After a week when ex coach and Scottish footballer Gordon Strachan was asked by an interviewer “Gordon, can I have a quick word ?” – Strachan replied “Velocity !” – Real Mallorca, after weeks of negotiations, have found common ground and closed the deal of the Summer with Kang In Lee joining Paris Saint-Germain for 22 million euros. Of that fee, 20% will go to the player and his agent, and there’s no question, our sporting director Pablo Ortells has pulled off an excellent financial operation.
Considering Kang In Lee came to the island two years ago on a free transfer from Valencia, we now have the available funds to sign at least two quality players between now and the end of August.
In addition, one of the last issues to be ironed out was to arrange a friendly against PSG next January to celebrate the expected completion of the new, spectacular Son Moix stadium. PSG (with new coach Luis Enrique taking charge) will also have one of Real Mallorca’s favourite footballing sons on board soon as Marco Asensio is expected to put pen to paper on a Paris move after his impending wedding.
This past Tuesday and Wednesday the players had their usual pre-season medical checks. Today (Friday) sees most of the squad back at Son Bibiloni for the first training session of the new season. The plan now is that the squad and back room staff will head for the Austrian Alps (on July 13 for 10 days) to carry out their cooler climate preparations, which will include at least two friendlies against local side Union Gurten and another versus German Bundesliga outfit FC Cologne who finished seventh last season. Another “amistoso” (friendly) that has been announced is a game on July 29 at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, kick off 4pm our time. I know at least one avid ex-pat Mallorquinista, Billy Morris, has already booked up for his trip to Wearside.
The speed at which the renovation work in the Son Moix is being completed is remarkable. It was reported last week that on completion the new stadium will have a “state of the art” huge video scoreboard installed in the roof of the new North End stand. The installation will be the largest in Spain (let’s hope that lots of home goals will be up in lights !!) and there will also be 200 screens and monitors distributed throughout the stands.
An American billionaire businessman, 59-year-old Sam Garvin, has replaced Robert Sarver on the board of RCD Mallorca. A graduate of business science, amongst his many credentials was a time as a personal assistant in the White House during Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
He joins our other board members Glen Richard Carlson, Steve Nash and a certain Graham Le Saux, whose job description appears to be non-executive director/advisor. The relationship between Le Saux and Real Mallorca began with one of the most painful defeats of the Jersey-born defender’s career at Chelsea. In 1999 we snatched away the possibility of him playing in the last ever Cup Winners Cup final when we beat them 2-1 on aggregate in the semi final.
The English Premiership league is a rich man’s game and is viewed as the richest and best league on the planet. Hefty sums of money change hands every transfer window and now even defenders are transferred for 100 million quid.
The growing gap between the financial power of the Premier League and the rest of Europe is making many clubs on mainland Europe uncomfortable. It was announced recently that the Premier League wage bill was 81% higher than La Liga and a lot more than both Serie A and the Bundesliga combined.
As the Premier League becomes more of a super league every season, Spanish clubs are poised as Premier League scouts, like vultures, hover over clubs who are strapped for cash and have young talent available. TV money in England rules the roost and Spain are hanging on to the “Prems” coat tails. Clubs here suffer from a talent drain.
Falling out in the early rounds of the Champions league must be avoided by clubs like At. Madrid, Barcelona, Real Sociedad and Sevilla this coming season; they are all dependent on the competition’s rich pickings and must get to the latter stages. The further teams go in the competition, the more money becomes available.
PS The first two Mallorca fixtures for La Liga EA Sports 2023/24 are (1) Las Palmas/Real Mallorca, Saturday, August 12, 19:30; (2) Real Mallorca/Villareal, Friday, August 18, 19:30.
AND FINALLY, story of the week reported by a friend. “I know I shouldn’t have done this but I am 83 years old and I was in our local McDonalds Drive-Through this lunchtime. The young lady behind me leaned on her horn and started mouthing something because I was taking too long to place my order. So when I got to the payment window, I paid for her order as well as mine. The cashier must have told her what I’d done because as we moved up she leaned out of her window and waved to me mouthing ‘Thank you,’ obviously embarrassed that I had repaid her rudeness with kindness. When I got to the delivery window, I showed them both receipts and took her food as well. Now she had to go back to the end of the queue and start all over again.” The moral of this story : Don’t blow your horn at old people, they have been around a long time !