2007/2008 Villarreal General News/Rumours thread.

Let's continue the discussions for the upcoming season here.

Marca, Goal.com, and El Periodico Mediterraneo (a Castellon newspaper) are reporting that Villarreal are looking at Anelka if Baptista does not work out. I do not know about a move for Anelka - he seems to be a bit of a problem wherever he goes, unable to settle down. Maybe the French contingent at Villarreal could be a calming influence on him.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=363743

And SkySports and Goal.com reports are saying that Sol Campbell might be heading to the El Madrigal this year. Ever since the Champions League Final two years ago, Campbell has really been playing well in my opinion. He is 32, but seems to have at least 2-3 years left in him.

http://www.goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=363724

Numbers have been assigned for the upcoming year:

1 Viera; 2 Gonzalo; 3 Josemi; 4 Jose Enrique; 5 Capdevila; 6 Josico; 7 Pirés; 8 Cazorla; 9 Guille Franco; 10 Cani; 11 Tomasson; 12 Cygan; 13 Diego Lopez; 14 Matías Fernandez; 15 Nihat; 16 Roman; 17 Javi Venta; 18 Somoza; 19 Senna; 20 Fuentes; 21 Bruno; 22 Vallejo; 23 Jose Mari; 24 Mavuba and 25 Barbosa.

THAT would be a solid move IMO.

Yes, Marca reports that Cazorla getting number 8 over Riquelme is a humiliation for Roman and evidence that he does not figure in Villarreal's plans. Will he be sold? That could bring in a boatload of cash to bring in an attacker to replace Forlan and some more defensive reinforcements.

I am lost. Please explain.

With all due respect if Satan himself was a 6' + Central Defender and could shut down a 4-0 drubbing happening to Villarreal again, I'd welcome him....probably buy him a beer too.

But I have little morals these days.

16 Roman

Oh, sorry man. I totally missed the THFC in your teams line.
NOW it all makes sense.

One can learn something new everyday

If it helps, you can think that Redknapp washed the Arse stink off of him....somewhat

we have some serious problems in the back, Especially with ayala ditching us. If Campbell lands he'll at least help us deal with the immediate issues at hand, give us time to find long term solutions.

I guess, though I'm not a fan of Sol Campbell either, for same reasons as KMJvet. I'm not a Spurs fan but when those kind of loyalty issues come up it makes me dislike players regardless of which clubs are involved.

And SempreGroc, Marca had an article about Ilsinho in June I think. It said that nothing will become official until August, at which time we should find out whether or not he gets Portuguese citizenship.

By the way, for anyone who is interested, there is a highlight of the 13 goals scored against Navata in the latest edition of Villarreal CF TV, which you can watch online for free (the program is every Monday and Friday) on www.villarrealcf.es

Just enter the version Castellano, and in the menu near the top click Programa TV. You'll see the latest version there. Right now it's two episodes joined together about the preseason camp in Navata. The first half has a lot of footage of Seba Viera and Mariano Barbosa golfing, while Pires and Nihat follow them around watching them and just chilling out. They also talk to the man in charge of Hotel Torremirona. There is also an interview with Capdevila and an interview with Pellegrini. The second half finishes the golf game and there's a couple of short interviews with Juan Albors (the medical chief), and the equipment manager, and a couple of other coaches and club staff. There is also an interview with Rio Mavuba (during which Pires translates from French to Spanish for him) and the highlights of the Navata game, followed by an interview with Guille Franco. One of Guille's 6 goals was a really great one, and Xisco's second shows the fantastic work done by Cazorla to set it up.

If you've got some time to waste and you can understand Spanish (or even if you can't), it's amusing enough to watch. And it's nice to see the good atmosphere in the group.

Thanks for that link. I wish I could understand Spanish - but the highlights needed no translation.

Hey guys! Can I get an opinion on Juan Manuel Peña? He just signed for Celta, don't know much about him except his age and stats. Thanks in advance!

I only can say good things about Peña. He is a very good professional and an authentic gentelman. He is a little old but have a lot of experience in spanish football. It isn't fast but he is strong and have a good situation on the pitch.

I have no notice about this by here. We'll wait a few days...

About Campbell, I don't think this is the prototype of defender that Manuel Pellegrini is searching because is something similar to Cygan, but the time is running and we need two more defenders, so maybe they accept to sign that kind of player even he seems to be a litle slow.

Yesterday, I listened to on a spanish radio (Cadena Ser) that usually is the first giving news related to Real Madrid, that Julio Baptista had said NO to Villarreal. Supposedly, he want to stay in Real Madrid and, if he have to leave, he want to go to a team playing Champions League next season... Maybe he want to came back to Sevilla? I don't know, but if he had said that I think it's better he don't sign for Villarreal. We don't need any more players only thinking on himselves... like Ayala.

So, the next name in the list is Nicolas Anelka. Yesterday, in a little interview with Robert Pires in Canal 9 TV, he said that Manuel Llaneza asked him about some french players, and one of them was Anelka. He said too that, if he was the president of Villarreal, he would have no doubt on signing him. I have to say I prefer "the Huntelaar", but I have seen some videos of Anelka's goals in the Youtube and he could be a good player for us too.

Bye guys

thanks for the updates dude

last year's defense was
starters: Enrique-Cygan-Fuentes-Venta
substututes: Arruabarrena-Alvarez-Josemi
Gonzalo Rod hurt.

Cygan is 33, Venta 32 soon, Arruabarrena and Alvarez gone, Gonzalo looking forward to miss the whole year...

On paper, we are looking for a CB and a LB that could play CB. In reality we'll have at least 3 more (if Campbell deal goes through) defender positions need replacements within a year (or year and half). This is not what a UEFA cup side's defense should look like. And even if we throw european competition away, the league season will turn into total disaster if one defender gets hurt.

we need at least 3 defenders right now. one can be old, but the other 2 need to provide stability for at least 3 or 4 years.

Huntelaar is probably twice as expansive as Anelka...
worth alot more in the long run though.

How much do you guys think Villarreal want for Riquelme?