Mallorca-Murcia and Some Transfer Bitching.

By: Jeremy | April 18th, 2008

The season isnt over and the news is starting to fly about which Mallorca players will be scooped up by the bigger clubs and which players that arent wanted by the bigger clubs would be offered to Mallorca or some other mid level teams.

Oh and by the way, we have an interesting game on the road against Murcia this week. This is the first game of what is really a favorable schedule the rest of the way. With some effort we can still have a strong finish, but I think last weeks loss to Sevilla took a lot out of the club.

First lets discuss what we knew would eventually come up and that is where Guiza ends up playing next year. We know he just had a kid and prefers to stay in Spain, but when teams like Roma come calling and the right money is offered, you will give it serious consideration. Im sure it costs a lot of money to maintain that WAG of his(what a hottie!!) so he might be willing to leave Spain for a big payday. Roma is likely the first of many clubs that will come calling for Guiza. Im sure the price goes up after Euro 2008 so teams may act quickly. While I want to keep him and he is a huge part of why I dont worry about Mallorca scoring goals, I think it will be tough for Mallorca to keep him when Roma or some other big club comes calling. Guiza rumors will heat up and Arango is next. I think Arango likes Mallorca and unless a big EPL team calls him, he will likely stay. Ibagaza I think will stay in Mallorca even though he could start for most big clubs. Lets hope we can keep all three and bring in some players but its going to be a nervous summer in Palma.

Speaking of adding players, Atletico has offered us the opportunity to sign Jose Manueal Jurado, who is a young 21 yr old player that is the product of the Real Madrid youth system. He went to Atletico is now not part of their plans as they want to bring in better players(what an original idea) and if Atletico does not want him, you know Madrid does not want him, so why not go to Mallorca. I dont know anything about this guy, but he is young and cant be considered a failure already. He could blossom at a smaller club and with his youth pedigree, lets go get him. Manzano knows him from his days as Atletico coach, so if he likes him this is a good way to take a chance on player who might develop a little later. If you are 21 and arent a star by that age after being in their youth system, the big clubs dont want you so this might be our opportunity for a low risk high reward player.

Dont forget there is a game this weekend against likely relegation fodder Real Murcia. Its still too early to decide where this season is going as we likely need one more win to eliminate all relegation worries, yet we are only 4 points behind the seventh place Intertoto spot. With every team from 7th down to Valencia all believing that 7th place is possible(not that Valencia cares about that after winning the Copa), Europe is still not out of the question, but with so many teams congested from 39-43 points, it will be tough and we need to do well against the remaining teams.

Murcia still has an outside chance of survival and teams with must win games to avoid relegation tend to play better then they have all year. With Murcia at home, and Mallorcas motivation probably not where it should be, this is not an automatic win for Mallorca. If they want to play in Europe, they do need to win this game. A loss puts them out of Europe and checking Zaragoza results for the rest of the year.

I dont see this as a game Mallorca will bring it. Their Waterloo was last weeks game against Sevilla and they lost. Now they will play out the string and get a couple of ties here and there and finish just above the relegation zone. With the talent on this team, that would be a disappointment, but again a reminder that La Liga is simply a tough league where anything can happen week to week and there are no easy games although Id love to play Levante in the last part of my schedule this year.

Prediction Murcia 1-1 Mallorca