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Firstly, a big Happy Birthday to the one and only Juan Román Riquelme! Hard to believe he's only 33. And he shares a birthday with this guy, too. Great commercial.
Now, let's move on to the headline. You read it right, the Daily Mirror reports that Fernando Roig has money to spend and is looking for some star signings, and they do indeed call Villarreal wealthy Spanish giants. And apparently it's Spurs midfielder Sandro who interests us. For €14 million.
The only thing funnier than this story is this response, from a Spurs fans website. Unless you count the news that--I hope you're sitting down for this one--Atlético Madrid believes they can sign Rossi if/when Kun leaves. I cannot imagine for the life of me why Rossi would be interested in going there.
The Rossi-to-Barcelona saga may not be over, though: Udinese wants more money for Sanchez than Barca is offering, so now they are thinking about buying Mata or Rossi instead. Barca knows Rossi's price, and with Villarreal's offseason ending in two weeks, if they are serious a €30million offer should be on the table very soon.
EPM says Villarreal is not a selling club but will sell a player if the club and player benefit--but there are three players that won't be sold for anything less than their release price, Bruno, Santi Cazorla and Borja Valero
The Canella to Villarreal deal is heating up again--EPM says Gijon doesn't want a player like Montero in the deal, only cash. Apparently the Submarine offered €4mil, Gijon wants €6mil, feeling is it may end up around €5mil.
Marcos Senna will meet with Sr. Roig today, but from the tone of the EPM-Levante article (see fanshot on the sidebar) the chances of a renewal don't sound promising. We'll know for sure soon.
It is confirmed that Jozy Altidore will be out 4-6 weeks so will miss most of Villarreal's preseason. Unlikely he'll be moved, therefore, unless it's back to Bursaspor? My thought is if Jozy were willing to accept a "rehab assignment" (basically) to Villarreal B, that might enable him to get playing time before the January window opens. And by the way, José Molina's appointment as Villarreal B coach has been confirmed, and the club has brought in Julio Velázquez from Poli Ejido to coach the C team. We wish them both all success in the coming year!