After a week when it was suggested, before the BBC presenter’s wife outed him, that instead of all his colleagues posting individual disclaimers, they should have all got together to record a charity single – such as Shaggy’s 2000 hit “It wasn’t me!” – Real Mallorca arrived at their “Summer Stage” camp yesterday (Thursday) where they’ll spend 10 days preparing for the new campaign in the Austrian Alps.
Included in their itinerary are two friendlies, one against local side Raiffeisen Gurten and the other on Friday 21st against German Bundesliga team FC Köln. That game kicks off at 3pm and will be shown live on DAZN.
Just before the team and backroom staff left Palma, our top goalscorer and fans’ favourite Vedat Muriqi (“El Pirata”) arrived at the Son Bibiloni training ground. After playing two games for Kosovo he was given permission to have a few more days off.
Kang In Lee finally put pen to paper, signing a five-year deal at PSG, becoming RCD Mallorca’s biggest transfer deal exit at 22 million euros, of which the Palma side will get some 17 millions.
Technical director Pablo Ortells now has to work overtime to plug the gaps created by the exits of Galarreta and Kang In Lee. The club’s hierarchy have confirmed that the amount for Kang’s transfer fee will be invested in improving the squad, which should mean quality signings. Spending pots of money (as in the English Premier league) sounds easy peasy but here in Spain there are La Liga rules. They stipulate that we have to keep our mandatory salary balance – which means new signings cannot receive salaries that exceed those who have just left. Salary budgets are calculated as a percentage of revenue.
The club are keen to bring in Espanyol’s midfield captain from Arta, Sergi Darder. The 30-year-old has been with “The Budgies” since he was a boy and is an idol at Espanyol. However, with them being relegated, it’s big change time at the RCDE stadium. Negotiations between the two clubs are ongoing but any deal looks a long way off – at the moment. Ortells has started the bidding war at 8 million euros but Espanyol want 10 million plus if no deal is forthcoming before August the price will rise to 15 million. In our favour is the appeal of Darder coming home to see out his career. Another plus is the “Mallorcanism” aspect where he could join Antonio Sanchez and fellow “Artanenc” Abdon Prats.
With the engine room looking for a new spark, a back-up striker to Muriqi is vital. In Austria we only have two strikers, Muriqi and Abdon Prats. Top of the attacking options is 28-year-old Jamaican-born Canadian, Cyle Larin from Valladolid. He’s been a proven goalscorer at Orlando City, Besiktas in Turkey and Brugge in Belgium and has 68 caps for Canada. Valladolid also want 10 million euros but negotiations are underway to thrash out a deal.
Defensively, 25-year-old Belgian international Siebe van der Hayden is close to sealing a deal with Ortells. He’s been on his radar since last Summer. But, as with most transfer deals nowadays, it’s the add-ons that cause problems. It’s all about economic demands or, to use “back in the day” vernacular – GREED! When Trevor Francis became the first one-million-pound player back in 1979, Brian Clough, the Nottingham Forest manager, gave Trevor’s parents a new fridge as an incentive.
PS I see Paul Pogba is on the market for 8 million quid. He’d do a job for us even on one leg !! Although the wages we could offer would be loose change to him.
AND FINALLY, Winalot Diet. A guy was standing in a supermarket check-out queue with two bags of dog biscuits. The woman behind him, stating the bleedin’ obvious, asked him “Do you have a dog then?” The man thought that was a stupid question so decided to wind her up. “No,” he replied, “I’m starting the Winalot diet, it’s perfect for losing weight. I really shouldn’t be doing it again because last time I ended up in hospital. I awoke in intensive care with tubes coming out of every orifice and IVs in both arms. Shocked, the woman enquired “Oh my god, what happened?” Warming to his theme, “Well,” he went on, “it’s the perfect diet, you put a few little biscuits in your pocket then eat one or two every time you feel peckish.” By now the whole queue were agog. The woman carried on “Were you in hospital because you had been poisoned?” “No,” he explained, “I was sitting in the road licking me nadgers when the No. 3 bendy bus ran me over!”
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.