Armani in ($3,800,000).. Pratto very close.. Musto set, but on hold... Zelarayan accessible (loan, w/ buyout clause).. If we can get those 4 names confirmed, we could begin forming a very interesting team on paper: Armani; Moreira-Maidana/Pinola-M. Quarta-Saracchi; Ponzio/Musto; Zelarayan-Enzo-Pity; Pratto-Scocco; Bench: Montiel, Nacho Fernandez, Rojas, Mayada, De La Cruz, Mora, Silvio Romero(??) Other Possible Arrivals -- Marcelo Palau (Guarani), Lucas Menossi (Tigre), Roberto Rojas (Guarani). Gallardo is interested in Kevin Balanta (very promising Colombian youngster), but for the moment River isn't willing to pay anywhere near the 5 million Deportivo Cali wants for him. --------- Out: Augusto Batalla → Atletico Tucuman (loan) Possible Exits: Alexander Barboza to Independiente. Holan is still interested in the defender, who he knows well from Defensa y Justicia. Peñarol is also keeping an eye on him. Gonzalo Pity Martinez to Sporting Lisbon. After having several offers rejected, the Portuguese are now willing to pay 12 million euros + 10% of a future transfer for the former Huracan midfielder. For the first time in the talks, their proposal will be seriously considered by D'Onofrio. Jonathan Maidana has offers from the MLS (Dallas & Orlando City) and will sit down to talk, but has also clarified that he does not mind at all staying in River and being a sub. Federico Andrada (Velez) and Abel Casquete (Universidad Catolica) have both returned from their loans, but neither appeals to Gallardo and will most likely leave on loan again to new teams.. Lanus is looking at Andrada after Sand's departure, while inquiries for the Ecuadorian have yet to arrive after his consecutive poor spells in his home country. Tomas Andrade could move on loan to Brazil, but also has Chacarita and Temperley after his services as in previous windows. Offers for German Lux, Zacarias Moran Correa, and Ivan Rossi will be seriously considered, although there is nothing at the moment. A few Argentine teams inquired about Milton Casco, but negotiations immediately fell when they found out how much he's making in River. For now, he'll stay unless a foreign side decides to come scoop him up. Carlos Auzqui is also on the list of transferable players, and his agent is managing an interest from Standard Liege (BEL). No formal offer at the moment.
$11,000,000 for Lucas Pratto.. Carlitos Sanchez and the others who were denied a nice pay raise because "those numbers are impossible for Argentine clubs" must be ready to kill someone after hearing the price of this move. Record transfer fee paid by River by faaar. Hopefully he does well, although the pressure will inevitably be on since the get-go. I like him as a player: he was absolutely fantastic in Velez, and was very impressive in Atletico Mineiro. I didn't really follow him in Sao Paulo, although his numbers perhaps don't indicate the finest season. If he finds his A game, we could have a lethal attack pairing him with Scocco. Anyway, welcome aboard Oso! A ponerse las pilas que esto es RIVER
I do get this sentiment, but those pay raises were not really feasible at the time, at least not paid in US$. Although my understanding is that Sanchez felt more snubbed by the duration offered than the amount, because other players who had left on loan and came back for the all-conquering 2014-2015 run got offered 3 year deals, but they offered him just 1.5.
Armani and Pratto meeting today before they completed their medical exams Tonight, it is expected that they sign their contracts and then travel to Miami tomorrow to join the rest of the squad.
Pratto is 29, but aside from that, both Armani and him are meant to be starters, not investments. River has purchased youth prospects, quite often in fact: Santos Borré, de la Cruz and Saracchi all came in the last transfer window and are younger than 23.
Armani,Maidana,Pinola,Ponzio,Perez,Mora,Scocco are 30+ years players. Prato allso will be for couple months.I think that is problem for team who have too many old players.
What are you going on about? First of all, since when is 30 old? Most players are in their prime at 30. Especially a goalkeeper. Armani is 31 and has 4 or 5 years playing at a top level left. And as Megamac pointed out, River has brought through so many young players in recent years. Not only did we invest in youth (Borre, De La Cruz, Saracchi) but we have Montiel, Martinez Quarta, and Palacios all under 22 and key men for Gallardo. He has also called up one of the top prospects in the country Benjamin Rolheisser, who is just 17, for the preseason in the US.
In Europe, players who are over 30 years old are counted as old.More inclined are injuries. Rarely, who gets them multi-year contracts. And here we have the precedent that half of the team is made up of such players.
Football is changing, and Argentine football has always been less physically demanding than Europe at the highest level. Players like Verón or Riquelme came back in their late 20s or early 30s and tore up the league, and of the players you mentioned, Maidana and Ponzio have been some of the most consistent players in the league for years, while Perez came back despite being a starter for Valencia. You mentioned 7 players, two of them are likely going to be substitutes this season (Mora and Maidana); Pity is the star player of the team, and he's 24, Martinez Quarta is probably our best defender and he's only 22, Montiel is going to start at RB because of Moreira's (26 y/o) injury and he's only 21. Saracchi is 22, De la Cruz is 21, Santos Borré is 22, Rollheiser is 17, Palacios is 19 IIRC. River has a dip in its youth teams, a problem that Gallardo has talked about publicly, but it has never had an aversion to signing young talent when it's available (they're expensive for European teams, imagine for local teams that are competing): Pity was signed at 21, Alario was signed at 22, Driussi became a starter at 19, Pezzella became a starter at 20, and if you go back a bit further, the club has never been afraid of giving players like Ocampos (16) or Batalla (21) the opportunity even if they're young for their positions. Sometimes, as in Batalla's case, the bets don't pay off, and the reality is that River also needs to compete at the highest level, not just fetch the highest transfer fees.
As megamac points out, Argentine football is nothing like European, but even so, players 30 or over are not considered old in Europe. Look at the two sides that reached the CL Final last year... For Juventus you had Buffon (39), Chiellini (32), Barzagli (36), Bonucci (30), Dani Alves (34), Mandzukic (31), and Khedira (30) plus Marchisio 31 who came off the bench. The other side, had Keylor (31), Sergio Ramos (31), Modric (32), and the man of the match, Cristiano (32). Age is just a number, in football and in life. A player like Rooney, who drinks and smokes regularly and probably eats fish and chips all the time, is much older at 30 than say Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who practices kickboxing and is obsessed with training, nutrition, and fitness, at 35, as seen by the fact that Zlatan managed 17 league goals despite missing the last two months of the season last year with a horrific knee injury and Rooney was on the bench most of the time and scored just 5. I also know you are a boca sympathizer and just trying to rile us up a little, which i find hilarious considering Boca has quite a few players on the wrong side of 30 as well, something you don't seem to be concerned in the least bit about, despite the fact that several of your key men over the age of 30, Fernando Gago, gets injured every season for at least six months, Pablo Perez has the most bookings in the league, and Carlos Tevez is just coming off a spell in China where he not only blew up like a balloon, but he managed just 4 goals in 16 games.
To be honest, I kind of prefer these older players coming. Not only do they have the experience and mental strength needed for competitions like the Libertadores, but it also allows us to build a project. When a player arrives at 29 like Pratto, you expect him to stay at the club for several years (assuming he succeeds) and become an important part of the the teams structure, ala Maidana/Ponzio. When we buy youngsters, you know that with one or two good seasons they’re out the door..... and then you have to rebuild again. From a financial aspect, it definitely makes more sense to buy younger players with resale value. However, as a fan I could care less if the club’s raking in millions... I’d much rather see a long term plan that yields results on the pitch.
It's an odd criticism coming from a Boca fan, because I don't remember the last young player to really make an impact in Boca.
Juan Pablo Quintero, who played against us in last season in the Libertadores with DIM scoring a goal, is very close to joining: https://www.ole.com.ar/river-plate/cafe-millo_0_1945005532.html He is a very talented player who scored a goal for Colombia at the last World Cup in Brasil. His career got off track with Porto, but he did very well for DIM scoring 13 goals in 25 games in the local league. He is the end of player we need because he is creative and has an eye for goal. After the match against Santa Fe in which River didn't have an attempt on goal until the 43rd minute, its clear we need a midfielder who will actually shoot at goal, especially when a defense is sitting back. The only midfielder who will do that is Pity. Enzo Perez chipped in with some goals last season, but we know thats not his primary function. De La Cruz has potential, but I can barely remember an attempt on goal from him. Nacho always seems reluctant to shoot, even though he is good at it as we saw in the Copa Final, but so often he'd rather draw a foul or pass it off even if he's in good shooting position. So far nothing is confirmed, but I think Quintero would be a good signing for us.
They're saying 4 million for 50%.... Wouldn't be a bad signing at all. I say bring him in and tie up an alternative for Ponzio, and we should be pretty much set. Regarding the 5, the candidate with most chances to arrive at the moment is Rodrigo Fernandez Cedres from Danubio -- the same team Mayada and Saracchi came from. Kevin Balanta was the priority, but is near impossible given River's refusal to pay the asking price (+/- $6 million)
In the end, it looks like they managed to convince Porto for a loan with a buyout clause. In other news, the Silvio Romero deal is still not off, and could very well go through. River is playing with America's desperation to sell and hoping to seal a deal for around $5,000,000 towards the end of the window. The Mexicans may be playing firm on their stance, but the reality is that they already have Oribe Peralta, Darwin Quintero, and Dominguez in that position, and now have brought in two foreign power signings to reinforce their attack (Menez and Ibarguen). This doesn't even include the other Mexican forwards they have in their roster.. Romero was already somewhat relegated last season and now is even more so. On top of that, he isn't exactly a fan favorite in Azteca. Another important thing to note: the foreigner limit. The Liga MX puts a cap of 10 foreigners per team, and with their recent incorporations the Aguilas now have 14 foreign-born players, if I'm not mistaken. They must be hoping for a strong, last minute offer to recover their $8 million investment, but will most likely be giving in to River's financial confinement later this month
Going from having just Borré on the bench and sometimes, in moments of desperation, Auzqui to Pratto and Romero is such a leap in quality it's hard not to get a bit excited. I do hope though that there's work behind the scenes for an alternative to Musto: Ponzio is all we have, because Rossi seems incapable of filling in defensively. The absolute lack of speculation around this position is... worrying, although I admit that the Quintero signing went through in 3 days once the rumors broke.
Quintero has completed his medical, and if everything goes well will be signing his contract today. I doubt Muñeco will even take him to the bench on Saturday, but you never know. I'm reading a lot of bad press about Quintero that his off the field attitude, about his weight problems, but I think if theres one thing muñeco has proven, if you have the talent, he will get it to come through. Thats not saying Muñeco hasn't failed a few times in the transfer market, but for the most part thats been due to injuries or just the player sucking (Larrondo, Lollo for the former reason, the likes of Auzqui and Casco for the latter) I remember all the bad press Teo was getting after the world cup when he was posting pictures of himself on jet skis when he should have been at training, but under Muñeco he had the best season of his life despite leaving the club a year alter. I have no doubt that Gallardo can get the best out of Quintero like he did with his compatriot Teo. As for Zucuclini, I honestly haven't followed his career since he left Racing. I know he was at Man City, Valencia, Rayo Vallecano amongst other clubs. I'd prefer him over Rossi even if he's been lost since leaving Avellaneda. What is sad is that River has to resort to journeymen like Zuculini because we can't produce a half way decent #5 who would only be starting sporadically...
Quintero has always had all the assets to be a great player. Tons more potential than Borre but it's his lack of focus in that head of his that's kept him from being a top consistent player. His workrate is poor so hopefully Gallardo can help him with knowing what to do when he loses the ball and keep him in tune with some defensive duty. But as far as raw talent, you put him anywhere close to the box or with a proper target man (Pratto) and he will make many @ River very happy.