Yesterday’s season pass frenzy in Mestalla was something I’ve never seen in almost ten years as a sports journalist. It was madness. Some fans stood in a queue for nearly five –yes, five- hours to secure a spot in the Mestalla plateau this year. Supporters have their spirits high after the impressive streak of wins in friendly games. Can’t blame them, though.
Hope is a weird feeling, especially amongst Valencian people. They work around the clock for almost twelve months to create some of the most impressive Fallas monuments, only to burn them down in a single night and start again the process the next day. We are passionate, loud and caring, and we sport strong beliefs and opinions as one of our main traits. That transfers nicely to our football feelings. Valencia fans are some of the most passionate ones –you only have to take a look at the spectacular Curva Nord animation game after game in Mestalla-. And that has its counterparts.
People have ramped up speculation about the striker that Amadeo Salvo and Braulio Vazquez are going to sing this week. I can give you a quick head-count: Arnautovic, Fred, Chicharito, Lukaku, Demba Ba, Yarmolenko… Sometimes it’s true that Valencia has a specific name in its list. Most times, however, it’s difficult to extract some slant of truth from the large sea of bullshit that surrounds it. Obviously, only one striker is coming to Valencia, if any. Obviously, there are only a number of negotiations that may –or may not- be taking place at the same time. The rest of this matter is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
But people want names, names, names. Bigger, better, more ambitious. With a bigger ring to them. And they seem to forget the delicate financial situation Valencia CF has to cope with. They seem to forget that there is a limited sum of money that can be spent: somewhat between 6-8 million Euros. The frenzy we saw yesterday in the season pass campaign has seemingly transferred to the signings department. And that doesn’t help anyone.
So, please, quit bitching about Braulio’s decisions, Salvo’s intentions or Djukic’s petitions. Stop giving credit to the thousand rumours that surface daily about the striker that Valencia wants to sign. Take a deep breath. La Liga starts next weekend, and the game against Malaga is going to keep our hands full. Let the men do their job without putting more pressure on them. Let them hit the bullseye, if we get lucky. Keep calm and wait a couple more days. That seems to have worked with the friendly games this summer, hasn’t it?
Paco Polit (@pacopolit)
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