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Yesterday we reported an EPM story that Villarreal would move for Jonathan de Guzman, which Villarreal duly did. However. while the original story reported Mallorca's president Ferrer had been willing to negotiate with Villarreal, this has not been so, with the Mallorcan club rejecting offers of €4.5m and €6m for the player.
The islanders still hold a grudge against Villarreal for having replaced them in the Europa League last year, and so don't want to sell De Guzman to Villarreal. Apparently the player's release clause is €12m, though Ferrer has a "gentleman's agreement" with De Guzman that he could move for €8m if he had reached agreement with a club that wanted him. And Villarreal has offered that, but Mallorca don't want to take it.
There's no question that De Guzman and Villarreal have reached an accord, but whether Mallorca will live up to their end of the bargain with the player and let him go for €8m is a real question. It appears perhaps not, since a Mallorca website is reporting they have offered De Guzman a new contract, probably breaking their wage cap in the process, I might add. (The "deep financial trouble" is a nice touch, but the seller needs cash, we have it).
The situation is still quite fluid, but here are reports from the leading papers this morning:
El Villarreal podría pagar la cláusula de De Guzmán - Liga BBVA | Mallorca - AS.com
De Guzmán reconoce que ?hay oferta? - Deportes - El Periódico Mediterraneo
De Guzmán podría fichar por el Villarreal hoy mismo - MARCA.com
Of course if the player wants to leave, it's hard to make him stay. And who knows what is actually going on behind closed doors at Real Mallorca. Clearly if De Guzman is to leave, they need to represent to their supporters that they had no choice and it's all the player's doing, regardless of what the reality might be.
Anyhow, in the last hour on twitter it was reported Villarreal would pay the €8m, but whether that will be enough to get the deal we do not know. I'm sure there will be updates over the course of the day.
Other Villarreal news: the draw for the Champions League qualifiers will be Friday morning, 6AM EDT. Rubin Kazan, Udinese, Zurich, Odense or Twente will be our opponents.
The B and C squads both won friendlies yesterday, as they get ready for the new season.
In other news: if you missed the Barcelona-Chivas de Guadalajara match last night, you missed this:
Marco Fabian Golazo (2-1) - Chivas 4-1 Barcelona - World Football Challenge (via 4erni4)
You read the scoreline right. Barcelona led 1-0 at the break but in the second half Barca wilted in the Miami heat and humidity and their second-string backline was breached time and time again. Except Real Madrid brass to experiment with large humidifiers along the touchlines when Barca comes to town! (Just kidding).
Finally, some sad news: former Japan international Naoki Matsuda, who collapsed during training earlier this week, has passed away, age 34. A heart attack brought on by heatstroke is the apparent cause. Matsuda never played outside Japan, but was capped 40 times for his country. Our sympathies to his family.