Looks like Carlos Auzqui is set for River. He was in talks with Bundesliga side Mainz, but he asked his agent to switch priorities to River as soon as he found out about the interest. Approximately $2,700,000 + Augusto Solari Anyway, these are the type of players we need -- people that know the importance of River and put the club above all others, just like Mayada who turned down a financially better offer from Flamengo when he arrived in 2015. Don't think Montoya will arrive any more, but who knows.. If he wanted to play for River so bad, he could have just had a voice and he would have already been training under Gallardo's commands for weeks. His future will now likely be in Genoa or Boca
We still have to see if the bosteros end up snatching Montoya or not, but did anyone else notice that everytime they hijack our transfers they always end up being giant failures for them? Guillermo Burdisso, Federico Carrizo, Zuqui, etc.
River is enquiring for Maxi Moralez, currently at Leon (MEX). This would be an absolutely magnificent incorporation, what a fantastic player he was at Racing and Velez. For now, nothing more than initial contact (in fact, many sources were linking him to a Racing return for June), but it's great seeing at least an intent being made for this excellent player
Maxi Moralez would be an absolutely great signing. He would make our market a massive success, regardless of how Auzqui works out. The problem is, that Moralez is a big Racing fan and he is also very much identified with Velez with that great team they had under Gareca... So River would need to really convince him, but hey, our project is much bigger than any other team in Argentina can say as we are the only club with a legitimate chance to win the Libertadores this year in my opinion. Auzqui like I said won't be too bad. I like that he arrives in the area and scores header. He won't be a starter I don't think, but in a packed schedule he could be useful. I really hate Rosario Central. I started to like them with Coudet where they played great football, but the attitude of their directors is shocking. The fact that they would not sell us a player for the whole Larrondo situation is shocking. They should be kissing our feet in thanks for paying over 3 million dollars for that muerto who is also hurt again and there is no date given for his return- and he was shockingly bad in all his appearances for us. Then, not only do they refuse to sell to us because of a transaction that ultimately benefitted them, but they are open to sell to Boca, a club who robbed them openly in what is considered the most blatant combination of corruption and robbery in the history of Argentine football. You see the way their directors do business and you understand why Central hasn't won a trophy since 1987
So Auzqui has passed his physical and has officially joined and should be signing his contract this afternoon. Should be an interesting acquisition, I wonder if he'll be used as an alternative in the midfield going foward.
One of the big problems I have with the Rojas signing, in addition to his two idiotic penalties that nearly and should have cost us the torneo final and copa sudamericana had it not been for heroics from Chichizola and Barovero respectively, is that he is left footed. You need balance in the side, last tournament with D'Alessandro, Pity, and Nacho all lefties, the midfield was completely out of balance. The other thing is, Rojas is so similar to Nacho, who has been the only midfielder worth a damn in the summer, and also the only other midfielder to provide thought and pause to the team. So if you you replace Pity with Rojas, how do you do it? Neither Rojas nor Nacho will provide natural width, which puts a lot of pressure on casco to get up the flank. That being said, Rojas even played out wide is 100x better than Pity so maybe it could work So I'm not 100% against the signing, but I think he is not what we needed which was a classic #8, i.e. Carlos Sanchez.
Shit! What's Vangioni doing at Milan nowadays? We could use him on a loan this year because Casco is just going to screw up. Also, I rather have Rojas on the left than Pity who has been frustrating to watch with his inconsistent performances.
Rojas at left back? Has he ever played there before? I don't remember him there at Godoy Cruz or Velez... I don't think its a good idea. For all his faults, his best attributes are his association play and his ability to link with others. Putting him at left back will take away his good attributes. Not to mention, if he is a liability to commit stupid penalties as a midfielder, imagine what he'd do as a defender...
I could've sworn he played Left back for a few games here and there but the fact that we don't remember it must mean it wasn't impressive. I would rather the directives try to convince Milan for a loan on Vangioni. Dude's probably dying of boredom sitting on the bench.
The name Enzo Perez is swirling. Its difficult because Valencia is in serious danger of going down, but the player wants to come apparently (He is named Enzo after Francescoli and a known river supporter even in his estudiantes days he admitted as much). I don't see it happening now, but hopefully I'm wrong. If I'm right, then maybe in June if Valencia is able to save themselves we can get him for the second part of the Copa (provided we get through the group) This would be the kind of signing to really get excited about, if it isn't just humo. The guy is a national team player, played the world cup final, is captain of valencia which may be going through a bad moment, but its still a massive club- maybe the third biggest in Spain. Lets hope it will happen either now, but much more realistically, in June. What if we'd been after Enzo, a real crack, the whole market instead of wasting our time with the muerto Montoya? It would have given Valencia time to look for a replacement, now the market is closed, and the bats won't be able to bring in another player, which adds to the improbability of this operation IMO
Update: Enzo Perez didn't train today and hasn't been called up for their match against Real Betis this weekend. Should we be more hopeful now?
Some shades of Ponzio's second exit from Zaragoza a few years back: captain of the team, on a lucrative contract, but between the financial and footballing crisis at the club, he was able to negotiate a relatively amicable exit and arrive at River. Also, I think Nacho could play wide on the left, or in front of Rojas and Ponzio in a double-5 configuration. At any rate, Rojas-Ponzio was one of our most successful midfield pairings, so it'll be interesting to see how he slots back in -- to be honest, I refuse to get excited for el Chino, I'll reserve that for Auzqui but especially Pérez.
If we manage to get Enzo and then Chori when his contract ends in June, we'd have an absolutely amazing team Alario-Driussi; Rojas-Nacho-Enzo; Ponzio; Casco--------------------Moreira Mina/M. Quarta-Maidana Alternatives on bench: Pity, Montiel/Lollo, Auzqui, Mora, Alonso, Rossi/Arzura I'm hoping Enzo comes, that would be amazing. We'd suddenly become one of the Copas contenders
So the numbers for Abel Casquete's loan were revealed, and it appears River included a $1,000,000 buyout clause for 50% of the Ecuadorian's transfer http://lapaginamillonaria.com/river...-abel-casquete-river-a-barcelona-de-guayaquil What a complete joke... Not only has the kid shown immense promise with built-in River DNA, but then when we want to go get any ok midfielder we have to pay multiple times that amount (Pity arrived for 4+ million... we offered 3 million for 50% of Rigoni and 6 million for Montoya, both rejected). No logic whatsoever. I always say, put a $10,000,000 clause, and if the player succeeds during the loan they'll either pay up or you can negotiate. To top it off, the loan itself was free of charge! Even if he doesn't shine for Barcelona, all he has to do is put on a decent Copa Libertadores and a Brazilian club will offer the Guayaquil side $5 million for his transfer when the loan concludes. The Ecuadorians are risking nothing with the deal, with the potential to gain sooo much. I could sense a Cazares-like situation from the minute it was announced Abel was leaving. Unfortunately, everything indicates that he'll follow a similar path as his compatriot
A Chinese club is willing to offer 18 million euros for Lucas Alario, according to the NT forward's agent Hopefully this doesn't go through.. It would be absolutely catastrophic for both River and Alario. Our chances of winning the Libertadores would decrease tremendously (to put it lightly), while a player of Lucas's caliber shouldn't settle for anything less than a top european club if he were to leave
On TyC Sports, D'Onofrio said there have been no offers for Alario. The other thing I just want to say about these rumors- about Alario and all players being rumored to be headed to China, not just from River but from all over the world- The Chinese super league allows just four foreigners per team, and one of those foreigners must be asian. Therefore, in a league with just 16 teams, thats only 48 foreigners allowed. There are already a SHIT load of foreigners over there from Tevez, Lavezzi, Gio Moreno, Gigliotti, Freddy Guarin, Ramires, Oscar, Hulk, Renato Augusto, Paulinho, Obafemi Martins, Axel Wiesel, Alexander Pato, Graziano Pelle, Oscar Romero... Thats 15 off the top of my head and I don't watch or know anything about chinese super league and I'm sure there are many, many more foreigners already there. Every player linked to China can't go because there simply aren't enough foreigners spots. So while any club in the world would do well to have Alario, lets take every rumor about China with a grain of salt. Remember, they were supposedly after Ponzio, they are supposedly after Gago, Aubamyang the player from Dortmund was rumored to go, Diego Costa is strongly rumored to be heading there after the EPL season is over... Not everyone can go to China so lets wait and see what happens and not freak out overtime a player is linked with the Chinese. That being said, it would be catastrophic to lose Alario, especially at this time of year. We are one month away from the Libertadores debut. I also think Alario is a smart kid. He knows that his goal is to triumph with River and then to move to a big club in Europe... If he goes to China, his dream of going to Europe will be put in serious jeopardy as very few European clubs bar the Real Madrids, Barcelonas, and Bayern Munichs of the world could afford to buy him from China.
Carlos Carbonero will be a reinforcement for Tigre. I know he has had serious injury troubles in Italy, but Carbonero was a useful player and if we couldn't get Sanchez, I feel the Colombian was the ideal signing for us to play on the right side of midfield. Mayada is a player I like a lot, but Carbonero is on a different level, if healthy. Obviously, I don't know if his injury record scared away River and other clubs (its strange he is going to Tigre and not say, Racing, who was also interested, as were a few clubs in his native Colombia), but if he is healthy, he is a player that would make the difference for us and it would be a real shame to see him playing well and scoring goals for Tigre. After having seen us play last night, I'll reiterate what I said through out last season: you can't overflow the midfield with left footed players. There is no balance in the midfield last night when you had Rojas, Nacho, and Andrade all left footed and who basically use the right foot just to stand on. Carbonero would have provided a balance we don't have. He also has a technical ability, aerial ability, and an eye for goal that Mayada doesn't have. Maybe, if he does well at Tigre and proves he is healthy, River can buy him to reinforce the squad for the latter rounds of the Copa, but as we have seen in the past, it is always a pain in the ass to negotiate with other Argentine clubs, and it would have been so easy to bring him in on a free transfer. The jury is out, but its always painful to see an ex River return to Argentina wearing other colors and doing well (a recent example being Belluschi at San Lorenzo)
I have the same opinion as you about Carbonero, he was one of my favourite players of the 2014's squad, but there is not free quota for the foreign players (Moreira, Mina, Mayada, Alonso)
Carbonero's form has dropped immensely since he left River in 2014. He wasn't anything special in Cesena, and then his form dropped even more in Sampdoria before he suffered a very serious injury that left him out for nearly a whole year. He never regained that Torneo Final form and thus had his contract terminated by the Italians. Lets not also forget that before the Torneo Final the vast majority of River fans absolutely hated the guy. There's no denying that he later became a key part of the championship team, but he was absolutely terrible in his first 6 months and would be the worst player in the line-up week-in and week-out. Like I said, he was key in Ramon's championship team, but is that the player we'd see if he returned, or would we see the Carbonero we first met/the one in Europe? He seems to be a "jugador de moda", and his serious injury doesn't help at all (unless we're trying to add another member to Larrondo and Lollo's vacation club). Besides all this, there is no foreigner slot... same reason we couldn't move forward with Polenta and other foreigners. If Carbonero would have came, we would have had to get rid of Mina or Mayada..... neither would have been worth it, IMO.
Very, very good post; in a similar vein, let's remember that Abelairas (talk about a blast from the past) helped River to a title, but had done essentially nothing before and has done practically nothing since.
This just in-- Lucas Alario turned down the multimillion dollar offer from China. The decision was exclusively his, given River's obligation to accept the proposal since it met his €18,000,000 contract clause. Grande Pipa! A seguir cosechando titulos con el mas grande carajo!
Not directly related to River's transfer market, but since we were recently talking about him.... Looks like Carbonero is headed back to his home country to play for midtable team Cortulua. Not exactly sure what happened with the Tigre deal, but I guess we won't be seeing him in the Argentine Primera Division this season afterall
Turns out Leandro Vega will stay after returning 6-months early from his loan with Newell's, despite interest from Arsenal and Lanus to incorporate him. As a result, River has used up all 3 reinforcement slots and is now officially retired from the market.