Villarreal rumors: the latest collection

All sorts of rumours out there....

Villarreal is linked (for about the 500th time) with Getafe man Pablo Sarabia.  According to this article we would be happy to give them a player as part of the deal (Nahuel, Espinosa, Moi).  Sarabia arrived for €3m from Real Madrid's system a couple of years ago, his contract runs to 2019.

Likelihood: I am sure we want Sarabia.  Nahuel in the Segunda?  Maybe but let's see if our B team gets there.  Could happen though.

Villarreal are going to bring Giuseppe Rossi back. According to this story (it's based on an article in a Florence paper, so no idea how good a source that is), Fiorentina are wanting to move him and in fact levante could have had him for €5m had they stayed up.  Since they didn't, we are offering €4m.

Likelihood: Seems reasonable unless Fiorentina are afraid of losing some of their other strikers.  Rossi had a good spell with Levante and while injuries are a concern, €4-5m is a pretty low price in world football for a striker who has had the level of success he has in the past.

Everton are interested in Manu Trigueros.  Apparently they have been scouting him for several matches, and think for €5.5 million they can get him.

Likelihood: Not for this price, at least.  Trigueros fills a good role for us when it comes to being the attacking part of the doble pivote.  He has not been a regular starter since often we've gone with a more defensive outlook in the center of the pitch, but still fulfills a key role for us.   He's under contract until 2019.  If Everton offer €10-12m?  Then it looks a lot more likely.

West Ham joining the Cedric Bakambu sweepstakes.   Sure, why not, he's being linked with tons of sides.  But Villarreal are going to ask anyone to 'splash the cash'-- his release clause is €50m, he's under contract until 2020.

Likelihood: Probably not to West Ham.  Anywhere?  Depends on how serious and how large the offers are, and what Bakambu himself wants.  If an EPL team works out a contract with him, then that would force Villarreal to come to a deal.  If there really are that many teams interested, if a bidding war develops, the harder it is to resist taking a profit.

But we've heard these sorts of stories before, and there's a big difference between being 'interested' in a player on the rumor mill, and actually making an offer that makes sense.  We went through this with Rossi summer after summer, remember?

As back then, a lot really depends on what other players are available and willing to move in the summer market.  Villarreal will want to hold onto Bakambu for another year, that's for sure.