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The optimism some of us felt when seeing Asenjo walk off under his own power is gone now we know he's ruptured a crucial element ligament. He's undergoing surgery ASAP and is expected to be out perhaps nine months--and given this is the same knee he's injured before, Villarreal will need to be very careful managing his return.
So where does that leave us for next year? Do we go with Juan Carlos as first choice and promote Aitor to be his backup? What about bringing Diego Marino back? Or someone else?
Keep in mind we still have some money from Gabriel's sale, but we have to make a decision about Ruiz (4 million purchase option), we would like to be able to keep Cheryshev for another year, if not buy him permanently. So even if we are able to keep Vietto, etc. it will still be a busy summer in the Villarreal front office.