Soler is Gone and Other Tidbits

By: Cesar | July 29th, 2008

The nightmare is over. The King is dead.

Former Valencia president Juan Soler (pictured with dapper dresser and former coach QQ Sanchez Flores) made it official last night. He’s officially stripped himself of any involvement with the football club.

HOORAY!!!!!!

His share package now passes to former rival Vicente Soriano, who has a few years in which to buy the shares. Unfortunately, ex-Telefonica president Juan Villalonga is now out of the picture.

“On three separate occasions, Villalonga denied having an interest in buying the shares of Valencia CF. We only agreed to transfer a few shares into his name so that he could enter the council as an adviser. But he did not own the shares nor did he have any interest in acquiring them.

“Soriano is the only one that holds the ownership to my shares and he was the only one who signed a contractual agreement to exercise a purchase option and because he had paid an amount upfront, this guarantees him the rights to the final purchase.”

Not the greatest news in the world, but at least Soler’s gone.

Finally, we can focus on the real reasons we’re here, football, instead of the muppet show between Soler, Soriano, Villalonga, etc.

He’s gone and that’s that.

Here’s his final comments as Valencia chief: “I have now completed my involvement with Valencia CF. I have to say a fond ‘thank you’ to the whole Valencianista family who has treated my well over the last four years. It has been an honor to serve Valencia CF. Amunt Valencia.”

Almost makes me feel bad for all I’ve said about him …

Ya, that feeling passed. Thanks for everything, Soler and may you get healthy and enjoy your life.

Anyways, we’re not the only ones happy that Soler is gone.
Former captain David Albelda couldn’t stop smiling after news of Soler’s departure was given to the squad.

‘Sincerely, I’m so happy he’s leaving,’ said Albelda, his pearly whites beaming in the Valencian sun.

So what does this mean for our former leader? Could mean he’s staying.

Personally, I’d like to see him stay. Again, I want the rumors over the player to just end.
Either sell him and let him play or keep him and see what happens.
It’s not like he can’t be a wonderful asset to the club. Don’t we need a defensive midfielder anyways? It’s not like we’ve been storming the transfer market of late …

For my two cents, he’s still the captain. Keep him.

Today’s July 29th. What does that mean?
It means I owe lots of money on various bills. It also means the return of our Euro 2008 champions: Raul Albiol, Carlos Marchena, David Villa and David Silva. Welcome back, lads!!

I haven’t heard anything new about Villa leaving in the past few days. Today’s MARCA has a story where Silva’s agent asked Atletico Madrid to make a bid on the player. But today’s Superdeporte has a different Silva story, an interview with the agent where he says Silva wants to stay.

ESPN quotes new Valencia vice-president and former star player Fernando Gomez saying it’ll be hard to keep the lads, even though Vicente Soriano said we’d definitely not sell.

‘On a sporting level, who wouldn’t want to count on them?’ he told Valencian newspaper Las Provincias.

‘I will do everything possible so that they continue with us, the president also has that intention, but we are going to wait. I also have no offer on the table, although I will study all those that arrive for any player.’

All I can say is: we’ll see. Stay tuned. My gut tells me the new management team would be out of their minds to sell their biggest assets. The team could be good this season, so why screw that positive energy up by selling our best players? Besides, wouldn’t the fans burn the Mestalla down if they sold the two, especially after the events of the past week?

Big-boned defender Miguel seems to think we’ll have a good season under new coach Unai Emery, who guided our boys to a friendly win over VfL Bochum on Saturday, a wonder goal by Edu sealing the victory.

“With this team and with the mentality of the coach, we will go far,” Miguel told MARCA.

“It is vital that we keep the winning mentality and I think that we can achieve some good things.
Everything depends on the cohesiveness of the side. We have to think as a team and if we stay focused then we will achieve so much more compared to last season. We have a great side with players who make the difference and I believe this season will be much better than last.”

It better be.

One last note.

Funny article on goal.com about how Spaniards are no good in the Italian league.

FIFA super agent and transfer consultant Ernesto Bronzetti said this in reference to Villa and Silva, saying there’s no chance they’d go to Serie A because Spanish players never succeed in Italy.

“The Iberian players find it difficult to adapt to Italian football,” Bronzetti is quoted as saying by ANSA.

“There are many examples from the past. We can recall the cases of Farinos, Mendieta, and Jose Mari. I can say that Silva and Villa will never come to Italy.”

So does he mean Spanish players or Valencia players can’t adapt to Italy?

Francisco Farinós played for us from 1996-2000 before moving to Inter Milan and doing absolutely nothing. He did play goalie against us in the UEFA Cup once, stopping a shot by John Carew in extra time.

Gaizka Mendieta was considered the best midfielder in the world when he was here. He went to Lazio after a failed attempt to move to Real Madrid, did nothing, was sent packing and is now retired.

So now we know. Don’t move from Valencia to Italy.