What a mess. ThatâÂÂs the best description of Málaga at the moment. Heck, even themusually unflappable Manuel Pellegrini sounds thoroughly flapped, with the manager confessing during the club's tour in Venezuela that âÂÂthese rumours are affecting us.âÂÂ
The rumours in question concerned the visit of a representative of MálagaâÂÂs owner Sheikh Al Thani to the city late last week. It is suggested this house call wasn't made in order to pay the players, former owner and fellow clubs the money still owed to them, but instead to put the club up for sale, with stories over the weekend suggesting Albanian oil magnate Rezart Taçi is part of a consortium looking into taking the troubled team off the QatariâÂÂs hands.
But not so, it now appears, with a director of Taçi Oil International denying any interest in such a deal; âÂÂIâÂÂve read the story in the press and I am surprised. We have had and we have no interest in buying Málaga.âÂÂ
This leaves Málaga on very wobbly footing - an owner who has either lost interest in the club or can no longer afford to run it, reported debts of up to â¬90m, some high-salaried and unhappy stars such as Santi Cazorla pushing for moves, and debts to third party clubs and players that could lead to Málaga being booted out of European competition or even relegated from la Primera, with the Spanish FA and league recently becoming a lot more hard-ball over such affairs.
Another club struggling with a lack of Arab cash is Getafe, whose whole Getafe Team Dubai business turned out to be a giant scam, with arrests made and a police investigation ongoing. This has left club president, Angel Torres, as blunt and grumpy sounding as ever, telling his coach Luis GarcÃÂa that he needs to sell before he can buy.
âÂÂThe idea is to move on Miku, Colunga or Güiza, if no one goes, thereâÂÂll be no-one coming,â stropped Torres. âÂÂLuis knows he is at a modest club and I think he has a great team. He needs to be patient and not to talk so much to the press about what he wants or what heâÂÂs missing.âÂÂ
This rather glum round-up of the unfortunate state of la PrimeraâÂÂs finances ends with the tragic-comedy figure of Ever Banega, who is continuing his personal battle against the automobile - a fight he is losing badly.
After being run over by his own car at a petrol station in February, breaking his ankle in the process, the Valencia midfielder had another unfortunate moment on Monday, when his Ferrari caught fire with him in it. Fortunately, our hapless hero escaped unscathed, whilst the fire brigade began to take care of his very scorched chick magnet.
