We are still in the heat of summer but the La Liga football season starts on Saturday 16th August. And what a start it is for Real Mallorca who entertain current champions Barcelona at the Son Moix stadium with a 19.30 kick off!
After a respectable but ultimately disappointing tenth-place finish last season, it’s time to reflect and look forward to the coming season. Mallorca flirted briefly with hopes of qualification for European competition this time around but the wheels fell off at the business end of the season.
At the last home game against Getafe there was a toxic atmosphere when first of all fullback Maffeo railed against the home fans and then misfiring striker Larin shushed the fans with a finger to the lips gesture when he scored a late goal. The summer “culebron” – soap opera – on transfers was certain that both these players had to leave the club.
The second pressing issue concerned the goalkeeping department. Dominic Greif was the first choice for most of the season but Ibiza-born stopper Leo Roman was pushing him hard and he had a starring role in away games at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
With only 12 months left on each of their contracts renewal terms were offered, rejected, increased and offered until finally Leo Roman agreed a new deal and Mallorca instantly signed giant Finnish keeper Lucas Bergstrom from Chelsea on a free transfer which meant Greif was the one to go. Two French clubs vied for his signature until Olympic Lyon won the race for a six million euros deal including add ons.
The next area to be dealt with was centre back. Captain Raillo and Valjent have performed one of the best defensive partnerships in La Liga for a number of years so their understudies were always going to have limited game time. At the start of last season Van der Heyden and Copete were the pretenders. Copete got more minutes playing time often being selected in a three man defence in away games. Belgian International Van der Heyden was the forgotten man and in January joined German side St. Pauli on loan helping to guide them to safety. This summer he joined Gent in his home country for two million euros. Copete was courted by Valencia and eventually signed for them for a reported four million euros.
At the final prestigious pre-season friendly, the City of Palma Trophy, the existing squad are presented and Larin was roundly booed. It transpired that the same day Maffeo had agreed to sign for Sevilla for a reported four million euros despite interest from Nottingham Forest. This leaves the issue of Larin to be resolved. He openly stated he wants to leave but only wants to join a Spanish club. He has an elevated salary and there is no way Mallorca will recoup the eight million euros fee they paid for him. Valencia are rumoured to be putting a loan deal together involving a loan fee and covering his salary. The sooner he leaves the better for all parties concerned.
Very recently Sameu Costa was the subject of a fifteen-million-euro bid from an unnamed Premiership club and a similar bid from the Middle East. Either move would triple his salary so obviously he is interested but no further developments at the time of writing.
There was little movement on incoming transfers with the focus on experienced central defensive cover and a left winger plus a striker high on the list. And of course more creativity in the middle of the pitch which produced lengthy discussions with Barcelona for the highly rated Pablo Torre. Eventually a deal was struck for a bargain five million euros but Barcelona will receive 50% of the profit on any future sale of Torre.
Young striker Mateo Joseph was then recruited on loan from Leeds United. A very strong and talented player and Leeds want him to gain experience and game time but will not consider a permanent transfer. He is the obvious replacement for Larin and the added bonus is that he and Torre were childhood friends in their home City of Santander.
The winger high on the wanted list is Jan Virgili again from Barcelona and a similar deal to Torres´s is being mooted.
The City of Palma trophy was played on the 9th of August and the immediate impression was that Hamburg were not in Palma for fun and were making full bloodied tackles as if their lives depended on it. Pablo Torre was a class above every other player on the pitch and inside twenty minutes he was instrumental in Mallorca taking the lead through Japanese winger Asano. In the second half a hilarious own goal was conceded by the visitors when centre half Muheim guided a back header to his goalkeeper not realising the keeper was right behind him. The ball looped into an empty net to the huge delight of the home fans. Mallorca ran out two nil winners but not before Hamburg continued their aggressive behaviour and defender Torunarigha was sent off in injury time for a second yellow card.
As mentioned the La Liga season starts on Saturday the 19th of August at 19.30 against Barcelona who feature heavily in this preview! That game is already a sell out and Mallorca have sold season tickets totalling over 23,00 which is a fifth season in a row that the numbers have increased.
More player recruits and departures are expected in the coming weeks but for now all eyes are on the opening game. Can the Islanders spring a surprise? The head says no but the heart says yes! Hope springs eternal.