Santiago Cañizares - A Managerial Journey

April 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
The end of Cañizares’ first year in charge of Valencia is in sight, with only 7 more matches to go, including 4 in April. La Liga’s second to last month. The first match was away, against Rayo Vallecano. Rayo took the lead very late on, and they managed to hold that lead: Valencia lost again, and finally had to pay the price, as they’re now 4th. Next up was underperforming Sevilla, who were 16th. Valencia beat Dick Advocaat’s team with great difficulty: Alcácer scored the 2-1 in the 82nd minute to give Los Che a win, which piles the pressure on Barcelona and Atlético.

The third match of April was against away 6th placed Athletic, who had earlier lost 5-0 to Barcelona. Jonas put in a good performance, for the first time in weeks, and he scored 2 goals to help Valencia beat Athletic with 4-1. Next up was a home game against Getafe, numbers 14 of La Liga. Valencia won 4-2, after being 1-0 down.

Player of the Month(s):
Andrés Guardado has been excellent this month, after returning from an injury. The Mexican winger has scored 1 goal, and has assisted two.

Priméra Division table:

May 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
May, the last month of the season for Valencia, and what a season they’ve had. After more players were sold, due to Valencia’s bad financial state, a bad campaign was expected, but Valencia are currently in a great 3rd place. May only had 3 more matches, winning all of them would mean direct qualification for the Champions League group stages. May started with an away match against Real Sociedad. Valencia showed no fear, and won 3-1, even after Pereira got a red card at the start of the second half.

In the last two matches, 4 points were needed to secure Champions League football. The first match was in Mestalla, against the 5th placed Malaga. Valencia put on a real show for the home crowd, as they won impressively: 7-2. Jonas scored a hat-trick, and Cerci scored a double. And because Atlético tied against Rayo Vallecano, Valencia have secured their Champions League ticket! The last match, away against Almería, still had an important role, as Valencia could finish second if Barcelona didn’t lost. Valencia won 2-0, Barça lost 3-1, and Real drew 2-2. This meant that Valencia finished second: a great finish, considering they have once again sold star players.

Player of the Month(s):
The Brazilian striker Jonas has finally found some form, scoring 4 goals in 3 matches. 3 of those goals came against Málaga.

Priméra Division table:

Summer Transfers 2014

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The first transfer made, was the departure of back-up right-back Antonio Barragán. The 26-year-old has joined Dinamo Bucharest for a fee of 500k. Barragán joined Valencia from Real Valladolid in 2011, for a fee of 1.5 million Euros. This season, he has only played 9 matches, and this is the reason he wanted to leave Mestalla. A buying club was quickly found for the Spaniard, as he has transferred to Romania.

As his replacement, Valencia have signed 23-year-old Hugo Mallo from Celta de Vigo. He has joined for 6.5 million Euros, and it is expected that he will get a lot more playing time than Barragán did last year, as he’s a much better player than him.

Following this signing, João Pereira has left the club, as he felt that he wouldn’t get enough playing time. Also, the board has said that they wanted to get rid of João’s high wages. The Portuguese right-back has joined Mainz. The Portuguese international joined from Sporting in 2012, for 3.4 million Euros. He has represented Los Che on 66 occasions, scoring 2 goals.

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Last season’s star player Sofiane Feghouli has also been sold, to better Valencia’s financial status. The Algerian player has joined Bernd Schuster’s PSG for a fee of 15 million Euros, a good price. Feghouli joined Valencia in 2010, from French outfit Grenoble Foot. Last season was the 24-year-old’s best season, as he scored 10 goals, and gave 6 assists in 38 matches.

Cañizares was disappointed at the press conference: “You always have a bad feeling when one of your best players leaves, and I can understand all the disappointed fans as well.” But he added: “I feel this is a good move for Sofiane, he deserves to play at such a high level. I’m also very pleased that we have managed to get 15 million Euros for him, this can partially be reinvested, but it’ll also go to the club.” Another journalist asked him about Feghouli’s replacement: “I think that I’ll give Jonathan Viera a chance in the first team, although we’ll probably search for an attacking mid to serve as an option.”

Yacine Brahimi, also an Algerian player, has replaced Sofiane Feghouli. The 23-year-old has joined from Granada for a fee of 6.5 million Euros. This means that Valencia have made a profit of 8.5 million with the transfers of Feghouli and Brahimi. Cañizares on his new signing: “I decided to take this chance, as Brahimi was on the market for a pretty low price, and he’s a great player in my opinion. He will definitely be able to succeed Feghouli without problems.”

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Last year’s starting keeper Diego Alves has also been sold, to Udinese. The Brazilian indicated he wanted to leave the club after Cañizares told him that Consigli had taken over his place in goal. The 29-year-old joined the club in 2011 for 3 million Euros, and he came in to replace current manager Santiago Cañizares as keeper. Before that, Alves played for Atlético Mineiro and Botafogo. Cañizares: “Alves has been a great keeper for the club, and he helped us finish second last season. But now I feel that Consigli has to take over: he’s younger, and he’s already proved to be a good keeper. We’ll now sign a second keeper, although not a keeper that could also be first keeper. If we did that, we’d get an unhappy keeper.”

Replacing him is Koen Casteels. He has signed from German team Hoffenheim, for a fee of 2.5 million Euros. The Belgian keeper has played for Hoffenheim 23 times, after joining the Bundesliga side from Genk in 2011. Casteels will earn 17.5k per week in the Mestalla.

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After the departure of several centre-backs, Valencia signed Matteo Darmian from Torino as a back-up. The Italian didn’t cost Cañizares much: only 1.8 million Euros, and his wages are 16k per week.

Darmian joined Torino twice on loan from AC Milan, after those two loan spells, he signed a permanent deal at the Olimpico. Last season, he made 32 appearances for the Serie A club, in which he didn’t score.

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Unhappy attacking midfielder Jonathan Viera has departed Mestalla, after not getting enough playing time. Viera joined Valencia after transferring from Las Palmas, for 1.5 million Euros. Viera has played 32 times for Valencia in the two seasons since joining, scoring 7 goals.

As his replacement, the team have signed Koo-Ja Cheol. This South Korean winger and attacking mid has joined the club for a fee of 2 million Euros, due to a release clause in his contract. Cheol, 25 years of age, will earn 39k per week at the Mestalla. It is expected that the former Mainz player will serve as a back-up for Brahimi as well as Cerci.

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Valencia have also signed Dutch left winger Garry Mendes Rodrigues as an in-depth signing on the left wing. Currently, the club only have the Mexican Andrés Guardado on the left wing. The 23-year-old joins on a free as his contract with Elche CF expired.

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It’s been a very busy transfer window for Valencia, and we’ve made a summery with all of Valencia’s transfers of the summer.

Interesting to see is that Valencia have once again made a healthy profit from these transfers, earning around 8 million Euros on player sales.

Pre-Season 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
Valencia have had a hard pre-season, with two of their four matches against European top teams. They had to play Juventus first, and to the surprise of many, the Mestalla outfit won with 3-1. Secondly, they had to play Alcoyana, a big win was expected. But although Valencia completely dominated the match, they drew 1-1. Next up was a very hard away match against French vice-champions Paris Saint-Germain. It was an amazing match, and eventually it finished 4-4, it was a great view for the neutral supporter. The last match that Cañizares’ side played in the pre-season, was an away game against Italian side Parma. Valencia won 2-1, also scoring two offside goals.

All in all, it looks like Valencia are ready for the regular season, and they have had a good pre-season.

Player of the Month(s):
Italian winger Alessio Cerci has been player of the pre-season, with 1 goal and 2 assists. He has also contributed with good passes and attacking moves.

Start of the Season 2014

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Fixtures:


Review:
The first 4 games of the season featured some of the hardest fixtures of the whole season: Real Madrid away, and Barcelona at home. Cañizares’ team also played away against Granada an at home against Málaga. The first match, away against Granada, was a hard one for Valencia. As last year, they drew against them. But this time, they took revenge with a 3-2 victory. After this, Valencia played Málaga, a teamt hey won 7-2 against last year. The team also won this time, but with 2-1.

Next up was a vital part of Cañizares’ season: two games in a row against the 2 biggest title contenders. The first match was an away game against last year’s champions Real Madrid. The match ended in 1-1, due to Valencia defnding well, and Consigli making some good saves. The last match of the four matches at the start of the season, was at home against last year’s numbers 3 FC Barcelona. After Jonas scored in the 81st minute, all the home fans thought they had the 3 points. But in the 90th minute, Sergio Busquets equalised, and Valencia were robbed of their deserved 3 points.

Player of the Month(s):
New first goalkeeper Andrea Consigli has made a good impression in his first 4 matches, conceding 5 goals in 4 matches, and also making a total of 14 saves.

Priméra Division table: