Sunny, Mata and some guy named Ayala

By: Cesar | July 18th, 2007

The future of our beloved Valencia CF was on display today as young starlets Juan Angel Mata and Sunday Stephen Obayan, known as ‘Sunny’, passed physicals and were presented to the media.

These young lads are the future of not only our club, but the Spanish national team, showing flair and finesse at the Under-20 World Cup a few weeks ago.

Mata was the hero of the 2006 European Under-19 Championship, scoring 4 goals in 5 games to lead Spain to victory. He was a youth player in Real Madrid’s system but seeing his playing time limited, he bailed and signed for us.

As Wikipedia says:

‘Mata is very mobile and light on his feet, and likes to switch positions or go out wide. He can put his team-mates through into great positions, and create chances for himself even against the toughest markers.
The resemblance in style of play to Real Madrid first team captain Raúl González is remarkable.’ That would be nice, eh?

As for Sunny, he’s a Nigerian-born midfielder who is a naturalized Spanish citizen.
Once more, I quote Wikipedia (please excuse me, but I’ve only see these guys play once, so I had to borrow someone else’s words!):

Sunday began his career in his native Lagos with FC Ebedei and Jegede Babes. In 2003, Sunday participtaed in two youth championships in Sweden and Spain; in Madrid he participated in the third edition of the Annual Immigrants Mundial, where he impressed so much that he was given a five-year-contract with Poli Ejido. In order for that to happen though, one of the directors of Ejido had to become his adopted father to allow him to obtain the necessary paperwork to stay in Spain.
His performances for Ejido attracted interest from Real Madrid, Real Betis, Deportivo La Coruna, Valencia CF, Celta Vigo, Liverpool F.C. and S.S.C. Napoli. However, he chose to sign for Valencia.

Reports peg him as a super talented, super speedy midfielder.
The BBC did a great piece on Sunny before his Valencia signing. Click here to read this fine article about Sunny’s journey to the big-time.

I’m impressed with these fine signings and wish them the best …

On to other matters, the money offered to Porto for the services of Lucho was raised to 18 million euro. Is this guy really worth that much? Ok. Whatever. Transfer rumors kind of bore me. Get it over with already, so we can move on with our lives.

– Valencia is in Holland for pre-season training. It’s exciting to know the season is right around the corner.

– Ayala. What can I say?
Look, I loved the guy when he was here. Hard-nosed, stable defender. Maybe the best center back in the world. But I’ll never forget the way he tried to weasel his way to Real Madrid a few years back, how he tried to say we were a ’small’ team and that he dreamed of playing for the big ones.

Ok, so maybe we’re a small team compared to Barca and Madrid. But where did he get off saying that? Why? Why hurt the fanbase that cheered your every move, pulled for you every time you put that shirt on? I think it’s unfair.

We all know football’s a business. We cheer for the players, but above it all, we root for the shirt, the symbol on the shirt. Players come and go. Look at guys like Mendieta and Mijatovic, idolized for their play at the club. They bolted as soon as they saw more money around the corner. Loyalty in sports is fleeting.

But the least these players can be is honest and respectful. And I believe Ayala wasn’t. Least of all to the fans of Villarreal, who he left at the altar for Zaragoza this week.

Yes, I understand he needs to protect his best interests. Football’s a fleeting profession and these guys need to make their money while they can. But can’t they act like gentleman while doing it? Can’t they at least be honest to our faces? For Ayala to say he didn’t know anything about a move to Zaragoza and then be there the next day for a physical is annoying, at best …

I wish him well. Really, I do. He’s given me great memories while wearing the Valencia shirt. But he denigrated himself with this bush league move. Maybe Carboni had it right when he said those things about El Raton. Too bad.

– Pretty football. Does Valencia play it?
I’d say Valencia can be brutally beautiful to watch at times and painfully dull at others. I’ve sat on the edge of my seat enthralled by their play, against Real Madrid and Barca and I’ve been bored to submission against the likes of Alaves and Espanyol.

Do they bring it more for big games? That’s an argument thrown around last year when they dropped easy points against bottom-of-the-table teams yet excelled against the big clubs.

It’s hard to say. Here’s a comment for regular commentator Daniel, whose opinion I value:

Call me weird, but I actually do think Valencia plays attractive football going forward sometimes. People overlook it, but look at how many Valencia attacks involve fluid passing or through balls and after a succession of passes, a simple finish for Moro, Villa or someone else at the far post. We don’t score a lot of scorchers from far out (Silva vs. Chelsea a notable exception), but I think our fluid passing build up is a joy to watch

I’d agree. They keep it simple. They play with a solid midfield base, some great wingers and drop easy passes to strikers for simple goals. It’s when they score first that the trouble starts. They play defensive counterattacking football (something they’re painfully good at, at times) that exposes them. It’s a version of the prevent defense from American football. That can backfire at times, as it did against the likes of Barcelona at the Camp Nou and Gimnastic this past season.

Either way, we need new players. Commentator Hamse had this to say:

we need to bring some new players in. definitely a defender. also a centre fielder who could help the guys on the wings to create attacking chances and scoring goals. someone who also can help albelda of stopping the opponents to take control of the game. lucho is that type of guy who could that work. not sneijder.

i’ve heard that QSF wants to play in a 4-4-2 system. if this is true, where does silva gonna play? i truly dont think that he can show his full potential in a system like that. this guy has been our best player of last season folks..we can’t afford to do these if we want to play a major role in la liga. we need silva at his very best if we want to beat barca and real. somebody please wake up QSF!! (again, sorry for mij bad english language)

Your English is fine, mate. Better than my Dutch (nil and nil)!
But he’s right. We need some productivity from the midfield, more than the past season. Edu might be back. Baraja might be fit. Albelda might hold up. That’s why the transfers of Lucho and/or Sneijder are so important (even if they’re dull as rocks to read about).

As for the 4-4-2, I guess we’ll get a better indication once the pre-season starts.

For all of you near New York City, join me at Nevada Smith’s for Valencia matches this season. I look forward to seeing you there …