Valencia director Miguel Ángel Corona has this evening provided his version of events, regarding the club’s ultimately fruitless efforts to bring Rafa Mir back to the club in January.
The name of frontman Mir of course took its place front and centre in the media headlines in the buildup to Thursday’s transfer deadline.
This came amid a concerted push on the part of Valencia to bring the 26-year-old back to the Mestalla with a view to the 2nd half of the campaign.
Talks towards precisely that appeared to be very much on track in the hours leading up to the deadline, with all signs having pointed towards Mir’s dream Los Che reunion being granted.
At the last, however, the deal collapsed.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Sevilla chief Victor Orta moved to lay the blame for as much squarely at the door step of Valencia.
“Valencia did not want Rafa Mir, because if they had wanted him, they would have signed him,” he sniped.
As alluded to above, though, 24 hours on, Los Che have hit back.
In his own exchange with the press on Saturday, aforementioned Valencia chief Miguel Ángel Corona was drawn on what exactly led to Mir’s return breaking down.
And Corona did not hesitate in the slightest in aiming a return jibe at Sevilla, adamant that the Nervionenses repeatedly altered the terms of the agreement.
Check out the statement, as cited by Onda Cero, in full, below:
“We don’t usually go into details. We are forced to do so. We understand Sevilla’s difficult situation, we have experienced it. I understand their stress. When someone has to give explanations so quickly, you know… Excusatio non petita… now we know how the sentence ends. If anyone has wanted Rafa Mir, it is Valencia. It is demonstrable because they themselves have recognized it. We have had two agreements: in August and February.
“In the summer, they sit Rafa down and apologize because they are not going to honour that agreement. In February, after reaching a verbal agreement, they send us the drafts of the offer with different amounts in the bonuses and in the purchase option. Those are facts and there is nothing more to talk about. Then, we confirmed it when the president made a call to Javier Solís. It was not a typographical error but a change in the conditions. Valencia cannot allow them to do that on three occasions. They have done it to us twice, but not three. This is not about time, but about respect and professionalism. Valencia has had it. The proof is that we were going to sign a contract with a purchase option without having a contract with Rafa Mir for the future.
“It was a risky situation for the entity and we were willing to assume it and negotiate with him. If anyone has wanted Rafa, it is Valencia. Unfortunately for Sevilla, they are trying to place two markets in a row. I haven’t had 200 operations, but I have a few and this had never happened to me. And with Sevilla, it has been twice.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
