After a week when legendary Scotland football manager Craig Brown passed away at the age of 82, his life, apart from coaching football, was full of laughs and anecdotes – one of his best was “At Glasgow Rangers I was third choice left-back behind an amputee and a Catholic !” – Real Mallorca have brought in the first two pieces of the jigsaw puzzle as the Summer transfer window “officially” opens next weekend. Midfielder Omar Martorell (30) arrived from relegated Elche and will play in the Palma side’s engine room in a position not dissimilar to where Baba plays now.
Tenerife-born Martorell was a regular at the Martin Valero stadium and has signed a three-year deal. With Elche going down, his release clause is around one million euros. He’s also played for Derby County and German sides Schalke 04 and Eintracht Frankfurt.
On Monday we welcomed 25 year-old left back Toni Lato from Valencia. Signing on a free transfer four-year deal, Lato will compete with friend and ex team-mate Jaume Costa for a starting place. Lato has more or less played his entire career at the Mestalla (with two short stints at Osasuna and PSV Eindhoven).
Both these new signings are important because their arrival does not involve any significant financial investment. The money expected from the transfer of Kang In Lee can be used entirely for the signing of a quality midfielder and a striker to accompany Vedat Muriqi.
The transfer operation of Kang In Lee is similar to the situation in years gone by when Diego Tristan, Samuel Eto’o and Dani Guiza all went for big bucks to big teams and their departures (like Kang In Lee) are key to almost everything that will happen over the next few weeks in the offices at Son Moix. Signing for Real Mallorca has become a much better prospect for players favouring a move. The club are financially sound, with a revamped stadium well on its way to being completed and the sporting facilities are up there with the best. Our fantastic ninth place finish has made things that bit more exciting.
The future of Kang In Lee turned towards Paris when it looked likely he would go to the English Premier league which is awash with money. His impending departure (unavoidable at this point) leaves a huge void to be filled as the 22-year-old South Korean’s input was instrumental in our top ten La Liga finish to the season.
One player definitely on his way is young Ibizan goalkeeper Leo Roman. He didn’t want another season sitting on the bench and has been allowed to go on loan to La Segunda side Real Oviedo.
That leaves Dominik Greif as our back-up keeper to number one choice Predrag Rajkovic. Slovakian international Greif (who made his only league start in our last game at Barcelona) has also stated his discontent at spending long periods of inactivity sitting on the bench. If he decides to leave then we may have a goal-keeping conundrum !
A few years ago, RCD Mallorca slipped into the Spanish third division nicknamed “The Well” because once you fall into it, it’s very difficult to get out. Next season the renamed First Federation league is very scary. The category is now full of historical Spanish football teams. Malaga, Deportivo La Coruña, Castilla (Real Madrid’s B team), Recreativo Huelva, Cordoba and Real Murcia will all have a go and try and get places back in the big-time.
Forty sides will fight it out for a handful of promotion spats and the headaches for the organisers is about to begin. How will the two leagues be arranged ? Many clubs involved want a north/south format but the federation is more in favour of an east/west divide. The federation favour east/west because of the way the train system in Spain is configured. Whatever the result of the league set-up, it promises to be the most competitive ever.
Deportivo (who’ve never recovered from us beating them in the 2019 play-off final) have had three torrid years in “the well.” So much so that their entire board resigned en bloc and the new owners have to rebuild the team for the third time.
Malaga have had to sack 80% of their staff but they at least get a small parachute payment which gives them a considerable advantage. They have a famous ex-pat supporters branch called “The Guiri Army” although their numbers appear to have dwindled over the past few years.
AND FINALLY, how to know you’re growing older : (1) You feel like you’re suffering from the night before and you haven’t been anywhere; (2) Your children begin to look middle aged; (3) You join a health club and don’t go; (4) You begin to outlive enthusiasm; (5) A dripping tap causes an uncontrollable bladder urge; (6) Your knees buckle but your belt won’t; (7) Your back goes out more than you do; (8) A fortune teller offers to read your face; (9) Your mind makes contracts your body cannot meet and (10) You have two pairs of specs, one of which you use to locate the other.