The New cheap Mestalla

We've reported several times on the progress of the new stadium or lack thereof and with each consecutive presentation the project seems to have become worse and worse. 

The latest was Peter Lim going to court against the local government over the ATE and its specifics. Peter Lim latest presentation was one of a stadium with a capacity of 40k seats that is smaller and less feature rich than the current old Mestalla. Just click the above link if you want to see the comparison pictures of the New Mestalla and the new new Mestalla, its night and day. The original design was grandiose and slick and amazing and the new design is cheap, terrible and pathetic. 

Peter Lim has a small club mindset, the way he is running Valencia CF like a small club and doing stuff just to stay afloat and just to barely get by. You don't buy a football club to then run it like a merchandise store, he has no clue how to build a successful club and how to grow Valencia CF. 

Fortunately the government is not buying the Kool-Aid he is selling, the snake oil he is selling and they are demanding the new Mestalla not be under 70k seats and stripped down barebones. 

Jasper Cillessen recovers from injury

Some good news for Valencia CF as Jasper Cillessen has recovered from his injury and is training separately from the squad, trying to build up his fitness, with decent chances of being included in the lineup for the next league match. 

Omar Alderete is another player who has recovered from his injury and is training normally with the squad so he is likely going to be available for selection as early as Thursday for Valencia's match against Athletic Bilbao in the semi final of the Spanish cup.

Hugo Guillamon has also recovered from his injury that he sustained in Valencia's last match after a direct head on collision with an opposing player. His nose was ruptured and required surgery, but now he is fine and will be available for the next matches. 

Gabriel Paulista is still out injured and chances are he will be out for the rest of the season as before when he recovered slightly he was put on recovery training and the injury returned, so now they are going to go slow with him and allow more time for  his recovery. 

Valencia CF to face Marcelino's Athletic Bilbao in the cup

Valencia CF will fact Athletic Bilbao in the semi final of the Spanish cup, led by former Valencia CF manager Marcelino. Valencia CF beat Cadiz 2-1 to move into the semi final, while Athletic Bilbao surprised Real Madrid and beat 1-0 to progress into the cup's semi final.

The new rules for the cup are that two legs will be played, an interesting turn on events as previous rules stated that only one game will be played. 

Athletic Bilbao has had a great run in the cup, beating the likes of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid to place in the semi final, so they will prove Valencia's toughest challenge in the cup yet. It will be very interesting to see how that match plays out and if Valencia CF beat Athletic Bilbao they have a great chance of winning the whole thing.

Valencia CF 10th in salary expenditures in Spain

Valencia CF now has one of the lowest salary expenditures in all of La Liga. Before the winter transfer market in which the club offloaded 6 players VCF had the 8th highest salary expenditures in the league, but after the winter transfer window the expenditure is much lower and now the club is 10th in overall salary expenditures. 

The highest paid player still is Goncalo Guedes with around 6 million euros salary per year, Carlos Soler following him with around 5 million euros per year, similar to Gabriel Paulista and Jasper Cillessen. 

Then a bit further down is Jose Luis Gaya who earns about 3.5 million euros per year, followed by Maxi Gomez and Helder Costa. Of course Helder Costa is only here on loan, and he carries a hefty price tag so its safe to say that Valencia CF won't be signing the player.

Maxi Gomes Instagram controversy

So there has been a big controversy when Maxi Gomez posted a picture on Instagram with the words "day off". Apparently hundreds of people have decided to insult and demeanor the player with some very disparaging comments. 

We have to remember that even hundreds of people are just a tiny minority on Instagram, Maxi Gomez has thousands of followers and Instagram has hundreds of millions of users, so we are talking about a small minority of people who decided to share their displeasure in a disrespected way.

I think players should be aware of criticism and should be able to take that, but people need to be more respectful as well, direct insults and stuff serve no purpose and no player will ever read that. So the best way to do it is by providing constructive criticism or even harsh criticism, but without insults. The focus should be sporting wise without insults to the players, I know things can get a bit too heated at times and VCF has major issues right now, but again targeting players with insults is not the way to go. 

Of course we here at the site take pride in the fact that we don't remove comments, except in extreme rare cases which has happened maybe 5-6 times over the past 13 years. We are staunch believers in free speech and lively debate and encourage all our readers to engage in debates and discourse. Most of our commenters have been super informative and respectful and we have not even had to look at much of the comments. 

Official: Bryan Gil joins Valencia CF

Tottenham's Bryan Gil joins Valencia CF on a 6 months loan deal. The player has been linked with Valencia CF for the past two weeks and the negotiations moved slowly with several alternatives to the player being reported in the news. Ultimatelly Valencia CF managed to reach an agreement with Tottenham over the loan deal for Bryan Gil. 

The dispute came with Tottenham requiring 2 million euros fee for the loan deal with Valencia CF finding that unacceptable, especially for a loan deal of only 6 months. 

Bryan Gil is already in Valencia and has passed his medical examination, so the player will be available to the coach from tomorrow.

Valencia CF sets its attention to Mickael Malsa

Valencia CF is looking at yet another option for midfield and this time its UD Levante's Mickael Malsa who plays as a defensive midfielder. Valencia CF wants to buy Mickael Malsa, though it first wants a loan deal for 6 months with a purchase clause at the end of the loan deal for 5 million euros. The club is in a weak financial situation so a purchase now is outside of possibility, but they could purchase the player in the summer from next years transfer money. 

As you know VCF has been linked with tons of names, but between Jose Bordalas rejecting some of the players and the financial burden in order to get some of the others the club has settle on Mickael Malsa who Jose Bordalas values the most and is the profile that he seeks, unlike some of the other names who are way more attack oriented. The club would also go for a purchase option for the player and at 5 million it is something the club can afford to spend in the summer. 

Diego Costa to join Valencia CF?

Diego Costa to join Valencia CF if Maxi Gomez is sold in the next 48 hours. Valencia's Maxi Gomez has been placed on the transfer market since the start of the transfer market, as Jose Bordalas has lost trust in the forward and with the player having one of the highest salaries in the club he is on the exit door. So far there has been no formal offers for the player, though several clubs have inquired about him.

Valencia CF have identified a replacement for Maxi Gomez in the event that he is sold and that replacement is non other than Diego Costa. Another interested club for the striker is Salernitana from Italy, though the player would prefer to join Valencia CF as Salernitana are battling relegation in Serie A.

Diego Costa is currently without a club so he is going to come for free, and of course he would earn a much smaller salary compared to Maxi Gomez.

Peter Lim goes to court against the government

Peter Lim has challenged the Valencian government in court over the extension of the ATE or lack thereof. As you know Peter Lim and the Valencia government have been at odds for some time now over the construction of the new stadium and its surrounding, something which Valencia CF agreed on when getting the land to build the new stadium on.

The past year the city council has really put the pressure on Peter Lim to finish the stadium as all of his previous promises and "guarantees" were broken. The last proposal by Peter Lim and company was that the new stadium would be built by 2026 with a reduced capacity of 40k with the ability to extend the capacity to 45k. Clearly a massively downgraded plan as initially the new Mestalla was build to house 75k seats with further updates reducing the number to some 60k seats. The latest proposal by Lim and company have the stadium at only 40k seats and supposedly to be built by 2026. The proposal didn't go over well and now Peter Lim went to court to try and extend the ATE by 2030.

Deportivo Alaves is Manu Vallejo's destination

Manu Vallejo has chosen Deportivo Alaves as his next club and all is left now is for both clubs to agree on a transfer. I've learned that Alaves has no transfer money so they are trying to get the player on a loan deal with Valencia CF pushing to sell the player as they do not count on the player in the future and as such they are trying to push for an obligatory purchase option at the end of the loan. Chances are it is going to be a low sum, something along the lines of 1.5 million euros with Valencia CF reserving some percentage of the players rights. 

FacePhi announces sponsorship with Valencia CF

FacePhi partners with Valencia CF. The company will sponsor Valencia CF and join the VCF Business Club. FacePhi was chosen to provide facial biometrics as an access method for the Valencia CF stadium. Hopefully this is just decorative and isn't used to erode people's privacy at Valencia CF stadiums. 

While I am glad Valencia CF is getting more sponsors these type of technologies really anger me as they erode our privacy and bring us one step closer to an authoritarian society. 

Samu Castillejo is hours from signing with Valencia CF

AC Milan's Samu Castillejo is just hours from signing with Valencia CF reports from Italy suggest. This is Valencia's second option if they are not able to secure the services of Bryan Gil. With Tottenham reportedly asking for 1.5 million euros for a 6 months loan, that deals seems to be off and Valencia CF is negotiating with AC Milan and Samu Castillejo as we speak in order to facilitate the move. 

To recap from my previous article about the player he has featured prominently at AC Milan in his first two years there, but has been getting less and less time since last season, culminating with only playing 122 minutes this season total. As such the player is looking for a way out of Milan and Valencia CF is an exciting destination.

If this option also fails then Valencia CF have a third option in Carles Perez.

Cristian Rivero loaned out to Alcorcon

Valencia CF forth goalkeeper Cristian Rivero has been loaned out to Alcorcon for the next 6 months. Valencia CF wanted to sell the player and FC Dallas looked to be his destination, but the deal was not made for whatever reason. We still have no clue why that deal fell through. 

He is not going to have any chance at Valencia CF with Giorgi being bough last summer, initially as a B team goalkeeper, but he was given a chance in the preseason due to injuries to Cillessen and Jaume and he took his opportunity in stride and was a starter for couple of matches before making some blunders in two of the matches and was replaced with Cillessen. Long story short due to bad planning on behalf of the management, circumstances and just bad luck Rivero has not had and will not have a chance at Valencia CF.

Valencia CF to sign Alaves's Joselu for free

Valencia CF is working to sign Alaves's striker Joselu for free this summer as his contract is due to expire in the summer, and he has made the decision to continue elsewhere. Valencia CF were thinking of purchasing the player this transfer window in case they were able to sell Maxi Gomez, but since that didn't pan out the club has decided to sign a personal deal with the player and acquire him for free the coming summer. 

Joselu is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Deportivo Alavés in La Liga and has featured 22 times, scored 10 goals and provided 2 assists. Impressive achievements considering Alaves are at the bottom of the table with just 17 points out of 22 matches and struggling as a team. They've scored 16 goals in La Liga with 10 of those coming from Joselu. 

Valencia CF interested in Roma's Carles Pérez

Valencia CF is interested in Roma's winger Carles Perez as an alternative to Samu Castillejo if that loan deal falls through. Carles Perez is a Spanish football player who currently plays for AS Roma in Italy. He joined AS Roma in 2020 from FC Barcelona on a 6 months loan deal and impressed with his performances, so Roma decided to purchase the player for 13 million euros. His 2020/21 season was a successful one with Carles featuring over 30 times for Roma in all competitions. Last year however has not been as good for him and playing chances have been sporadic and mostly coming on as a substitute in short stints.

AS Roma have offered the player to Valencia CF in order to provide him with some playing time and Valencia CF is still looking for another reinforcement in order to give Jose Bordalas more options. 

Ilaix Moriba joins Valencia CF on loan

Ilaix Moriba joins Valencia CF from FC Leipzig on a 6 months loan deal as a direct replacement for Daniel Wass. The loan deal has no purchase option its a pure loan deal in order for the player to gain some playing time as he has been underutilized at Leipzig and a temporary stop gap for Valencia CF to cover for Daniel Wass. 

The player has not played much at Leipzig, but he returns from the Africa Cup with Guinea in which he played all of their matches. This means that he is fit and ready to start playing for Valencia CF at any given moment and chances are Jose Bordalas will give him a tryout in the cup match against Cadiz.

Daniel Wass joins Atletico Madrid from Valencia CF

Daniel Wass joins Atletico Madrid from Valencia CF for a 2.7 million fee plus half a million euros in variables. This is a decent monetary gain for the player considering he only has 6 months left on the contract and has voiced his wish to continue elsewhere on numerous occasions. 

Initially Atletico Madrid proposed a 1.5 million euros offer, but was swiftly rejected by Valencia CF and the club was ready to have the player sit out the rest of the season before selling him for such a low amount, but as the end of the transfer window was coming Atletico Madrid improved their offer and have reached an agreement with Valencia CF over the transfer of Daniel Wass for 2.7 million euros plus half a million in variables. 

Valencia CF turns to Samu Castillejo

Valencia CF has turned its focus to Samu Castillejo as Bryan Gil from Tottenham has publicly stated that he wants to stay in England, so his arrival to Valencia CF seems highly unlikely now. Samuel "Samu" Castillejo Azuaga is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Italian club AC Milan. The player joined AC Milan from Villarreal in 2019 for 20 million euros and featured prominently in the first two seasons, but his playing time has gradually reduced with the player finding himself only featuring 5 times this season mostly as a substitute.

Valencia CF is desperate for more more options in midfield and is now turning to Samuel Castillejo as an alternative to Bryan Gil. Both are wingers though they play on the opposite wing of each other. Samu is a right winger, though he is left footed and can play both positions. Valencia CF wants to get the player on a 6 months loan deal.

Ilaix Moriba set to join Valencia CF

Ilaix Moriba is set to join Valencia CF on a 6 months loan deal without the option to purchase the player at the end of the loan deal. Moriba Kourouma Kourouma, known as Ilaix Moriba, is a Guinean professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Guinea national football team. He joined the Bundesliga club for a hefty fee of 16 million euros, but has failed to live up to expectations and has only featured 2 times, making his high transfer a complete and utter failure. 

With the player barely playing at all they are now looking to offload him in order to give him some chance of playing. Valencia CF is desperately searching for a new midfielder, especially as the transfer of Daniel Wass is becoming more and more likely, so the club has stepped up its efforts to acquire a new midfield with several names being circulated in the media in the past few days.

Tanguy Ndombele on Valencia CF radar

Tanguy Ndombele is a French football player who currently plays as a central midfielder for Tottenam, but he has found himself on the fringes this season therefore the club and player want him out, with Tottenham preferring a loan option so that the player can get some minutes and improve, unless a big offer comes along of course, but so far no one is willing to match their 50 million euros asking price, which is 5 million euros less than they paid for him. PSG are supposedly interested in purchasing the player, but are unwilling to pay more than 35 million euros.

Tanguy Ndombele to join Valencia CF?

Valencia CF have been asking around for a central midfielder and Tottenham has offered Tanguy Ndombele to Valencia CF on a 6 months loan deal. The big issue for Valencia CF is once again his high salary, but Tottenahm is reportedly willing to bear some 20% of his salary in order to facilitate the move.

Valencia CF have recently been linked with some impressive names like Van De Beek, Bryan Gil and now Tanguy Ndombele, but are any of these realistic targets for Valencia CF? I think this is probably the best option Valencia CF can go for as he has significant experience and has played at the top level as well for 2 seasons at Tottenham. Before that he had two very impressive seasons at Lyon and what had him noticed by Tottenham and why they were willing to splash 55 million euros for the player.