Darder “fever” to hit Son Moix tonight

Everybody in the RCD Mallorca community has been talking about nothing else but the appearance of the much-coveted 29-year-old Sergi Darder from Arta who arrived from Espanyol for 10 million euros last Friday. Darder had hardly got off the plane from Barcelona, before boarding another for Las Palmas, where he had a huge input in our 1-1 draw. Mallorca struggled in the first half, then in the second period coach Javier Aguirre went for it, introducing Darder in his No. 10 shirt and his eruption onto the pitch was nothing short of sensational. He took four corner kicks and every one put the home defence under pressure. His third one was headed home by Raillo and Mallorca got a point.

There’s no doubt his signing has been a major coup for our director of football Pablo Ortells and the fans are licking their lips to see him in action tonight. There hasn’t been such excitement about a new signing since Samuel Eto’o arrived on a permanent deal in 2000. Espanyol, where Darder had played for most of his career, had been dealt a major blow with his departure but Darder didn’t want to play in the second division again. It’s incredible to think that we got Darder for 10 million euros and Chelsea pay Brighton 133 million euros for a like-for-like player (okay he’s only 21) Moises Caicedo.

I’m pretty certain Darder will start tonight but the other Summer signings may have to wait for their introduction. Martorell is a possibility as is Portuguese hard-man Samu Costa. Canadian/Jamaican striker Cyle Larin missed most of the pre-season and isn’t match fit, but may come on in the later stages. Toni Lato is behind Jaume Costa in the leftback pecking order and Belgian centre back Siebe van der Heyden is evidently one for the future.

Right back Pablo Maffeo is still interesting Sevilla but they must stump up his release clause of 30 million euros – a sum I’m sure Sevilla can’t afford.

Another weapon Mallorca have this season is the height of some of our players. Muriqi, Larin, Copete, Raillo and Valjent are all well over six feet which adds another dimension to our play. There’s been few better and more consistent signings in recent years than that of Dani Rodriguez.

The Galician will play his 200th game for Real Mallorca tonight. Ironically he’ll play that landmark game against a team against whom he scored two goals last season in a 4-2 win in February. Dani is a huge favourite with the Mallorquinistas and is one of the best box-to-box players ever to pull on a Mallorca jersey. Even last week at Las Palmas he was, in the first half, easily our best player crashing a shot against the woodwork. Born in Betanzos in Galicia, the midfielder started 173 of the 199 games he’s played so far since arriving on a free transfer from Albacete in 2018, when he was already 30 years old. Dani has scored 24 goals, has seen 37 yellow cards and no reds.

Tonight’s opponents have seen an exodus of several of their top players in the past few weeks. Chukwueze has gone to AC Milan, Danjuma’s now at Everton, Jackson’s left for Chelsea and Pau Torres plays for “Spanish” Aston Villa. Villareal got off to a bad start in their first game, losing 1-2 at home to Betis last weekend.

One of their new signings has a huge English connection, 24-year-old Ben Brereton Diaz who was born in Meir Park, Stoke on Trent (deep in oatcake country !) to an English father and a Chilean mother. He played for Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers where he scored 45 goals in 144 appearances. He was called up by the Chile national side in 2021.

Last Sunday’s scrapfest 0-0 draw between Getafe and Barcelona was painful to watch! The total time of the game was 115 minutes 54 seconds, although the actual time when the ball was in play was 60 minutes 49 seconds. Getafe lived up to their reputation as the time-wasting specialists in a game described as a “partido bronco” (rough game).

The game was televised all over the world (and was live on ITV4) and was the worst possible advert for Spanish football. The game was littered with non-stop diving, off-the-ball assaults, claimed head injuries, the waving of imaginary cards and refereeing harassment. A substandard referee (nothing new there), Sr Soto Grande, lost control of this farce as he showed four red cards which included the Barcelona coach and their doctor ! Getafe’s excuse was that their time wasting was a valuable tool for the underdog – to level the playing field. I’ve always thought Getafe were the dirtiest team in La Liga as their coach Jose Bordalas and his hatchet men took the dark art of sh**housery to new levels.

AND FINALLY, no dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. However, at a recent linguistic conference held in London and attended by some of the best linguists in the world, David Smith was a clear winner. His final challenge was this : some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand. Here is his astute answer : "When you marry the right woman you are COMPLETE but when you marry the wrong woman you are FINISHED. And when the right one catches you with the wrong one you are COMPLETELY FINISHED !" This answer was received with a standing ovation.