Roundtable: Mallorca, Leganes, and Espanyol players Villarreal should sign

Yesterday we talked about financially efficient ways to get what we need in the transfer market. One of those ways involved buying players off of now relegated sides as they seek to financially bolster themselves for life in Segunda. Here are players identified by our writers who meet that purpose.

It’s worth noting that while we have been linked with Kubo and Oscar from Mallorca and Leganes, respectively, they are owned by Real Madrid so the circumstances of acquiring them cheaply wouldn’t be the same.

Allen

Marc Roca for €18m would be very good as your defensive midfielder. I think he’s probably going to be seduced by Bayern or an EPL club instead, though.

Sergi Darder is about the only other Espanyol player I think might be worth us taking a look at—I remember him being very good when he came up at Malaga. A good central midfielder, only 26 years old. He would probably not be very expensive at this point, and is more within our ability to sign I’d think.

Leganés is where I would look to solve our CB search. I would say Dimitrios Siovas would be my first pick, Omeruo would be my second. That order is partly because of age but also because I feel Siovas’s strengths—he’s a good tackler and good in the air—are pluses, and at age 31 he’s got the experience with teams like Olympiakos—I think he woud fit in well with us. He’s definitely someone you sign for cheap to be a third CB/rotation player, not an everyday starter. He’d get 10-15 starts in the league covering for injuries/suspensions/rest, and plays some in the Copa and Europa group stage, and he might be just fine with that.

Kenneth Omeruo is intriguing. He got snapped up young by Chelsea who loaned him all over the damn planet 6 months at a time, he finally got sold to Lega (after a year on loan). I confess I am probably not as high on him as I should be, because a couple of the (few) times I’ve seen him play his concentration has been all over the place so he reminded me of Funes Mori.

But giving him a five-year deal and developing him as Albiol’s replacement has some attraction; I just don’t know if we can give him enough playing time right now to make it attractive, because he would not be an everyday starter….from a business standpoint it’s an attractive deal b/c if you pay €3-4m for him now, you’re sure to be able to unload him for €10-20m later if you can develop him well

There’s just nobody on Mallorca’s roster I’d be interested in. Budimir is their best player but doesn’t fill a need for us; most of their other guys are either on loan, too old, or mediocre. Martin Valjent or Idriss Baba are two names that have come up, but both would need playing time to develop into anything and I don’t see anything to suggest they would merit it.

Raul

Espanyol

They have some great youngsters as Melendo and Marc Roca. Melendo is a right winger who can also play attacking midfield and central midfielder. He shows great potential. Great for through balls and key passes, not so great for defensive duties, a foul magnet.

Marc Roca is a great defensive midfielder, who can also play central midfielder and is a good passer and can give a good defensive contribution.

Sergi Darder is also an interesting player, a central midfielder, that can protect well the ball.

For CB duties, I think Leandro Cabrera would be a nice bonus

Leganés

There’s a need of goalkeeper, and Pichu Cuéllar, while 36, I think could do well in a sub keeper, but I wouldn’t be fighting for him

Siovas and Bustinza are two good CB, and I’d incline more for Bustinza, but any of them for the club would be a great signing

Looking at the offense, one player I would absolutely sign is Arnaiz, who was loaned to Osasuna this year, a left winger that also can give you good defensive contribution. Loaned to Osasuna with a non-mandatory buyout of 4,5 millions

Mallorca

Budimir is in my opinion their best player, but I think right now there are so many forwards there that I don’t know if it would be worth it to go for him

Lago Junior is also an interesting one, he tends to play the short pass and has shown some ability to score for Mallorca, considering the rumors of Óscar Rodríguez, seems he could also fit the plans

Aleix Febas is a player with a good upside, so could be worth checking out

Robin

Two players I like the look of from relegation that would suit us well. Won’t be cheap but exactly what I think we need.

Marca Roca - Defencive Midfield- Espanyol- brilliant player to fit in that vacant role. He has the passing of Santi Cazorla but rarely strays across the halfway line. Excellent defencive skills and not afraid of a tackle

Kenneth Omeruo- Centre Back – Leganés

Judge him as the player from world club. He was phenomenal against Luis Suarez and Cavani in the world cup. A very versatile Cb and will improve with our current squad. Would be excellent cover for Raul Albiol and Pau Torres next season. Chelsea clearly saw something in him.

Always feels slightly disrespectful to discuss taking players from Relegated side. Your stealing a key element to stop them returning to La Liga. It’s almost like a team stealing a top striker from side to relegate them. Oh wait... that happened this season with the cheats Barca and Braithwaite

Sid

Siovas (Leganés) — perfect 3rd CB option

Baba (Mallorca) — just the type of somewhat raw central midfield talent we’ve been able to mold into success on occasion

Zach

Of the teams relegated this year in La Liga, I think Mallorca and Leganes were pretty darn bad. Mallorca was a victim of gaining promotion to La Liga too quickly for their talent level to keep up. They were in Segunda B just two years ago and shot back up to La Liga.

Leganes had two players worth picking off, and Sevilla saw to half of that in January and Barca saw to the other half in a gluttonous fit a few weeks later.

Espanyol? They on the other hand have some talent. Marc Roca has been mentioned and is the standout of course, but Darder is also pretty solid. I don’t see them selling him and we don’t need a striker but Raul de Tomas is a wonderful player who is either going to destroy Segunda next season or go on loan to a La Liga side.

Conclusions

So, what do you think, anyone here Villarreal should jump on?