Sad news day: Aimar leaves Valencia

By Emerald Gao
Written on July 27, 2006

It seems that Pablito Aimar's transfer to Zaragoza is all but inevitable: Valencia want to sell him, the player himself wants to go, and all that's left is the money part. Valencia are likely to sell him for around 10m just to wrap things up as quickly and painlessly as possible, so they can send him off before the player presentation at the Mestalla on Saturday.

I'm not shocked, since the rumors have been going strong since before the WC, and Aimar himself seemed rather distracted during the competition. It'll suck like you wouldn't believe, to not have him at Valencia, but I feel like I've gotten so attached to the team that his leaving won't make me like them any less. This'll just make it harder to follow Aimar, to watch him play every weekend, because although I have nothing against Zaragoza (only certain fans, really, plus they've got the brothers Milito), I also can't see myself adopting another team just because he plays for them.

There weren't any indications that Aimar was dissatisfied with his place in the team last season, and Quique has stated that he definitely wants the player to stay. But Carboni (and probably Soler) insist that he wants out, so even though I don't know the whole story, I have to just accept it. Of course, there's still a slight chance of a turnaround before Saturday, but I'm not going to keep my hopes up. Aimar isn't the type of player to waver after he's made a decision, although I kind of wish he would, just this once.

In terms of tactics, this will probably signal the end of the 4-2-3-1 at Valencia, for good. As long as Aimar was on the team, Rainieri's attempt to force 4-4-2 on the team was never going to succeed, because he couldn't ever justify benching him when he was healthy and raring to play. If he leaves, this paves the way for Quique Flores to implement a 4-4-2 that focuses on wing play, which will put more pressure on Albelda and Baraja. I anticipate something like this next season:

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