Striker update: Gerard yes, Bacca not so much, and Ekambi...??

The latest as far as our potential strikers are concerned:

(1) Gerard Moreno’s arrival is expected to be announced by the end of the week—see this article in AS (Javi Mata) who can’t resist pointing out that it was Marcelino who forced him out of Villarreal’s squad...Sr. Roig would have been happy to keep him. True; for whatever reason, Marce felt Jeremy Perbet and Gerard Moreno were both good Segunda players but not what he wanted in the Primera, so they both were sold. At least in Gerard’s case, we kept 50% of his rights, which enabled us to pick him up for €20m rather than what he would bring on the open market (€30-35m, I’d guess)?

(2) Milan and Villarreal don’t seem to be close to agreement on the Carlos Bacca transfer price. Look, I appreciate Bacca’s contribution this year as much as anyone, but €16m for a striker who will be 32 when the new season starts is a lot for a club like Villarreal to pay. The difference between Gerard’s 26 and Bacca’s 32 is huge—five years of production and/or the opportunity to sell on after 2 or 3 years for a large fee. My line in the sand is about half of what Milan wants.

(3) Nothing new on Ekambi since he criticised Angers for ‘not letting him go where he wants.’ To be honest, it’s really does he want to go to the Bundesliga and a small-town side (Hoffenheim) that punches above its weight, or does he want to go to a La Liga and a small-town side (Villarreal) that punches above its weight. Yes, Hoffenheim qualified for CL and us EL, but I suspect comfort with the league may be (and probably should be) more important.

(4) Dani Raba gave a nice interview to the local paper; he is playing for the B team in their playoff push, as he is eligible to do, which could give him very little time off this summer! He was very complimentary of Calleja, I thought. (BTW, Leo Suarez has been given his medical release to resume playing, though I don’t know when that will be).