers flexible players, who will be happy to sit out games when necessary. Zaza has repeatedly shown that he's unhappy at both not starting and being subbed off. Players in similar situations, like Medran and Matt Ryan, who have shown that they are not happy to be rotated, have been quickly shown the door for the good of squad harmony.

The other player most linked with us is Daniel Wass of Celta. I'd sign him like a shot. Decent player, La Liga experience and versatile as he can play centre midfield, right wing and right back. The asking price seems to be 7m, but inexplicably, we seem to be pushing for less, offering 5m for a player who has a 25m buyout. I'd just pay the 7m and be done with it. We are due a windfall from the Champions league. 15.2m fixed rate, at least 16.6m more based on previous ten years, which could rise to 18.8, at least 10m more from TV rights, gate receipts of 8-10m, merchandising adds more and 900,000 euro per point gained in the group stage. Looks like at least 55m even in a bad year. The two other pieces of good news related to that are that we will not have to pay the 23m EU fine this year and will have further time to fight it and that, conversely, PSG will have to raise 60m in transfer sales before 30 June and may therefore have to sell Guedes quickly.

Interesting summer ahead, but don't expect too much transfer news for the next 4 weeks.

2017-18 Season Review: The Best and the Worst

With the season finished, now is a perfect time to sit down and reflect it.

Starting at the beginning, we had finished in a dismal position on the table last season at 12th. The turbulent coaching story continued with Prandelli resigning last season and Voro stepping in as usual to cover. As if that wasn't enough the players, which so much money was splashed on, did not live up to even fractions of their price tag. 

This season was going to be different. We signed a coach that had a track record, experience and was familiar with the country, it's language and the league. The investment strategy for players was different as well: take the players on loan and only should they perform well do we consider investing in them. Of course, part of this was due to necessity since Financial Fair Play would restrict our buying ability regardless. Some players like Paulista, Murillo, Zaza and Neto joined on permanent deals right away (with payments in installments), while others like Kondogbia and Guedes were considered for the future via the loan deals. In addition, excess baggage that didn't prove it's worth last season: Abdennour, Santos, and Nani, was sent elsewhere. Other young players were loaned out as a chance to prove their worth and either come back or be purchased by the club to which they were loaned. 

This set the stage for what was to be a brilliant season to watch and a great success, especially relative to previous seasons. We returned to the Champions League with a few games to spare, played an attractive brand of football, produced consistent performances and challenged the top teams.

From the beginning, we would go on huge runs of great form and build up a streak of undefeated games and great form for our players. Although we did struggle breaking down teams that would park the bus or aggressively break the flow of the counter attacks, we did punish almost every team that challenged us in an open game. The team would be soaring and then the gravity of injuries would pull us back down at points in the season. Our squad depth would be exposed, having no one on the bench to offer anything different. Then, Zaza would go on goal drought, Neto's feet were frozen solid, we would have a crisis in defense and midfielders were used to cover for injured defenders, and finally our right-back would give an opening for all teams to exploit. Despite all that, we managed to achieve the goal and if we were offered this position at the beginning, most if not all of us would've taken it. We actually did even better, as we could've very well finished 3rd or even 2nd.

So without further ado, here is the best and the worst for me in this season:

Best Player: Geoffery Kondogbia

Huge difference to previous holders of the position in previous seasons (Danilo, Enzo Perez, Javi Fuego). Offers great strength, dominant presence and great work ethic. He facilitated our counter-attacking style by intercepting passes and winning the ball back in midfield to start such a move. He had great driving runs forward taking on defenders confidently and producing a good pass or shot to finish. A great asset to have while defending corners and set pieces as he has won the aerial duels many times. He is well liked by the fans as well as his fellow players. Easily justifies his price tag and is undoubtedly a steal for this amount (25 million euros). The deal to sign him permanently was expected and good to see it go through.

Mentions:

Guedes: for taking our attacking game to the next level with his creativity, dribbling and pace.

Rodrigo: great goal tally, really stepped up in the second part of the season and a well-deserved Spain NT call-up

Gaya: perhaps the only constant in defense, one less for Marcelino to worry about.

Soler: Growing talent, versatile (midfield and wing play) nice to see him with the Spanish NT as well.

Worst Player: Martin Montoya

No doubt this has been our weak point all season. We got him on a free transfer, so it was a good deal in that sense. He wasn't always poor, he had some decent games, a few good. But when he was bad, it was really bad and we were exploited. It didn't help that his competition for the spot was Nacho Vidal who was ostracized by Marcelino from the start. He was then left to compete with Vezo for the spot and lost out to him a few times.

Mentions:

Nacho Vidal: I take it if he wasn't used all this time, then Marcelino doesn't value him highly.

Best Game: Real Betis 3 - Valencia 6

Despite conceding 3 goals and almost throwing away a 4 goal lead, it was very entertaining to watch. Lots of contributors, with 6 different goal scorers. Very open game from both teams, almost a comeback at the end only for the momentum to go back to us in the final minutes. Great away win.

Mentions:

Valencia 4 - 0 Sevilla: It felt so good handing a wide margin loss to a rival that's given us so much trouble. Very convincing win.

Worst game: Valencia 1 - 4 Real Madrid

A lot of factors for this. Losing to rival in a 6 point game. The controversial referee decisions at their worst. Losing at home, etc.

Mentions:

Getafe 1-0 Valencia: although we lost by one goal, this was quite embarrassing. A type of game where the other team played aggressive to break up counters, ended up with 10 men very early (25 min into the game) and still managed to beat us. 

Best Goal: Guedes vs Sevilla (4-0 home game)

Guedes summarized in this goal. Receives the ball in midfield, accelerates quickly taking out 2 players, gets to the edge of the box and fakes two more players before smashing it into the top corner from range. It was 

Mentions: 

Guedes vs Betis (3-6 away game): edge of the area, with a wall of defenders in front yet smashes it into top corner.

Rodrigo vs Leganes (0-1 away game): tight game, needed a goal, just substituted in, Kondogbia wins the ball back at the edge of the box, Rodrigo takes possession, runs across the edge of the box and bends it away from the keeper and into the net.

Vietto vs Girona (0-1 away game): struggling on form and getting tons of criticism and whistles but remains focused and produces a great goal. Carried the ball from midfield to the edge of the box, used the defender to block the keeper's vision and curled it to the top corner.

Vietto vs Las Palmas (Copa del Rey 4-0 home game): debut game, saw the keeper of his line and beat him from insane range

That's it from me. Just thought I would discuss this as we haven't had a chance to fully reflect on some of these things. Now I'll pass it to all of you.

Who were your best and worst players of the season? Best and worst games of the season? And Best goal of the season? Other comments or suggestions for improvement?

News update

It's been a week of good news for Valencia, continuing today.

First of all, the club has confirmed what has been known and reported for a while

Valencia have confirmed that they have exercised the buy out option for Geoffrey Kondogbia. He signs a contract until 2022 with a buy out clause of €80 million. As previously reported Valencia will pay €7 million this summer and €6 million the next three summers. Interestingly, only two players in Valencia's history have cost more: Rodrigo and Negredo. Despite that, I don't think any Valencia fan who has followed this season will complain. The price seems a bargain given the quality he's showed us. The man has been compared favourably to an octopus, he always seems able to win back the ball from impossible positions, can chip in with important goals and has a lovely weighted pass.

That wasn't the only official announcement today.

Left back Alex Centelles has extended his contract by two years till 2021 with a prohibitively high release clause of €100 million. Centelles impressed in friendlies with the first team last summer and with question marks over Lato, many of us who've seen him feel that Centelles could be a great long term option as successor to Gaya.

Speaking of Gaya, he also ended months of speculation this week by signing a new contract until 2023. His clause was due to fall to €30 million this summer. Pitifully low for a player who has enjoyed a good season and that would have put him well in range of teams like Juventus. The new release clause is €100 million and that gives the club plenty of negotiating room.

Mateu Alemany's strategy is clear and that's to prepare a plan B in case the club does get hit by any transfer ban and that's to tie up existing talents with large release clauses so that the club can't lose key players for peanuts.

Lastly, we're entering the summer silly season when the press for want of a better story start inventing links just to fill pages. One of them this week is that Alcacer will return to Valencia, as reported by Football Espana. I would take such stories with a pinch of salt unless more credible sources arrive.

However, in saying that, we do know two things....
1) Barcelona will be looking to offload Alcacer after two unsuccessful seasons and the player himself will be looking to move on
2) Valencia will be in the market for a striker

Given that and the close relationship between the two clubs (too close in my opinion) it's probable, even likely, that Barcelona will offer him to us. The question is how to respond if that happens?

I suspect like a lot of Valencia fans my instinctive reaction to this is to let him rot and stay there. The guy abandoned us - in our hour of need when we were short of striking options - for another club. And not just any other club. An English, Italian or French club where he would have been starter would have been understandable but fourth choice at Tourist FC of Catalonia, a club he knows are a hated rival of ours annoys. I'm sure I'm not the only Valencia fan who has smirked at him flopping there while Rodrigo, a player who has stayed loyal to us, has taken Alcacer's place in the Spain squad.

Weirdly, despite that, when I try and look at it objectively it's a move which could actually work. He knows the city and club, has played with creative players like Rodrigo, Mina, Soler and Parejo before (not to mention Gaya, Vezo and Lato) and improved in his seasons with us. Under Marcelino, as with a lot of players who flopped at other clubs, he could improve and fit the profile of a pacey striker. The issues would be twofold. The price would have to be low.  €10 million would be ok. Maybe 12, but no more. Mostly, the issue would be the reaction from the fans. He'd be the target of boos and whistles in his early time and would have to work hard to regain trust. Polls of fans about his possible return have been overwhelmingly negative, with usually around 80% against.

For the last reason I don't think it will happen, but I wouldn't totally bet against and am surprised to find myself open to the idea. What do you all think?

Valencia CF 2-1 Deportivo La Coruna

The last official game of the season reminded us why we like to play football in the cooler months. A baking hot day at the Mestalla failed to put off fans as a large crowd turned out to see our heroes for the last time for a while and for some maybe to see them for the last time in our colours.  Valencia surprised us all by wearing the new blue shirts and shorts which will be our second colours next season.

With Jaume in goal, Nacho Vidal on the right of defence and Murillo partnering Garay in the middle, with Gaya on the left.  Good to see Maksimovic in the midfield with Parejo Soler and Guedes. Zaza and Rodrigo led the attack.

Anybody expecting this to be a wind down end of the season bore would be in for a pleasant surprise.
Good to see Bakalli playing for Depor after being given permission by Valencia.  He was certainly getting plenty of the ball and keeping Vidal very busy on the flank. To be fair though Vidal kept him well in check, preventing him from doing us any damage.  There were long spells in the first half when Bakalli was looking a lot better value than Guedes and we would wonder why we would pay all that money when we have Bakalli for free.

The first half was controlled by Valencia with many chances being made.  Maksimovic, with a header, Soler and Rodrigo all had good efforts.  Zaza, however, broke the deadlock though when picking up a loose ball managed to fire into the back of the net to put us in front. A bit lucky really because he seemed to give a little push just before but we got away with it. Zaza also had a good header come off the crossbar and Guedes was unlucky when the keeper threw the ball to him and all of 35 metres out he lobbed the ball to the top corner. Unfortunately the keeper made up for his error making a good save.

In the 77th minute Guedes made up for it by firing in a great goal after being set up brilliantly by Vietto. He deserved something for all his hard work and running but not having much success until then.

Lucas Perez came on for Depor to loud boos and whistles from the home crowd. I can only assume it was because of him turning us down and going back to his home town. A bit harsh I think and maybe he won't want to come here now.  Soon after, he got his revenge by scoring a good goal to put them back in the game.  This is when we relied on Jaume a lot with the visitors making many chances and could have easily scored a couple of goals to spoil our party.  It was not to be though and we won a game we deserved and entertained the large crowd, who by now were just about melting in the sun.

The after match celebrations, as always very emotional with Rodrigo, Guedes and Zaza being told in no uncertain terms that they are wanted here next season.

Player Ratings

Jaume 7   Made some great saves and looked calm and composed. Kept us in the game near the end.  No doubts with him and Neto for next year.

Nacho Vidal. 6.5  He has now given the management something to ponder. A very composed performance today.  I would keep him and Montoya for next season. He is young, strong and tall enough to win balls in the air.

Garay 6.5  Mr. composure.  Not troubled too many times but was there when needed. Why change something that is working.

Murillo 7   Back to his old self.  A great performance today strong and reliable.  I hope they are not looking to replace him.

Gaya  8.5  Man of the match.  In the 90th. minute he got caught with the ball. I mention this because it was the only flaw in a near perfect performance.  Was never beaten and was faultless.

Soler  6  Really disappointing again. Everything he tried to do didn't work. Kept losing the ball and making bad decisions all day.

Maksimovic  7   Really looked the part today. Strong fast and good eye for the pass. Another one who can do a good job for us next season. Just been called up for his national team for the World Cup so that is good for him.

Parejo 7   Had a couple of good chances to score but his shots were a bit wide. Passing was his usual high standard and top performance.  Went off to a standing ovation from a very appreciative audience when replaced late on.

Guedes 7  for the goal and the unlucky chip over the keeper.  Apart from that had a really forgettable first half. Is he worth 40 million ?  I don't know.

Zaza 7   Great goal and much better performance today. There is no doubt that he is the crowd favourite here and it remains to be seen whether the money comes in to tempt him away. Hope he stays and I know that is the opposite to what I said last week.

Rodrigo 6.5   Unlucky on a number of occasions but failed to find a goal that would have made his and our day.

Subs  Vieto for Rodrigo
          Kondogbia for Parejo
          Mina for  Zaza

Girona 0 - 1 Valencia

I know not everybody will agree with me but I thought it was a pretty good performance today.  It is not easy winning at Girona  as many clubs have discovered this season and with so many changes in the team another loss was not an impossibility. Neither team had anything but pride to play for so I was expecting that we may have had a boring game.  The only problem with the game today is that just when the management have probably got a good idea who will stay and who will go some players have stepped up and sewn some doubts.

With a back line of Montoya, Vezo, Murillo and Lato. Jaume in goal,  Midfield with Soler Maksimovic Torres and Guedes  and forwards with Vietto and Zaza.

Not many chances were made by either side but Girona did hit the post and Soler missed an almost open goal when set up by Zaza.  Even though there were not too many opportunities players such as Maksimovic and Torres showing that they are quite capable of playing at the higher level.

It was good to see Murillo back playing after not seeing too much of him recently and he was having a decent game although caught for speed on one occasion.  Jaume looked comfortable enough in goal and made 2 or 3 good saves but was not troubled too much.

I have a suspicion Guedes was told to play rubbish to keep his price down as again today he just couldn't get anything right. His control was awful and he just seemed to hang on to the ball too much. To be fair he had a couple of decent long shots that were actually on target but did not cause their keeper too much trouble.

With Kondogbia out through injury and Parejo through suspension the midfield seemed to be able to cope well enough. Maffeo the right back for Girona was looking very lively and the talk is that we could be taking him next season from Man City for around 7 million euros as he is on loan at Girona but Man City don't want him back. Might be a good purchase.

The highlight of the game came in minute 60 when Vietto, who was having a good game, picked up the ball just outside his own area and ran the length of the field. Players either side drew off defenders allowing him to pick his spot with a great shot just inside the post. A great goal with a great performance of today.  There was no way back now for the home team and Valencia held on to be worthy winners without being worried too much.

After a run of 5 games without a win it was a very welcome 3 points and good for the moral of the team and supporters.

PLAYER RATINGS

Jaume 7   Not troubled too much but made some good saves when called upon. Always looks confident and will be an asset next season again for backup or number 1.

Montoya 6.0  Rarely seemed to be troubled and given an unusual away game. Had a decent run which almost created a chance

Vezo  7  Did not put a foot wrong today his defending was good and his ball out of defence was faultless. He has to stay and I would not be surprised if he went to the World Cup.

Murillo 6.5  Good to see him back. Good strong player although a little short of pace sometimes his experience is welcome.

Lato 6.0  Still looks a bit raw at times but a tough little player. Got needlesly booked but looked ok.

Ferran 6.5  Looking better each game which is to be expected. Helped out well in defence also at times.

Soler  6.0   Had a decent game but loses marks for missing the sitter when trying too much to place it when perhaps a blast would have been better.

Maksimovic 7  He has to stay.  Worked hard in the middle and compensated well for the missing Kondogbia. I like his strength and ability to win balls in the air also. Looks calm and confident.

Guedes 5  Surely he cannot be this bad without trying. Not a shadow of the player we saw before Christmas and at 40 million PSG must be laughing if we pay that on this performance.

Vietto 7   Great performance even without the goal I was thinking how well he was playing before he actually scored.  Somebody has to decide now about him. Such a shame he was whistled off a few weeks ago. He looked so happy when he scored I really felt for him.

Zaza  5.0  Described by some West Ham supporters as crap when he played there.  What has happened to him.  He looks moody and uninterested.  He has gone from my hero to a player I would like to see the back of after his recent performances. Today he was awful.

Subs Rodrigo for Zaza
         Vidal for Lato
         Gaya for Torres

LATEST NEWS.

Inter have stated that they will not be taking up the option of purchasing Cancelo whether or not they attain Champions League status. In that case he will return to Valencia next week and his future will be decided in due course.  Could be good news for us with either he stays or perhaps better still he goes for nearer 50 million euros.

Also,  Andreas Pereira  has returned to Man United.  He was injured in that farcical encounter in Saudi and will not be fit for a couple of weeks.  It is not expected that he will return to Valencia, which perhaps is also a bit of good news.

Villareal 1-0 Valencia CF

Today the result wasn't important because Betis losing at Athletic Bilbao put us straight into the Champions League for next season

Valencia again started with a couple of changes from last week with Vezo back at right of the defence in place of Montoya, no place for Murillo or Zaza.

The first half began well enough for us with a couple of good chances firstly when Mina was sent away down the right to make a smart cross for Rodrigo on the back post to his the goal but unfortunately the keeper got a foot to it.

Mina was also sent through on his own and with only the keeper to beat was unable to finish with the keeper making a decent save to his low shot. The ref had waved play on when he looked suspiciously offside.

Villareal were using Cheryshev a lot down their left wing but Vezo managed to keep him in check for most of the time. 

Neto was having a good game and was called upon a number of times to keep out shots from Bacca and others and was looking like the hero of the day. Bookings for Parejo and Gaya will keep them out of next weeks visit to Girona but changes were planned anyway so not so bad,

The second period was a case of Valencia sitting back seemingly content with the draw and Villareal looking like they were not so bothered and were happy with a point to take them into the Europa League.  The half is probably one best forgotten except that the home team spoiled the day by scoring a headed goal near the end to grab the points.

A disappointing end to the day for Valencia but let's not forget we will go to Champions League and them to Europa and for that we can be happy.   

Player Ratings

Neto 7.5  Saved the day by making some very difficult stops proving he is a top keeper.

Vezo 6.0  Did well against Sherychev and shows he can play right or centre without problem. Will he be picked for Portugal world Cup ?

Garay 6.0  Good solid performance again made no big errors.

Gabriel 7.0  Called upon many times to clear the lines and played well, looks like a top purchase for us.

Gaya 6.5  Another good performance but a silly yellow card to keep him out next week 

Soler 7.0  Causing them all sorts of problems with his strong running and cost them 2 yellow cards.

Parejo 6.5  Steady game without being too brilliant. Another yellow card makes him La Liga top scorer for yellow cards

Kondogbia 7.0  Another strong performance if not quite as good as the last few weeks but still one of the best on the pitch

Guedes 6.5  I am not convinced this player is worth 40 million euros. we could do better with that sort of money I think.

Mina 6.0  Good cross for Rodrigo and unlucky when put through but that's about it.

Rodrigo 6.0  Not a game for him to remember, one chance but that was it.

                                              # # # # # # # # # # # # # # 

So guys, talking points !

Why was Zaza left out and then he brought on Vietto, strange or what ?

Why was Murillo overlooked again ?

Did you know we have a game in Saudi Arabia on this Wednesday v Al Nassr FC. good idea ?

Is Guedes worth 40 Million euros ?

How much is Rodrigo worth, do we sell at the right price ?

Would you mind seeing Cancello playing for Real Madrid if we get 40 million plus ?

Do we sell or loan Maksimovic next season, or keep him ?

Do we make some changes for next week e.g. play Centelles Villalba, Jimenez ?

Valencia CF 0-0 SD Eibar

We were discussing before the game what the score would be 3-1 maybe 3-2 maybe 2-1 but nobody around me said it would be only our second 0-0 of the season, the first being against Athletico Madrid the beginning of September last year.

The wind was always going to be a big factor today as it was swirling round the Mestalla causing all sorts of problems with high balls. A win was all that was needed and that would take us to the Champions League. A point should be enough but we shall see.

Valencia started of brightly with a lineup with Vezo perhaps surprisingly preferred to Murilllo partnering Gabriel in the centre of defence. Apart from that the lineup was as expected with Mina also preferred to Zaza. Motoya was preferred at right back and justified his inclusion with a solid display.

It was to be another frustrating afternoon for Valencia with chance after chance being created but not being taken. I would have to see the game again and make notes of the missed chances as there were so many. Roodrigo, Guedes, Soler, all had good opportunities but with lack of finesse or lack of luck or good goalkeeping from ex Valencia keeper Yoel keeping them out. 

Peter Lim was there and is yet to his his team win this season, so Peter stay away please you are bringing bad luck.
Soler looked to have a good shout for a penalty but on seeing the reply the ref got it right. Zaza  had what looked like a good goal ruled out for offside but his hand was offside. ridiculous rule really. When are strikers going to learn not to reach forward with their arms on theses marginal decisions.

Ian Marquez  the Eibar captain was forced to retire ten minutes from the end leaving them with a player short but it just made them defend deeper and we could not take advantage.

All in all a disappointing end to the game. It would have been nice to have secured C.L. at home but it may be secured tonight if Malaga can take a point at Betis. Betis need to win all their last 4 games to have an outside chance of taking 4th place.


Player Ratings.

Neto 6   Made a great save from Pedro Leon on his near post from nearly 30 metres injuring his knee on the post.

Montoya 6.5   Good solid display and made some great last ditch tackles to save the day. Will he go, will he stay. I hope he stays.

Vezo 6.5    Justified his selection over Murillo with a good display. Made one bad pass out to Kondogbia but apart from that looked cool.

Gabriel 6.5  Again good solid display not really troubled too much worked well with Vezo.

Gaya 7   Hard working as usual in defence and going forward. Beginning to improve understanding with Guedes.

Parejo 7  Good to see him back, picked up a silly yellow for arguing with ref but worked well.

Soler  6..5   He needs to improve in front of goal. Had a couple of chances where he tried to get the ball on to his stronger foot instead of just burying it.

Guedes 7  Hard to rate him but always gives his all with his runs but often takes the wrong decisions. Sometimes looks worth 40 mil then looks more like 4 mil. He has time to improve as I am sure he will.

Kondogbia 8  Easy to score him each week as he is the powerhouse of the midfield. Defending and attacking all over the pitch

Rodrigo 7  unlucky not to have had a goal or two. Maybe could have held the ball up a number of times but if he had we would all be saying he should have had a shot.

Mina 5.5  Best be forgotten display again. He needs a goal to justify his place and it didn't happen again today.

Zaza 6.5  Not on for long but got a goal that was unluckily disallowed.  The team seem to spark more when he came on for Santi Mina.

Torres 6.5   Only on for a short time but got in a good cross and this will do his confidence good. Hopefully see more of him this season.

Valencia CF Transfer News

There has been a lot of development and lots of rumors in the transfers department, so lets tart with the confirmed one, which is that Intel want to keep Joao Cancelo in their team. Reports suggest that Inter wanted to extend the loan deal with a mandatory purchase option at the end of the loan deal, but Valencia CF refused and suggested that they buy the player this summer if they are interested in him.

Joao Cancelo purchase option is at 35 million euros, which is 10 million euros more than Geoffrey Kondogbia, so Inter would have to dish out 10 million euros if they choose to buy Joao Cancelo. This is great news for Valencia CF, as not only are we getting an amazing player already in Kondogbia, but we are removing a high paid player that we have no use for anymore and getting 10 million euros in profit out of it.
This is all but confirmed and unless there is major change within a month, this deal is as good as over.

Valencia CF has also not had to pay for any of the Arsenal transfers as they owed Valencia CF a lot of money from the Shkodran Mustafi deal, so essentially we got Gabriel Paulista and Coquelin for free in a sense.

Some other reports suggest that Valencia CF will indeed purchase Goncalo Guedes for a sum of around 40 million euros, right now this is money we don't have and we still have to sell few players to drop them from our squad list and salary list, but with the fact that we are virtually secure in playing Champions League next season, which in itself would bring in over 15 million euros, this means Valencia CF can spare money on purchase, though how it will reach 40 million euros is still unknown. Reports have it that Peter Lim is negotiating with PSG owners and that a potential purchase would be paid off over 4 years, so each year the club will have to pay 'only' 10 million euros.

What is certain is that Luciano Vietto will most definitely return to Atletico Madrid, the player had an explosive first game for Valencia CF and we all thought we have found another gem that is going to lift up Valencia CF, but the player turned out to be a dud. His performances have not been overall terrible, but he certainly hasn't celebrated himself and is most certainly not even near worth 16 million euros. On the form he's been for us, at best he is wroth 3 million euros.