After a week when, on Monday in San Jose, fans of the singer Dionne Warwick decided to throw a party for her 82nd birthday – only she failed to find it ! – Real Mallorca completed their third and last “World Cup break friendly” losing 1-2 to Italian Serie A side Bologna on Wednesday night. Mallorca’s goal came from a Tino Kadewere header in the first half. Next up is a Copa del Rey tie next Tuesday December 20 away against Basque side Real Union.
The Palma side’s Kosovan striker Vedat Muriqi is on the radar of many top European clubs after his sensational start to the La Liga season, scoring 8 goals in 12 appearances. Perhaps the biggest club to show an interest in his signature are Real Madrid. They are in the market to sign a reliable back-up to Karim Benzema who continues to have injury problems.
According to Italian newspaper Il Tempo and the Spanish social media channel “Fichajes,” Madrid’s president Florentino Perez is a big fan of 28-year-old Muriqi and sees him as being similar in style to Benzema in terms of physicality and goalscoring instincts.
Mallorca value Muriqi at around 20 million euros although allegedly his buy-out clause could go up to nearer 40 million.
Muriqi’s intention is to see out his career on the island and it would be a real heartbreak if he was to leave. It’s up to the player and his agent if Muriqi wants to accept an offer from the Madrid giants and it’s a case of, when they come calling with a huge increase in wages it may be difficult to turn them down. Understandably with the January transfer window on the horizon “rumour mongering” takes centre stage so us Mallorquinistas will just have to wait and see. “Muriqi quedate” (please don’t go !).
For the first time in ages, Mallorca arrive at the Christmas period with the almost unprecedented feeling of well-being, lying comfortably in 11th place, 8 points from the relegation zone and 5 from a European position. Instead of the clamour to bring in new faces next month, our hardest job will be to hold onto some of our best players who are attracting the “vultures” from much richer sides.
Players like Greif, Cufre, Lago Junior and Llabres could go out on loan. Coach Aguirre has a problem (in a good way) as he now has an excess of players, one of them being Zimbabwean international Tino Kadewere.
He’s made a full recovery from a serious knee problem and is showing, during the break, to be a really good acquisition. In the three friendlies he’s appeared in, Tino’s looked quick and sharp and playing alongside Muriqi has given us formidable attacking options. Tino has to start because that’s why he came on loan from French side Lyon in the Summer.
If he does then Aguirre will have to do without a midfielder because the team he selects must have three central defenders in Copete Raillo and Valjent. That defensive trio forms such a barrier that even wifi would struggle to get through!
The problem now could be where does returning South Korean midfield star Kang In Lee play ? In the World Cup he started one game and came off the bench in the other two. When he came on he caused havoc with his speed, energy and pinpoint accuracy in set pieces.
It seems an eternity since I’ve watched Spanish domestic football and I can’t wait for our first home game after the World Cup break. That’s to be played in Son Moix on Saturday, January 7 at 18:30 against Valladolid.
On the subject of the Son Moix, the club have been given the green light from Palma City Council to continue with ground improvements. A technicality regarding fire regulations has been rectified and phase two, three and four will restart a.s.a.p. The cost will be around 13.5 million euros and will be paid for by our American owners.
The World Cup throws up curious stories. This one concerns an optimistic English entrepreneur called Karl Baxter from Poole in Dorset. After England’s promising start, he decided to accept the offer (from Arthur Daley Enterprises !!) to buy 18,000 commemorative World Cup T-shirts with “England World Champions 2022 – Football has finally come home” emblazoned on the front. He put them up for sale at 30 quid each but after the Three Lions’ elimination he’s a broken man. He said “I now have 18,000 shirts saying we won and I don’t know what to do with them !” D’oh!
PS Snow, the only thing that settles in the UK that doesn’t claim benefits !
AND FINALLY, from the archives, Unlikely Couplings : (1) If the late Sondra Locke had married Eliot Ness from The Untouchables then divorced him to marry Herman Munster, she’d become Sondra Locke Ness Munster; (2) If Ellen Barkin married Alan Arkin, they’d be Ellen and Alan Barkin Arkin; (3) If Whoopi Goldberg tied the knot with Sandra Dee in a same sex marriage, divorced her and married Scooby Doo, she’d be Whoopi Dee Doo; (4) Rap star Snoopy Doggy Dog married Winnie the Pooh, he’d become Snoopy Doogy Dog Pooh; (5) If ITV’s Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferringo, took up with Basil Brush, you’d get Lou Brush; and if Koo Stark had married Benedict Cumberbatch, would she have been a Koo-Cumberbatch ?
No comments
To be able to write a comment, you have to be registered and logged in
Currently there are no comments.