• Valencia.Lim dismisses Mateu Alemany and slams his latest successful project

Why disassemble a structure that in two years has led you to win a title and get two rankings for Champions? Valencianism continues to wonder what may have passed through Peter Lim's head to make a decision of such magnitude. The last chapter was the termination of the contract of the general director Mateu Alemany, but before that coach Marcelino García Toral had already been dismissed in the first episode of a perfect storm that began from Singapore in the most unexpected way, when the team was proclaimed champion of Copa del Rey against Barcelona.

In March 2017, when Alemany arrived in Valencia, a bleak landscape was found. A broken club and a staff that did not offer the slightest guarantee, but with a colossal economic burden not only for the salaries of the players, but especially for the repayments that had to be assumed in the short and medium term . The Mallorcan executive clearly explained the situation to President Lay Hoon Chan and obtained a white letter. First measure, annul the agreement reached with Quique Setién and sign Marcelino; second, to terminate the contract to José Ramón Alexanco; third, renegotiate contracts and apply an expense containment policy. The result: Valencia, twelfth the previous two seasons, finishes the fourth League and obtains a place for the Champions League. Not a single intrusion on the part of the property.

In Singapore, the Council meets at the end of the course. Peter Lim takes the floor: "I have shown that I can be wrong, but I know how to rectify, and with Mateu Alemany we have succeeded. He is the one who rules." A declaration of intent towards someone who doesn't even have your mobile phone. In these two years Alemany has never been able to get in direct contact with the owner . He had to use Lay Hoon Chan as interlocutors first and Anil Murthy later. Any personal meeting with Peter Lim involved taking a plane and crossing Asia for 12 hours to reach Merlion Island.

The first divergences

In a state of apparent institutional calm, the 2018-19 season begins to be planned. However, someone in Lim's environment manages to stir the loft with such violence that the first divergences do not take long because the team starts doubting in the League and below the expectations of the property in Champions. Who is so close to the Asian businessman besides Jorge Mendes ? Maybe the answer is in England. Peter Lim holds 40% ownership of the modest Salford City, a club close to Manchester that plays in the EFI League Two. Modest in history, but not in famous faces because Lim's actions are not divided between David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and the two Neville brothers. Do the "Fergie Boys" exercise as inquisitors in Lim's environment about the operation of Valencia?

The soundboard begins to have direct consequences. On October 27 of last year, just after a zero draw at San Mamés against Athletic, on the tenth day of the League, Anil Murthy calls Mateu Alemany apart. "Peter Lim just told me that he wants to dismiss Marcellin tomorrow. Tomorrow himself."

Alemany for the blow. Not only on that, but on two other subsequent occasions. In January, in Singapore, after the second game of the second round, an order is necessary. "If you throw it, I go with him . " Lim insists, but Alemany increases the bet. "I play my career. Hold on a little longer. If we continue like this for a couple more weeks we will make another decision." The owner accepts, but for the first time his confidence in the CEO begins to falter. He does not understand that blind faith in a coach who does not inspire confidence and with whom he has never finished connecting. Anyway the feeling is mutual. Marcelino doesn't like Lim either.

Europa League

It is at this point when the capricious ball gets in the owner's plans, because suddenly the team starts to win. To win, to win and to win. Soon the debate of the dismissal of the coach is meaningless, but then another reason for confrontation arises: Lim suggests that the competition that least interests him is the Cup, which should focus on the League and the Europa League . Specifically, he wants this last title, and considers that the domestic tournament will only serve to wear the squad.

The truth is that both Alemany and Marcelino share that point of view and allocate less habitual players to the Cup. However, the script undergoes an unexpected change of direction. In the first leg of the quarterfinals, Getafe wins in Madrid 1-0 to a Valencia loaded with substitutes, but in the locker room tunnel a colossal row is mounted between the players of the two teams. Valencia's wardrobe feels outraged and offended and the captains send their coach a very clear message: "We want to eliminate them. Let's go get them."

Marcelino does not agree and insists on resorting to plan B again, but Alemany reminds his coach that "you cannot go against what the wardrobe asks for . " The Valencian football players, hypermotivated, eliminate Getafe with a goal in the discount and enter an unexpected winning dynamic that is sharpened when they avoid Barça in the semifinals draw. Only Betis separates them from the final. It is not impossible. It is there, one step away.

In Singapore do not feel anything good what has happened. Lim does not care at all for the revenge of the players and feels betrayed by Alemany and Marcelino , who had made it clear that he was not interested in the Cup. When the team is proclaimed champion does not even go down to the dressing room of Benito Villamarín to greet the players. It is the beginning of the end.

More friction

From that moment on, Singapore's relationship with Mateu Alemany and Marcelino becomes very rough. The general director proposes the transfer of the lateral Toni Lato to the PSV for five million euros with an option of repurchase of eight because the sports management has serious doubts about its progression and considers that it is a good opportunity to enter money, but Lim aborts the operation . "This is very good and will be the substitute for Gayà. It has to be renewed." Said and done. The player renews until 2023 with a very high salary and is assigned to the PSV. To this day he has not yet made his debut in the Eredivise.

The Korean Kang In-Lee is the next point of friction. The coach wants to give it up because he thinks he is immature and needs to play every Sunday and proposes signing Rafinha or Denis Suárez instead. Lim refuses again and the confrontation with Marcellin, which does not hesitate to publicly challenge property, is already manifested in all its crudeness.

On August 15 Anil tells Alemany that Lim has sold Rodrigo to Atlético de Madrid and that they have to start looking for a substitute. However, the operation has cracks. The general director calls Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, with whom he has an excellent relationship, and he makes this clear. "Yes, we have done it because Mendes is going to sell Correa to Milan." "What if he doesn't sell it?" "Oh, no, then we can't afford it," admits Gil Marín.

Alemany informs Lim - always through Anil Murthy , of course - the conversation with the CEO of Atlético and does not give credit to the property's response. "Lim said that calm down, that we wait until September 2 and that surely at the last minute Atlético will buy it. That if that happens we will play with what we have until January."

As a solution, the CEO proposes signing Bakambú , who was playing in China, in Beijing Gouan. "We can't just have two strikers to play League and Champions. It's impossible." Lim not only refuses, but already, in the face of Marcellin's outrage, he again aborts the transfer of Rafinha, who had agreed to lower his salary 40% to go to Valencia and not to Celta, and also at the last minute Mendes le it places Lim to Thierry Correia for 12 million euros, leaving again in evidence the coaching staff and the general management, who were negotiating with the Naples the transfer of Albanian Hysaj.

Marcelino's dismissal

The situation begins to be unbearable. As already anticipated, Mendes cannot close the transfer of Correa to Milan and Rodrigo stays in Valencia. Lim pays the broken plates with the coach. After winning Mallorca 2-0 in Mestalla, he calls Singapore to Anil Murthy and, without Alemany having the least knowledge, orders him to fire Marcelino and sign Celades as a substitute.

The general director meets in Valencia with Murthy and asks him to find an immediate solution "because it is clear that Lim does not count on me. I do not know what I am doing here." The final solution, however, is not simple. Lim doesn't even answer and until the end of October Mateu Alemany is totally displaced, to the point that he does n't even talk to the new coach . Prisoner of a clause that requires him to pay a millionaire compensation to Valencia if he signs for another Spanish team before his contract ends, orders his lawyer to accept all the conditions that Lim asks, but to resolve the situation at once. This Thursday the final chapter was written in Singapore. Mateu Alemany no longer belongs to Valencia. Lim and Mendes - and perhaps the Fergie Boys - have taken control again and the landscape seems identical to what the Mallorcan executive found when he arrived in March 2017. How will Valencia end? As you want Peter Lim.

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  • FC Barcelona
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