Cavani in talks with Villarreal
It seems that the Yellow Submarine will have one more passenger, as Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani is close to joining Spanish side Villarreal. According to the Spanish newspaper Marca, Unai Emery, Villarreal’s head coach, requested the arrival of the 35-year-old striker, whose contract with Manchester United expired in June, with the Uruguayan already accepting the offer to join the club.
“The Uruguayan striker, who is currently without a club after finishing his contract with United, is Unai Emery’s choice,” wrote Diego Picó, Marca’s reporter.
Despite the fact that both Cavani and Villarreal are on good terms and want to finish the agreement, it is also reported that the Spanish club is waiting for confirmation of Paco Alcácer’s departure to finalize Cavani’s deal.
According to the story, Fernando Roig, Villarreal’s president, understands that the club needs to sell players before making any acquisition and Alcácer leaving the club would be beneficial for the team’s bottom line.
“The club, as its president said a week ago, need to sell before making new signings and the departure of Alcácer, who is training on the sidelines until he finds a team, is the key,” he explained. “Celta have pulled strings to get the Valencian striker and that would facilitate the move for Cavani.”
Additionally, the Spanish club could see two other players leaving its squad this summer, as Spanish international Pau Torres is one of Juventus’ targets to replace Matthijs de Ligt, who left the Italian club to join FC Bayern Munich, and Boulaye Dia is set to leave Villarreal to join Salernitana, as reported by various Italian media outlets.
The Spanish club would be the sixth team in Cavani’s professional career and the first time that the Uruguayan legend would showcase his skills in La Liga, after experiences in Serie A, Ligue 1 and in the Premier League.
Representing Manchester United, his last club, ‘El Matador’ had to deal with different injuries during his time in England as he struggled to remain part of the team’s starting XI on many occasions.
Even though Cavani might not come to Villarreal in his prime, he could reestablish a successful partnership with Unai Emery, who helped him become the top goalscorer in Paris Saint-Germain history. In 98 matches under Emery’s tutelage in PSG, the Uruguayan scored 89 goals, provided 17 assists to his teammates and won seven titles.
Since the end of last season, the striker’s name has also been linked with different teams around the world such as the Argentinian side Boca Juniors, the Brazilians from Corinthians and the Italian club Salernitana.
-Matheus Teles
Photo: Анна Нэсси. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.