It had been a long time since Mareo had seen a closing of the transfer market as active as yesterday. It was a hectic and marathon day for Sporting until practically the last hour and with all the management and sports leadership present in the offices. And that ended with the signing of the center-back José Marsà, on loan from Sporting de Lisboa, in an operation carried out exclusively by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA. But that he experienced last-minute surprises with Valladolid’s attempt for Djuka late in the afternoon, after proposing a loan with a purchase option at the end of the campaign and that found the “no” for a response from the Sporting sports area, as revealed by LA NEW SPAIN. “It is true that there has been interest, but we consider it a very important piece for us and we are happy that it continues,” said Gerardo García, director of sports management for the rojiblanco club. “We are very happy with the squad,” he finished. As regards the last day of the market on the rojiblanco planet, everything ended late and started early on a very busy day. Because early in the morning Espanyol accelerated in their contacts to definitively close the signing of José Gragera by finally agreeing to pay what the rojiblanco club intended in its last counter-offer: three million fixed euros and 30% of a future sale, How did this newspaper progress? At noon the agreement was complete for the departure of the youth squad to Barcelona.
At the same time, Sporting finalized the arrival of his replacement: Marsà from Sporting de Portugal. In the early afternoon the agreement was already a fact. Contacts with Marsà had accelerated in recent days.
The central, in fact, had other suitors in Second. The defender raised in La Masía, international with the sub-17, signs only until June 30. Mareo arrived from Lisbon at ten to nine after a long road trip with Javi Lacambra, his agent. Also, he is versatile. Although he usually occupies center-back positions, he has also played as a left-back and even right-footed. “I really want to meet my teammates and be able to train with them and try to help the team as soon as possible,” he confessed. “You know how big the club is and you have to put it where it deserves. I feel good and now I’m going to train hard to try to play,” he said.
The red and white sports area does not have a purchase option. Yes a preemptive right, only for this summer. But it will depend on whether Sporting de Portugal opens for sale in the summer or decides to stay with the footballer, who is predicted to have great potential. At the moment, he has one more year of contract there -2024-. After debuting with Barcelona B and growing up with García Pimienta, he left Barcelona in the summer of 2021 to head towards one of the giants of Portugal. He has played 8 games there, two of them in the Champions League against Olympique de Marseille. His profile fits perfectly with what MAR wanted: he has Barça DNA, good ball output, he is left-footed and can adapt perfectly to that system with three central defenders starting from the left profile. In addition, he is versatile: although he usually occupies center-back positions, he has also acted as a left-back and even right-footed. The Marsà operation is accessible to Sporting, which was quite paralyzed due to the lack of financial margin due to the salary limit. The money obtained from Gragera’s transfer will also be used to settle accounts for the summer.
Sporting, in this sense, foresees more than six million losses for this year. Closing a transfer like that of the youth squad gives financial air to the next project, which is also being worked on with Miguel Ángel Ramírez as leader from the bench. The arrival of the Catalan defender responds precisely to giving the Canarian coach more tools. Because he will now have a specific center-back, with a left-handed start, and that fits perfectly into his idea of going out with the ball played. MAR will now have Pablo Insua, Cali Izquierdoz, Bruno González, José Marsà and the resource of Jordi Pola for those three back positions, as well as the versatility of Jonathan Varane, whom the coaches sense has greater potential as a midfielder.
With Gragera in Barcelona and Marsà on his way to Gijón, a surprise call arrived that monopolized much of the activity at the closing of the transfer market in Mareo: the one from Valladolid to ask for Uros Djurdjevic, one of the project leaders. There were other names that apparently had more options for an option to leave, but on January 31 the possibility of a Primera for Djuka broke out. It was Fran Fernández, sports director of the Valladolid club, who contacted Gerardo García, head of Sporting’s sports area, once negotiations to loan Shon Weissman to Granada were underway. In the previous days, the Sporting forward already knew that he was an option to reinforce the attack of the Pucelano club, but no contacts had been made. Several options for Valladolid had fallen along the way, with a greatly reduced financial muscle. In Mareo, in fact, they raised a transfer with a purchase option at the end of the season. Some terms that Sporting did not even consider, which last summer made a very powerful commitment to the striker whom it renewed for five years, until 2027. Djurdjevic is an important asset not only for Sporting, but also for the Orlegi Group.
The conditions of the offer raised by Valladolid made the operation impossible. Despite going through a very hard time, without scoring a goal in the league since August, the rojiblanco club maintains faith in the striker, whom they have taken care of in the worst moments, even when Abelardo had some misgivings about his performance. After being sent off in the Cup at Los Pajaritos, David Guerra transferred his support to the striker internally on several occasions. With the arrival of MAR, Djuka has seen how his loss of prominence was confirmed, a process initiated by Pitu. But the Canarian coach has supported him in several matches held in Mareo. Also publicly. “He is the best striker in the category,” Ramírez assured in the press room when asked about the difficulties the striker was going through. For now, Ramírez is giving priority to Campuzano.
On the other hand, Sporting continues to have in mind processing the file of the French center Yann Kembo for the rojiblanco subsidiary, as LA NUEVA ESPAÑA advanced, despite being exceeded on January 31. The rojiblanco club will continue to process the license with the Spanish Football Federation, in case it is possible to register the player. Kembo, who has liked the technicians, in his trial period, comes from the Lens subsidiary.