YOUNG GUNS – Valencia and their exciting new signings

By Archie Buck
Updated: 3 August, 2011

By Archie Buck

Valencia have had great success in turning promising players into world renowned stars.

Need I mention Señor’s Villa, Albiol and Silva? Add to that Mata, Banega and arguably Soldado and it is clear the club have a fairly exceptional record of nurturing talent.

The current state of Valencia’s finances unfortunately dictates their transfer policy.

They must be as economical as possible, in terms of wages and the transfer fees themselves.

They must also look to turnover profit if players are sold on.

It is no good bringing someone whose value has potential to decline rapidly, due to age or injury.

Of course there is always risk involved. Players are not robots, scouts and coaches make mistakes, in some cases you may have to accept you have signed the wrong player and move them on swiftly.

Last season Emery implemented both a 4-4-2 formation as well as a 4-2-3-1 with both relying strongly on the abilities of the wide men.

With the departures of Vicente and Joaquin, it was clear Valencia would be weakened so replacements had to be sought.

Piatti looks to be the man brought in to fill that void.

The young Argentine attacker was handed his first cap in June after a good year with former club Almeria, where he averaged a respectable goal every five games.

Although operating mainly up front for the Andalusian side, I think he may be implemented on the right side of the 4-2-3-1 formation for Valencia.

Injuries to Soldado, Aduriz or Jonas may mean he may have to play as the main striker on occasion, but I believe he will feature mainly on the right.

Among other things, this will provide good competition for Pablo Hernandez.

Daniel Parejo, signed from Getafe fort a reported €6 million, is the same age as Piatti at 22 and also looks to have great future ahead of him.

Parejo normally plays central midfield and is very much an attack minded player and like Juan Mata, he was deemed surplus to requirements at Real Madrid earlier in his career.

He is the sort of player that can pick a pass but if a chance comes along will tuck it away more times than not.

If Emery plays the 4-2-3-1 formation I wonder whether he will shift Mata back out wide (as opposed to centrally as he operated at points last season) and put Parejo in the hole behind Soldad?

This would allow him to accommodate Sergio Canales into the team in central midfield, however this is working on the assumption that the players will slot straight into the team.

Canales himself, is an interesting one.

Sergio Canales has had little few opportunities in the capital.

Jose Mourinho does not rate him, that seems to be plainly obvious.

He must not have shown the ‘special one’ enough in training to suggest any outstanding quality.

That said he is being compared by others to Xabi Alonso, one of the best passers of a football in the world and also Kaka, a truly superb attacking midfielder.

He looked very promising at Racing there is no doubt about that.

It now falls to Valencia to take him to the next level and it’s a great deal for Los Che, a loan with a buyout contract is as risk free as it gets.

Canales will get chances at Valencia, the club is not blessed with great depth in central midfield.

All three players were acquired from La Liga, which is also important as they have shown they can perform in the league and limits the risk.

They are young enough to mature under Emery but also have potential for resale, something important to a club with Valencia’s financial difficulties.

They were brought in on the cheap and even if they are later resold to a lesser club you could expect the out fee to match or beat the in fee – an ideal situation would be some future interest from English Premier League or Serie A clubs.

As it stands, Valencia have acquired three young and exciting players that could prove very shrewd signings this season. Only time will tell if they can fulfil the huge potential they all possess.

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