This isn’t news but Valencia are a mess
Valencia boss Javi Gracia has demanded a meeting with Valencia club president Anil Murthy and is reportedly considering walking out of the club after no new signings were made this summer.
Javi Gracia ha solicitado una reunión a Anil Murthy. Como os he contado en @TribunaVCF está valorando marcharse.
— Héctor Gómez (@Generaldepie_) October 5, 2020
It was always going to be a summer of cost cutting for Valencia, whose enormous debts saw them forced into selling key players Rodrigo Moreno, Dani Parejo and Francis Coquelin, Ferran Torres and Alessandro Florenzi. And they didn’t even receive a fee for Parejo, their best player and captain.
The club managed to hold onto José Luís Gayà, who assumed the captaincy, as well as Gonçalo Guedes, Daniel Wass and Geoffrey Kondogbia. But the truth is they’d probably have rather sold a couple of them to recoup some money.
The squad was not strengthened at all, leaving Gracia with a depleted group of players for the season, and the former Watford manager is seriously considering packing his bags and saying goodbye after just five games due to the lack of signings.
Gracia is the seventh manager of Peter Lim’s reign at the Spanish club, who have lurched from crisis to crisis since 2014, barring one period of apparent stability under the management of Marcelino, who helped them qualify for the Champions League.
Valencia have actually started the season better than many would have expected, picking up seven points from their opening five games, beating Real Sociedad and local rivals Levante.
But they are not tipped for any success this year. If they finish in the top half, it would be deemed a successful season, given the financial circumstances they find themselves in.
The club still need to slash 40 per cent of their wage bill ahead of next season, and are prepared to sell 12 more first team players to do so.
Dark days indeed at the Mestalla.
