Eliaquim Mangala: Valencia move unlikely to be permanent
Eliaquim Mangala hasn’t exactly found the career reboot he was looking for at Valencia. Not in Pep Guardiola’s plans, the French defender went on what looked to be a reasonable loan to Valencia, but the Spanish club have continued to struggle.
Currently an embarrassing 16th in La Liga, only three clubs have conceded more goals, and those three are in the relegation places.
Spanish newspaper Marca take a look at the situation on Friday and cover Mangala’s status. In a section subtitled ‘The price of Mangala’, Marca say the Manchester City player is ‘absolutely unaffordable’.
Valencia have a right to purchase Mangala from Manchester City permanently, which fits with him not being part of Guardiola’s squad. Whilst the exact agreed purchase amount is unknown, Marca believe it’s around €30m.
That would make the whole Mangala episode a little better for Manchester City, but it’s not happening.
Marca say that regardless of the fee, it’s the player’s wages which would prove too steep. Even if he took a huge drop, Mangala would have to ‘greatly improve his performance’ to justify interest in a permanent deal.
Marca add: ‘At the moment, the Frenchman will return to the Premier League as soon as the referee whistles the end of the last league match.’
If everything carries on as it has started, then Manchester City will find themselves with an Eliaquim Mangala shaped problem next summer.
There’s every chance Guardiola could have a change of mind and feel Mangala would add to the likes of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi in his squad, but it isn’t looking likely.
Mangala would have to impress Guardiola to receive another Manchester City chance and he’s certainly not managed that so far at Valencia.
The Spanish club are stumbling from one crisis to another and uncertainty and chaos seem to spread throughout the whole club right now.
