The Valencia Herald
Match21 Aug 2027
A hiding for Valencia
Beaten 0‑4 by Osasuna, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Valencia
Stole Dimitrievski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Real improvement from Alex Verón at Valencia
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alex Verón is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Arnaut Danjuma falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Valencia
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Luis Rioja
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Fermín runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market23 Aug 2027
Valencia promote Jon Vera from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jon Vera has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market23 Aug 2027
One of our own: Diego Solís joins the Valencia first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Solís is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Javier Espinosa steps up from the Valencia academy
- Market One of our own: Enzo Alonso joins the Valencia first team
- Boardroom A promise the Valencia board did not keep