Mallorca 2009/10- Who Are These Guys?

By: Jeremy | August 28th, 2009

For those of you who care, no I have not permanently crawled back under my rock, but if you are a Mallorca fan, you may be wanting to do exactly that at some point this season. I kind of have the same look of uncertainty on my face that Manzano seems to be showing. For all the year to year uncertainties and typical offseason changes that come with being a small club, this year seems to be different.

Gone are our best players ie Moya, Arango, Jurado, Santana, Navarro etc and they have been replaced by, well, no one. Not a good thing to hear for a team that seems to struggle for its La Liga survival until the talent seems to mesh by which time a late season run to midtable and a sniff at Europe matters little.

So what happened and where are we as the season looks to open this weekend at home against Xerez? If we take a closer look at the players for this year, we will find that our returning players who used to play a secondary role are now the main players, fringe La Liga players will be asked to contribute more, and the replacements for the departed stars are not as talented and are not the under the radar talents brought in on loan from bigger clubs or bought for a reasonable price. The writing is on the wall for our new owner to see his asset sent down to Segunda B. For all the hype that came with the new owner and what he wanted to do, our biggest offseason acquisition was Bruno China(wtf?) and not someone like Riquelme who was rumored to be coming to Palma.

Here are the players and if anyone knows anything significant, please reassure the rest of us that they are talented enough to help us surivive.

Goalie
With Moya gone to Valencia, Lux and Aouate will continue to split time in goal as they did last year. With Moya injured for most of last year, they both played the majority of the time with Aouate emerging as first choice. They are equal in talent and either one is suitable. While not as good as Moya, they wont be the reason we do well or do poorly this year. The fact they are returning players and know the system only helps but dont think we have two stud goalies. They are average. As the season progresses sadly enough this tandem will seem like the most stable part of the team.

Defense
With the loss of Santana and Navarro, this is the first of our weakend areas of the team. Josemi, Ramis, Nunes, Ayoze, and Corrales all return from last year. Josemi and Ramis are solid La Liga defenders and the rest are very iffy. While we have added Ruben from Celta Vigo and also Mattioni from Gremio in Brazil, it has to be questioned whether either of these guys are going to help improve an area that could not afford to lose what we did. They will face a lot of pressure this year and I dont have the confidence they will be up for the overall challenge.

Midfield
Talk about a strength being turned into a weakness. Gone are Arango who went into exile in Germany and our best player, Jurado, although only on loan from Atletico last year, who returned to his team. Varela, Mario, Chori Castro, and Marti return. Our big signing for the summer, Bruno China from Leixoes in Portugal, certainly helps as he providers leadership and experience, but he is not even close to the level or Arango and Jurado. Varela, Castro, Marti, and China is a solid group but below average for La Liga and not better then what we had last year. Former Mallorca man Borja Valero wants to come back after playing in the EPL last year with now relegated West Brom and it would be great if we can get him back. Our midfield is a huge weakness. Allowing so much talent to leave in the midfield and not replacing them will be our downfall. We need to improve this part of the team a great deal.

Forwards
This is probably the strength of the team as Webo, Keita and Aduriz return. Despite its strength, it underperformed last year and will need a huge increase in goal scoring to keep the team in La Liga for next year. Aduriz is the best striker and has moments of brilliance. He can lead this team but with the midfield in shambles, who will provide him service? He is going to get frustrated trying to do too much alone and will look for a transfer in the winter. Cameroonian Webo is someone we have been trying to get rid of but now seems to be a key to our success. He can score but is again inconsistent. Look for him to partner Aduriz upfront and lets hope they mesh and quickly. The fact they know each other and both are returning players only helps, but its still an iffy situation. I am not sure of the status of Keita as he had suspension issues because of his contract, but assume he is ready to go. This is a guy who can score frequently in meaningless matches or in garbage time but we need to see what he can do in prime time so expect more from him this year. With favorite Trejo on loan to Elche in Segunda B, that would seem to indicate the team is happy with its forward depth which includes Tuni and Victor. Trejo was great for us early last year until he got hurt. He should be with us, but if it looks like he wont play, then I guess that means we have some talent up front and he needs to get first team football somewhere. This is the part of the team that will carry us but is by no means a sure thing.

Gaffer
Manzano comes back for another year after being looked at again by some big clubs after the strong finish last year. He has been quite silent this offseason. I know he has been actively involved in trying to bring in some new talent, but if Bruno China was the best he could do, either his hands are tied by management, or Mallorca is not an attractive place to play to many players who cant quite play for European quality teams. Manzano is the right coach and if we keep him we have a chance to survive. He will make the most out of the talent we have but cant work miracles. His attitude and comments must be followed very carefully as he will tell us where we are headed.

Ownership
After much back and forth and uncertainty, spanish computer genius Carlos Gonzalez bought the club for a song. He said all the enthusiastic things new owners always say, but failed to deliver on his promises of new players. Maybe he is adjusting and we will do well in the winter, or maybe he realizes there is so much debt that he is not going to spend any more money. I am really surprised Aduriz was not sold. Whether its him or someone, if the team is not able to create a financial mindset that allows it to buy some players, the team will drop down. Its like buying a Formula one team and trying to put inferior engines in the car thinking you can still compete. If you cant spend the money, then dont get involved. The fans deserve a competitive team and this year we may not get one.

We do have some good youngsters in Nsue and Tejara but these guys need to emerge. Nsue should have made our club by now considering the hype he has received for so long and Tejara was allowed to leave by Chelsea and impressed with the B team last spring. We need these guys to find first team football for us and quick.

Luckilly we open at home against against Xerez so we have a chance to pick up a quick three points. If we lose early in the season to weaker La Liga teams we could get buried quickly so this is a must win. The opening match excitement at home will help a lot and while I dont know anything about Xerez, I think we can get a quick win this weekend. However, overall this is going to be a long season and we are favorites for relegation so we need to pay close attention to what is going on. For now lets enjoy the opening weekend in Palma in what will no doubt be a festive atmosphere.

Prediction
Mallorca 3-2 Xerez