Before the infamous Osasuna match, Riquelme was the most important player in the club and was treated like it. I don't know what kind of statistic that is about how many matches he played, but at a time we relied on him 100% to win matches, he played as many matches as possible without being overexerted. He was no in any way treated like anything less than a star. Numerous times he was granted excemptions and treated like a special player by the club. I don't buy for a second that he is somehow not responsible for this mess. He's an adult, and though I love his football, if he can't act with sufficient maturity and professionalism then we don't need him. Skill alone does make a great player, but it does not, as I think you mean, make a good professional and a good teammate. I am a huge fan of Riquelme's talents, but I have a very specific opinion on what is about to happen. The team right now is great, and I would not want to change a thing about it. That said, the resolution of the Riquelme issue is imminent, and the club cannot push it off anymore. So I think there are two viable options: 1) Pellegrini and Roig have a sit-down with Riquelme and explain that they are willing to take him back into the team as long as he apologizes or does something along those lines. I would prefer that he apologize to his teammates in one big meeting. Then I would hope that he is forgiven and we can all move on from this exceedingly ugly mess. 2) Riquelme is sold off or loaned out as soon as humanly possible. I firmly believe that Riquelme cannot stay at Villarreal and simultaneously be outcast from the team. That would be disastrous for team chemistry and morale. The way I see it, he's either in or he's out, and I don't mind either way as long as it's one of them. We'll see in 12 hours.
Forlan started 30, not played. That season, he played 32 la liga games. Riquelme played 25. And Senna played in 30 la liga matches. And the 37 and 43 respectively, how many friendlies and World Cup matches did you count? May I also remind you that Forlan went 5 matches without goal at the beginning, then another 2 month without goal in 2006? The 3rd match was against Cadiz and then against Celta Vigo he was playing again. I didn't know about the suspension, but the thigh injury you mentioned is what SempreGroc was talking about. He went back to argentina for treatment, which kept him out from Sevilla, Cadiz, Celta Vigo and Espanyol games. By the Bilbao match he was fit (go look up the news from then and you'll find he was fit by 22nd of feb), but benched. Then he played against Alaves and Mallorca before being benched again in Atletico game. Therefore he did not play the atletico game where you claimed he was slightly injured. Are you making shit up? and that makes 1+4 = 5 league matches he missed due to injury, and 1 due to suspension as you claimed. 6, not 8. Nor did you count the match against Gatefe which was after the CL campaign. And yes, we're still only counting the la liga games. if by your standard, counting international competitions (since you counted wc matches for games played), he also played confederations cup with 3 goals and 2 assist. Also, Forlan played 12 CL matches for 2 goals, Roman 10 for 2 goal 1 assist. And you forgot to mention one of Forlan's goal was also PK. Roman is a supporting player and Forlan a striker, and these assist numbers are ignorable because they only count the last 2 touches. The fact is, Roman was in better form than Forlan and got less pitch time. by all means, but try not to manipulate numbers.
Without bringing this pot to a boil, I think what everyone needs to pay attention to is how WELL Villarreal started playing once Riquelme left. Not once he was benched, but when he was literally no longer physically in the locker room, at the practice field, or on the bench, or in the stands. The team did nearly a complete 180 degree turn in everything from individual performance to team cohesion. Villarreal never looked like a TEAM until Roman left, at least last season.(06/07) When you look at it that way it really shows where the "emotional cancer" was being generated.
is there still money left for another transfer? Can anyone make a quick calculation on the funds available to Pellegrini? I am curious how much they are getting from the league and UEFA, too.
I think we have maybe 10 million euro in the bank. Riquelme situation is sorted: He is transferable until August 31. After that, he is no longer transferable. He will rejoin the squad like any other member of the team and will even be available to play if Pellegrini wants to play him. I think I like this situation. As long as it doesn't adversely affect the squad, I think it's good. But I am worried that Pints was exactly right...hopefully it doesn't repeat like that. We'll see.
What do you guys think are the chances he'd want to play for Benfica, that is if we met Villareal's asking price?
The price is not the problem as Boca could have easily met Villarreal's asking price. The problem is his salary which is about 4 million euros a year.
I don't mean that. I mean, do you think he'd want to play for Benfica, you know, go to Portugal, and so forth? That is a pretty steep salary though...
Well said. No point in everyone digging their heels in on this issue. Stats can be used to support any position. I think everyone here wants to see Villarreal do well. If Riquelme returns with a good attitude then I hope he plays. If not, Villarreal should sell him, and quick.
I mean if they can afford his salary I don't see why not. Even more now that Benfica has a few Argentines in their squad.
he's been rejecting offers to try to stay in Boca. If Boca definitely cannot buy him (regardless how the price is distributed, ie. player rights), then he might start taking offers again, and the price isn't likely to stay with 10m.
obviously, none of us here know the exact story, but from what i read online, it seems that Boca, and not Riquelme, is hitting the impasse. Riquelme seems to flat out reject any offers not from Boca. Boca, knowing this, is trying to haggle the price.... Villareal were ready to buy at $4M plus palacio & 50% of another player. Boca said yes, then no. Riquelme has rejected offers from England, Italian, Arabic (and rumors of even Spanish) clubs. Therefore, i find it hard to believe he would accept an offer from Benfica. Then again, Figo played in Real Madrid....and stranger things have happened. It seems to me that Boca and Riquelme are in collusion to put Villareal against the wall. Riquelme gets his 4M/yr if Boca gets a big enough break on the transfer fee. Or something along those lines. I also agree with Rios - i highly doubt that in a competitive, open market, Riquelme's price tag will remain at $10M for long
Not going to happen. Boca has already said that the problem with Riquelme is his salary not the transfer fee. Not too long ago Boca were willing to pay about 8 million dollars for DiMaria. I don't see why they would have a problem shelling out 2 more for Riquelme. Currently the highest paid player in Argentina is Palacio who makes 1 million a year. No way in hell they are going to pay Riquelme 4 million.
One reminder folks...this thread has no [R] in the title and so no results until >24 hours after they happen. I suggest new threads, with [R] titles for game discussions as we rarely want to wait.
Couldn't have said it any better. Last season with pre-seasons we were pretty open about the results. But yes I agree once the season starts the games will have their own threads and they will have an [R] 11 days to go.........
Hmmm..Nihat, Rossi, Tomasson, Nihat, and Mavuba out for August 22nd friendlies. Hopefully this won't affect the outcome of the match the following Sunday.
He wasn't sold actually. Villarreal agreed to terminate his contract and then Recre signed him on a free.
ay, carramba - the team just took a write-off of £1.34m Squad Information Mariano Barbosa (Arg) GK 23 Lanús - - 06/2008 2005 Banfield (Arg) £1.34m Guess this shows that Pellegrini is also human. Meh,
You will probably have a better chance of catching a live stream later this weekend - when the game is actually playing The game is on Sunday. - http://www.villarrealcf.es/principa...oticia=5259&idseccion=7&idmenu=4&idsubmenu=35
yeah, after i posted i saw it was posted on friday and sunday, and since i couldn't find any streams, i figured the sunday one was right . thanks, though, and i will try and catch it then
With Barbosa, yeah they lost on the transfer fee but at least they may have saved some of the money they would have had to pay him in wages.