Hey Manchester City fans, remember Eliaquim Mangala?
Bought for £40.5m from Porto, the France international has been one of the club’s more expensive flops in recent years, making a measly 79 appearances for the club during his five years under contract at the Etihad.
Loans to Valencia and Everton hardly helped his cause in England, and the centre-back was released from his contract in August 2019 after some bad injury luck, joining Valencia shortly after.
Plaza Deportiva look back at what’s happened since then, making it clear the transfer was a Jorge Mendes led ploy, with the La Liga side signing Mangala despite the expert opinion of Dr Toño Maestro, who ‘warned of the risks and of the footballer’s physical condition’.
What followed wasn’t pretty, since then manager Marcelino seemed reluctant to play the former Manchester City man, and even his sacking, replaced by Albert Celades, didn’t change much.
Mangala managed a whole 11 appearances last season, and while the arrival of Javi Gracia seemed promising, the idea of the player being a regular ‘lasted 16 minutes, just until the fibres in his right thigh were torn, causing a tear of considerable size’.
Since then, he’s managed just 298 more minutes in the league, and 300 in the Copa del Rey, but what’s scary is that ‘Valencia have only won two league games in the 13 in which the French footballer has played’.
With a wage packet of €1.2m/year, each of the 1440 minutes Mangala has played with Valencia costs the club €833.
For Plaza Deportiva, the defender is yet ‘another poisoned gift from Mendes, in charge of the coffers’ of the club.
