NO CASH AND NO COACH...

By Humphrey Carter
REAL Mallorca are going to put their financial problems to one side next week and start tackling more pressing problems.
This week ended in financial stalemate; the club has yet to find a financial backer but apart from having no cash, the club is without a coach and players are starting to worry about their next pay cheque. However, despite all this, the squad will still be based at Champneys Spring resort for the pre-season training camp in Birmingham later this month, where most guests will get little change out of £139.95 per person, per night - fortunately for the club, an “interested” party normally organises and covers the bulk of the pre-season training camp costs So, the bookings still stand, but who will be checking in under the name of Gregorio Manzano who is set to be unveiled as Atletico de Madrid's new coach over the next few days? So much effort has been spent on trying to attract some cash backers to the club, little thought has been given to a replacement for Manzano. The only name mooted so far has been Mané, more recently Alaves's coach, although he has been in charge of Real Mallorca before. After two months of negotiations, Manzano's lawyer claims to have finally struck a deal with Atletico and on Monday, the club will terminate its contract with coach Luis Aragones, giving him a 900'000 euro golden handshake. The club has resigned itself to the loss of Miguel Nadal, who has not apparently been paid for some three years, and Miguel Soler. The future of Samuel Eto'o at the club is again the topic of conversation this weekend with Eto'o confident that he will move to Valencia, despite the return of Claudio Lopez from Italy. The Cameroon international's agent, Javier García, says that Eto'o is “relaxed” about the situation and is “excited” about the prospect of moving to Valencia. Eto'o reached a verbal agreement with Bautista Soler, Valencia's second largest share holder, last week and now all that remains is for the two clubs to reach an agreement. Garcia has also said that Valencia is not interested in Lopez as an alternative player to Eto'o. “To the contrary, as far as I have been informed, Valencia see Eto'o as the ideal companion for Lopez. “We hope to close the deal soon, otherwise the player will remain at Real Mallorca,” Garcia said.
Selling Eto'o will help Real Mallorca raise much needed funds.
Ibagaza and Albert Riera may also be sold if the prices are right while Colombian Harold Lozano is already packing his bags for Mexico. The club continues its hunt for backers to clear its 90 million euro debt and has decided to look overseas after a lukewarm response from the Majorcan business community. A consortium of Alicante hoteliers are interested, so too is a Mexican and a Russian. The owner of Real Mallorca, Antonio Asensio Mosbach, was hoping to scale down his involvement in the club, reducing his shares to just 20 percent and selling his unwanted stake to local businesses, but the response has been zero. Some claim the shares are overvalued while other leading local businesses which have invested the odd million euros into the club did so as a “favour,” few would seriously invest in the club. Season tickets are now up for renewal or sale, although the club currently has no cash, no coach and a squad waiting to be paid.