After a week when Pisa city council in Italy have decided to put a clock on the leading tower – after all, what’s the point of having the inclination if you don’t have the time?! – Real Mallorca will fly out from Palma airport tomorrow (Saturday 20) heading for England’s second city Birmingham where they’ll spend a week using the excellent facilities of the Aston Villa training complex at Bodymoor Heath in North Warwickshire. Included in the itinerary are three friendly kick-abouts. The first is against League Two side Crewe Alexandra on Sunday 21. This game and another two friendlies against Barnsley on the 26th and West Brom on the 27 will be played behind closed doors.
After the announcement of the signing of ex Borussia Dortmund right back Mateu Morey (from Petra in Mallorca), the club are preparing to announce its second signing, that of 32-year-old Colombian left back Johan Mojica. The player has just finished playing for his country in the Copa America final where they lost 1-0 to Argentina. I watched this game and there were more skirmishes in the stands than on the pitch!
Mojica has a long history in Spanish football. He signed for Rayo Vallecano in 2013 and from there he went to Valladolid, Girona and Elche. At Elche he was outstanding which earned a move to Villareal. He failed to get regular starts at La Ceramica and moved to Osasuna on loan last season. The idea of meeting up with his ex and our new manager Jagoba Arrasate again has more or less sealed the deal. Under Arrasate at Osasuna last term, the Colombian played a total of 30 league games in addition to four appearances between Conference league qualifiers, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup. The arrival of the Colombian (where I’ve no doubt he’ll be first choice left back) sees the departure of Jaume Costa and will give an underperforming Toni Lato some more incentive to up his game. Mojica is what I would call “fiesty” and is no stranger to the referee’s notebook! Mallorca are still on the lookout for a right winger and amongst the favourites to join is Ivorian Christian Kowame who’s been released from Italian side Fiorentina.
Mallorca have a serious overbooking problem when it comes to top goalkeepers. 41-year-old Ivan “Pichu” Cuellar has been given another season, most of which will be as a goalkeeping coach. Besides Ivan we have three extraordinary goalkeepers, Serbian Predrag Rajkovic, Slovakian Dominik Greif and Ibiza-born Leo Roman. The truth is Mallorca can no longer afford another year with three ’keepers of the highest quality. Rajko is a fans’ favourite and Greif was one of the main reasons we got to the Copa del Rey final in May.
Carlos Roman had a sensational season on loan at Oviedo, who just missed out on promotion to La Liga in June. Rajkovic in two years here has never been injured whereas Greif missed a whole season with a serious back problem, and if he had a recurrence (which with a back problem is very possible) he would again miss a huge chunk of a season. Greif is probably a more complete goalkeeper but Rajkovic has maintained a line of impeccable consistency.
Roman has been rattling Italian side Genoa’s cage and they are about to make an offer for his services. Rajkovic has an outstanding Euros for Serbia and has aroused interest from teams with economic clout which could accelerate his departure. On the other hand, Roman is close to leaving which would mean we’d be down to one ’keeper. What decides who goes, and who stays, is all about money.
Roman’s future is in the hands of our technical director Pablo Ortells. Mallorca’s asking price for him is four million euros plus another 2.5 million in variables. He doesn’t want to go out on loan again, either he starts or he’s off. I’m not sure new coach Arrasate could guarantee Roman an automatic starting role. I expect movement on that situation as soon as Rajkovic gets back from holiday.
A few weeks ago I wrote about how the club must stop all their young talent being snapped up by the “big boys”. Step forward 18-year-old striker Marc Domenech. He’s been the top scorer in group III of the youth division of honour with 21 goals for Palma club San Francisco. He’s attracted a lot of attention with his goalscoring prowess, especially from Barcelona.
They offered Mallorca 300,000 euros for Marc which was considered derisory by Pablo Ortells. As Mallorca have no intention of losing this young goal-machine, they slapped a 1 million euro price tag on the youngster and increased his contract until 2029. Cash-strapped Barcelona backed off and the result means Marc is on the plane to Birmingham for RCD Mallorca’s pre-season.
And finally
England coach Southgate quits and walks away from a 5 million quid a year contract. That’s 40 million he’s trousered in his time in charge – not bad when England haven’t won anything! One of the co-comms on the TV commented when Spain played England “What a contrast before the game. Every England player belted out God Save The King with gusto. Not a single Spanish player knew the words of their anthem.” Note to co-comm numptie, Spain’s Marcha Real doesn’t have any words – duh!!