SEVILLA SELL THEIR COLOMBIAN STAR FOR €30 MILLION, BUT NO MOVES YET FOR DE GEA, POGBA OR RAMOS
THE SPANISH WEEK IN REVIEW
Milan have won the race for Carlos Bacca’s signature. The Colombian leaves Sevilla with an impressive 49 goals in 108 games and two Europa League titles. The 28 year-old, who finished fifth in La Primera’s Pichichi race to score the most goals, had been courted by a number of teams but in the end plumped for San Siro in a five year, €30 million deal. It is a loss for La Liga and certainly for Sevilla, although fellow countryman Jackson Martinez will be playing for Atletico Madrid next season, keeping the tradition of cafetero strikers in Spain going strong.
Barcelona presidential candidate Juan Laporta, who has recetly upped his Qiu Qiu Online campaign for a second coming by wheeling out star names like Johann Cruyff and Pep Guardiola in support, claimed successor Sandro Rosell wanted to sell Lionel Messi to fund Camp Nou renovations.
Laporta also pledged to try to sign Paul Pogba and not to renew the €60 million annual sponsorship with the Qatar Foundation, in the light of reports of enforced labour and human rights abuses in the 2022 World Cup host nation.
His first two spells in charge of FCB brought two Champions Leagues, one World Club Cup, one Copa del Rey and four La Liga trophies to Catalonia.
Facing Laporta in the 18th of July showdown are existing boss Josep Maria Bartomeu, Toni Freixa, Agusti Benedito y Joan Batiste. Bartomeu remains favourite having garnered nearly twice as many nominations as Laporta.
* Real Madrid confirmed their €1.5 million purchase of Lucas Vasquez from Espanyol. The right-winger fits into Rafael Benitez’s desire to strengthen that part of the pitch.
* Sevilla have agreed terms with Dnipro for their Ukrainian winger Yevhen Konoplyanka. The 25 year-old needs only to pass a medical before joining the team who defeated his side in the Europa League final.
* Valencia have signed Celta Vigo forward Santi Mina for €10 million.
* Barça right-back Martin Montoya has passed his medical at Inter and tied up a two-year deal, though the Catalans have first refusal on future transfers.
* Getafe have signed Alvaro Medran on loan from Real Madrid for a year. The 21 year-old midfielder has made two appearances for Los Merengues.
* Somewhere over the Rayo: Madrid’s ‘forgotten’ club Rayo Vallecano raised a few eyebrows this week as they revealed the design for their new away kit.
Instead of the lightning bolt (el rayo), the shirt has a rainbow, which immediately brought to mind the international LGBT symbol, prominent as Madrid Pride took place this week.
Rayo’s third kit has a pink stripe, which they said also symbolises the fight against cancer. A rainbow design is nothing new in football; Kansas City Wizards in Major League Soccer sported one such number not too long ago:
Explaining the choice, the club announced the various colours symbolise fighting cancer, domestic abuse and sexual orientation discrimination, promoting disabled rights, saving the planet and honouring those who “never lose hope” (Villareal? Norwich?).
Rayo will donate €5 from every pink stripe shirt to cancer charities, €7 from every rainbow stripe shirt. Bravo Rayo.
This is par for the course for possibly La Liga’s coolest club, Anyone who has visited the Vallecas will know this is a locals’ team with a left-wing, counter-cultural vibe.
Old ladies bring megaphones to barrack the opposition, young kids fly Che Guevara flags. The stadium has only three sides and the club has never any money to compete.
Last season the club paid for a new home for an 85 year-old widow who had lost her home as a result of la crisis, the economic malaise which has been hurting Spain since 2008.
Interestingly however, the Bukaneros fan group called the shirts a cynical and dishonest bandwagon-jumping exercise by club directors who do not really believe in the causes espoused.
* Spain’s U-17 women’s side won their European Championship, defeating Switzerland 5-2 in the final in Iceland.
* Turkish club Antalyaspor’s President Gultekin Gencer said his club will sign Lionel Messi no less in five years’ time. The ambitious team is moving to a new 40,000 seat stadium and have bought ex-Barça stars Samuel Eto and Ronaldinho before.
* Real Sociedad have sold Uruguayan striker Diego Ifran to Penarol in a five-year deal. David Moyes’ side have also acquired Uruguayan goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli on a year’s loan from Deportivo Maldonado.
* Barcelona are being marketed as “The Unstoppables of the Summer” for their tour of the USA, having won everything going this season in Spain.
