Reyes sold to Arsenal

I'm disappointed that he is leaving. But for that kind of money (too much IMO) the sale is a no brainer. Once Reyes adapts to England I think he will be great for Arsenal.

 

well Juanele, the one upside is you may be able to see him on TV a bit more. I think he will fit in well there, and he'll have the opportunity to play champion's league as well. it was a huge fee - who was the last player to command a fee that size?

 

From a Spanish club to abroad? I think Mendieta cost a little bit more. Other than that I can't really think of one.

 

Long-term, I think this sale is good for everybody.

Certainly, Sevilla may suffer short-term losing a player like Reyes, but an infusion of that much cash can only help them in these tight financial times. As I read somewhere, one Sevilla official said it would have been "irresponsible" not to take the offer. 30-35 million Euros covers the entire budget for a single year (player salaries) for Sevilla, which according to AS has a payroll of about 24 million Euros.

For the Spanish national team, I think this will be a positive. If you look at the success of national teams in general, most of them succeed (France, Brazil, Argentina) not just because of their skill, but because their players play all over the world in a variety of domestic leagues. Spain has always underachieved, especially when you look at the success of their clubs, maybe because most of the Spanish national team plays domestically in Spain. La seleccion could do with a little variety, and I think Reyes, certainly an up and coming star for the future, will do well to play with Arsenal, succeed in the Premier League, and give the Spanish national team a different player that brings playing experience from a league outside of Spain. It can only help.

For Reyes, it's an opportunity to play for a high-profile club that isn't Madrid, Valencia, Barca or Depor. I hope he lives up to his potential and isn't a Mendieta-type signing, one that fizzles out as his proximity to Spain decreases (and I say this as a Mendieta fan, it's too bad, he was excellent for Valencia...). If Reyes does well, he could pave the way for more Spanish talent to play abroad and deepen the talent pool. This isn't to say that I think La Liga needs more talent, I think it's the greatest league, talent-wise, from top to bottom, in the world.

 

Spanish club to abroad would be Morientes. He is tearing up the turf in France.
Reyes is going to have a tough time in England because of his size and he is used to playing on a more "technical" team. England and Italy are amongst the roughest in the business. He won't be scoring 25 goals a season in my opinion.

 

Sevilla, being only 5 points from relegation, needs to step up after losing there main threat. Even with Reyes, they were sitting 15th in La Liga. I don't know how responsible the bosses thought they were when springing this on their fans, but it could backfire in the long run. IF they are relegated, many of their best may leave for more money in 1st division. I believe it was a mistake to keep the negotiations closed and surprise the fans when your team is so low in the standings.
Ciao,
Lee

 

Also dissapointed he left Spain, but they're getting more money for him than Madrid paid for Beckham if I'm not mistaken, so I don't think Sevilla could have said no (especially since this will almost completely remove the money problemas they had)

I guess it doesn't hurt that I get to see him more often now either. Get more English matches on my free tv than I'd like, yet no full Spanish or Dutch games.

 

I am kind of happy Reyes went to Arsenal. He needed to go to a bigger club and it wasn't like Real was going to come knocking and if he went to Barca he would probably get worse not better.

I sense he will be back in Spain before long, once he prooves himself on the big stage. Once his deal runs out he will be around 24 yrs of age and in his prime.

I can't see him staying in England for the rest of his career, he is too much of a local Spanish kid.

Besides the only way Real Madrid will notice him is if he plays abroad, apparently u can't be a galactico unless u do.....go figure.

Hopefully Real will go after Joaquin and not let him slip away.

 

I´m not happy to see him go, but I understand that one deal is enough to wipe out half the Sevilla debt. This could hurt them in a fight to avoid relegation, but I don´t think going down is a sure thing. They need about 18 points to reach the magical 43 points that is considered safe to stay in La Liga. That´s 18 points in 19 games.

I heard today Sevilla is going after Jesuli. Who knows how that would turn out with Antic taking the coaching job there. But Jesuli would be a good replacement. He´s a Sevillista with good skills.

 

I don´t think Joaquin is any better then Reyes at this point. I see them as very close to being equal in quality.

For a replacement maybe del Nido should buy out Donovan´s contract so you would have to change your location to ¨tierra Sevillista.¨

 

Great to hear some thoughts on Reyes...

from La Liga fans. He sounds very promising and I pray that it works out for him with Arsenal.

BTW, Now that I can see/follow every league (English, Scottish, Dutch, German, French, Mexican, Italian) that I want to follow EXCEPT La Liga!

I have almost attained NIRVANA!!

 

IF you saw Sevilla play recently, you'd know that the chances of them getting relegated this season is almost zero! Five point lead doesn't sound like much until you realize there are 8 teams in basically the same position as Sevilla or worse (11th place to 18th placed teams), of which only 1 team will get relegated... They HAD to make this deal!

 

This could be a very bad deal for the Spanish seleccion going into Euro 2004, if Arsenal are mainly going to keep Reyes on the bench instead of him getting to play every week like at Sevilla.

 

On the Arsenal boards there is talk that he might start the next game. Either way, if there is one position Spain can afford to see a starter get rusty this is it. There´s not that much difference between Reyes and Vicente in overall quality.

 

Yeah, and I like Vicente better, but it was always nice that when one (or both) of the wingers were having an off day or were starting to get tired in a game, Saez could always sub the other 2 in who are of equal quality and who were in form.

 

BocaFan,
I did say IF. I have seen Sevilla play in person as that is where I live. They still have maybe a 60/40 chance of relegation. The bottom 3 are certainly helping them right now. They played fairly well this last weekend, but tonight could make or break the rest of their season, depending on how they take it.
Ciao,
Lee