Since no one else seems interested in Valencia, I will combine the season thead with the Summer 2022 transfer thread. ManUtd is hoping that Barcelona sign Carlos Soler from Valencia so that Barca offloads Frenkie de Jong to them. Not surprised. Soler, Guedes, and Gaya, at least, are the three most likely to get sold this summer. Valencia got too close to the sun, finishing 9th this past season. https://metro.co.uk/2022/05/27/man-...eplacement-signing-16721234/?ito=newsnow-feed
And now Man Utd are interested in Valencia's Georgian keeper, Mamardashvili. https://www.footballtransfertavern....d-transfer-news-giorgi-mamardashvili-contact/
Barcelona in talks with Valencia about buying Guedes. http://www.thehardtackle.com/transf...na-discuss-goncalo-guedes-move-with-valencia/
Anil Murthy has been fired by Valencia for making stupid comments about English cities (?!) and Peter Lim, the Valencia owner. Good riddance. Gennaro Gattuso has been brought in to replace Bordalas, and he is represented by "super agent" Mendes, so of course, Valencia will be signing players also represented by Mendes. First targetted by Gattuso is Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira, who was on loan at Fiorentina last season.
Ilaix Moriba, who came on loan in the second half of the season from Red Bull Leipzig, looks to be headed to Ajax; thus, no longer available for Valencia. Instead, Gattuso is eyeing Samu Castillejo and Tiemoue Bakayoko from AC Milan. Gattuso's Valencia eye moves for Milan duo Castillejo, Bakayoko - report - Football Italia
Matteo Politano, winger at Napoli, is also now linked to Valencia. More likely to be a loan deal with option to buy later. Valencia linked Politano fined by Napoli after interview - Football Italia Matteo Politano seems to be on his way out of Napoli this summer, with links to Valencia, and a recent interview has earned him a fine. football-italia.net If these rumoured transfers all come true, Valencia would be poised to become Serie A South.
Lots of transfer talk (rumours), courtesy of besoccer.com. Most likely possibilities not yet settled. In Edson Cavani - free transfer from ManU Mario Balotelli - money transfer from Adana Demirspor Tim Weah - loan in from Lille Edwin Dzeko - money transfer in from Inter Milan J Castelletto - money transfer in from Nantes R Nteka - money transfer in from Rayo Vallecano Denis Mertens - money transfer in from Napoli M Vecino - money transfer in from Inter Milan Out Mario Gomez - money transfer out to Atletico Madrid Yunus Musah - money transfer out to Fiorentina
Lucas Torreira is poised to leave Arsenal and join Valencia. Both agent and player are willing to complete that deal. Agent: Torreira has agreed to join Valencia - Arseblog News - the Arsenal news site Lucas Torreira may have been included in Arsenal’s 33-man squad for the tour of the US but his agent says the player has already agreed to join Valencia. The Uruguay international had wanted to sign for Fiorentina after a successful year on loan with the Italian club but they reneged on the... arseblog.news
And AC Milan have sold winger Samu Castillejo to Valencia. Gattuso is trying to move his former Milan squad to Valencia. https://football-italia.net/official-milan-sell-castillejo-to-valencia/
Valencia beat Borussia Dortmund in their pre-season friendly, 3-1. Goals came from Guedes (Castillejo assist), Marcos Andre (Soler), and Guedes (Correia). Starting lineup, front (striker) to back (GK): Andre Guedes, Soler, Castillejo Musah, Guillamon Gaya, Paulista, Mosquera, Correia Mamardashvili And then everyone subbed out along the way.
Valencia downed St. Gallen of Switzerland 0-2 in another friendly. Goals came from Koindredi and Guedes. Starting lineup, front to back, seemingly in a 4-3-3: Vazquez, Gomez, Vallejo Koindredi, Santiago, Racic Lato, Diakhaby, Comert, Foulquier Cillessen
Valencia lost to VfB in Stuttgart in today's friendly, 5-2. Valencia appeared to be playing at half speed, maybe taking it easy to avoid injury, IDK. Starting lineup: Andre Guedes, Castillejo Musah, Guillamon, Soler Gaya, Paulista, Foulquier, Correia Mamardashvili Goals came from Andre, a brace, assisted by Castillejo and Gaya. The second VfB goal was due to a Mamardashvili howler. He came way outside the box to play a ball, but when challenged by a Stuttgart attacker, he simply passed it straight down field to another Stuttgart player, who easily lobbed the ball over Mam's head as he raced back. I remember last season, this young Georgian making similar positional mistakes. Hopefully, Gattuso can knock some sense into him. Overall, a fun match to watch because I am also a VfB fan.
Gattuso is looking at bringing in a couple more players from Serie A. Left back Elseid Hysaj from Lazio, and midfielder Arthur Melo from Juventus.
Valencia lost a pre-season 1-0 away to CD Castellon. Starting lineup reveals reason as Gattuso gave bench and squad players chances to prove their worth. Starting lineup (front to back) in seeming 4-3-3: Vazquez, Duro, Perez Racic, Santiago, Koindredi Lato, Mosquera, Comert, Foulquier Domenech Still, not good to lose to a third tier squad.
Valencia beat Atalanta 2-1 in their final friendly last weekend. Without Guedes, BTW. That is a decent scoreline against one of the better Serie A sides. Starting lineup shows what Gattuso is thinking right now: Lino, Duro, Castillejo Soler, Guillamon, Musah Gaya, Diakhaby, Comert, Correia Mamardashvili Hugo Duro with a brace. He had 7 league goals last season, and I expect him to score more this season.
Midfielder Nico Gonzalez may be coming on loan to Valencia from Barcelona as the Catalans try to trim their wage bill. Also, the club rejected an €8m bid for striker Maxi Gomez. I don't know why when the club is still deep in debt and Gomez was an underperformer IMHO. And I read somewhere that the club want to use some of the Guedes money to bring back Bryan Gil on loan again. He put some spark into the offense last spring from a wing position. Also, looks like a Beatle.
Week 1. Valencia hosts Girona. 1-0 at the half. Castillejo free kick at edge of box knocked down by arm of Girona defender in the wall. Soler puts in the PK. Lino, Duro, Castillejo Musah, Guillamon, Soler Vazquez Diakhaby, Comert, Correia Mamardashvili Commentator claims that this lineup is the youngest in La Liga at 22 years. Vazquez gets the start over Gaya, who is serving a 4-match ban from end of last season.
Valencia win 1-0 on a Soler PK, same as last season's opener. And, again, a red card (Comert) meant they played with only 10 the final 40+ minutes.
Week 2: 1-0-1 3 points Lost 1-0 away to Athletic in Bilbao. Very little offense generated with no shots on goal, but an Andre toe poke right at the end hit the outer edge of the post and deflected away from goal. Without Guedes, not sure who is going to step up into the creative role. Goals - Assists Soler 1 - 0 Goals scored: 1 Goals conceded: 1 Clean sheets: 1
Week 4: 2-0-2 6 points Gattuso's team and vision starting to come together in a 5-1 home win over Getafe. Goals from Lato, Lino, Castillejo, Nico Gonzalez, and Duro, with setups by Musah (2x) and Guillamon (2x). As a sub, Ilaix Moriba sent off with two yellow cards after only 13 minutes on the pitch. Goals - Assists Musah 0 - 2 Guillamon 0 - 2 Lato 1 - 0 Lino 1 - 0 Castillejo 1 - 0 Gonzalez 1 - 0 Duro 1 - 0 Soler 1 - 0 - Off to PSG Goals scored: 6 Goals conceded: 3 Clean sheets: 1
Week 6: 3-0-3 9 points Home 3-0 win over Celta Vigo. Match started off like last week, with Valencia trying to play slowly out from the back and gifting Celta opportunities from their poor passing. Celta was playing like Rayo Vallecano, pressing high and fouling often, which worked for Rayo. Valencia broke the deadlock when Lino made a brave run in from the left and crossed off the GK's chest to Castillejo coming in from the right, his shot made it 1-0. The second half started out like the first, but on 59' a Celta player was sent off with a straight red card, and Valencia picked up two late goals to take full points. Andre scored the second, and then Guillamon picked out an open Almeida in the box, who turned and fired it in. Clean sheet for Mamardashvili who once again made a couple of spectacular saves to keep Valencia in the match. Goals - Assists Guillamon 0 - 3 Castillejo 2 - 0 Lino 1 - 1 Almeida 1 - 1 Musah 0 - 2 Andre 1 - 0 Lato 1 - 0 Gonzalez 1 - 0 Duro 1 - 0 Diakhaby 1 - 0 Soler 1 - 0 - Off to PSG Goals scored: 10 Goals conceded: 5 Clean sheets: 2
Week 7: 3-1-3 10 points Went to Barcelona and pulled off a 2-2 draw against Espanyol with a 90+6' goal by Comert. Paulista scored the first off a Gaya assist. Valencia are holding their own, middle of the table. Yawn. Goals - Assists Guillamon 0 - 3 Castillejo 2 - 0 Lino 1 - 1 Almeida 1 - 1 Musah 0 - 2 Andre 1 - 0 Lato 1 - 0 Gonzalez 1 - 0 Duro 1 - 0 Diakhaby 1 - 0 Comert 1 - 0 Paulista 1 - 0 Gaya 0 - 1 Soler 1 - 0 - Off to PSG Goals scored: 12 Goals conceded: 7 Clean sheets: 2
Week 8: 4-1-3 13 points Valencia finally won away, in a 1-2 match against Osasuna in Pamplona. The match had many incidents; Osasuna missed a PK and then later Cavani's PK hit the cross bar. Osasuna had two players red carded, and Valencia had Diakhaby receive his second yellow card while sitting on the bench. Gattuso himself earned a yellow card. First goal was scored by Kluivert after a neat through ball from Cavani. Diakhaby scored the eventual match winner after a ping pong ball in the Osasuna box fell at his feet. Still the match MVP was declared to be Samu Lino who had many dangerous runs down the left side, and a couple of shots that just narrowly went wide. His speed is a great asset. Goals - Assists Guillamon 0 - 3 Castillejo 2 - 0 Diakhaby 2 - 0 Lino 1 - 1 Almeida 1 - 1 Musah 0 - 2 Andre 1 - 0 Lato 1 - 0 Gonzalez 1 - 0 Duro 1 - 0 Kluivert 1 - 0 Comert 1 - 0 Paulista 1 - 0 Cavani 0 - 1 Gaya 0 - 1 Soler 1 - 0 - Off to PSG Goals scored: 14 Goals conceded: 8 Clean sheets: 2
Week 9: 4-2-3 14 points Strange match. In the first half, Valencia were bossing around bottom side Elche, but gave up a goal on Elche's only attack when Mamardashvili took out an Elche attacker in trying to punch the ball away, PK for Elche. Cavani equalized with a PK (Lino tripped in box) and then Almeida sent in a pin-point cross for Cavani to head home. In the second half, however, Elche began to control the midfield and found the tying goal. And then Elche scored the match winner but it was called back because the ref blew his whistle right before the shot was taken. Musah had fouled an Elche player on the break away but ref gave conflicting signal by raising his left hand (play on) and his right hand (whistle to mouth). It was confusing, but the goal was called off much to Valencia's luck. This is a match they should have won easily: bottom side, at home. Goals - Assists Cavani 2 - 1 Almeida 1 - 2 Guillamon 0 - 3 Castillejo 2 - 0 Diakhaby 2 - 0 Lino 1 - 1 Musah 0 - 2 Andre 1 - 0 Lato 1 - 0 Gonzalez 1 - 0 Duro 1 - 0 Kluivert 1 - 0 Comert 1 - 0 Paulista 1 - 0 Gaya 0 - 1 Soler 1 - 0 - Off to PSG Goals scored: 16 Goals conceded: 10 Clean sheets: 2
Week 10: 4-3-3 15 points Went to Sevilla and took an early lead when Foulquier sent in a cross headed in by Cavani. Near the end of the match, Valencia gave up the tying goal. And deep into stoppage time, Gaya hit a weak shot on a PK that was easily saved. Match ended in a 1-1 draw. Very disappointing. Gattuso should have instructed captain Gaya to have a striker take the shot. Goals - Assists Cavani 3 - 1 Almeida 1 - 2 Guillamon 0 - 3 Castillejo 2 - 0 Diakhaby 2 - 0 Lino 1 - 1 Musah 0 - 2 Andre 1 - 0 Lato 1 - 0 Gonzalez 1 - 0 Duro 1 - 0 Kluivert 1 - 0 Comert 1 - 0 Paulista 1 - 0 Foulquier 0 - 1 Gaya 0 - 1 Soler 1 - 0 - Off to PSG Goals scored: 17 Goals conceded: 11 Clean sheets: 2