With time, though, the weaknesses in his game were exposed. Instead, Funes Mori made an impressive start. I must confess that, when he joined the Toffees, I thought he had little chance of thriving in the Premier League. ![]() This might come as a surprise to some Everton fans. “Funes Mori will be back in training with his team-mates in a couple of weeks,” said Sampaoli, “and we are going to be speaking with him.” That was in March of last year, and he has not reappeared since. In the final game under Sampaoli’s predecessor, Edgardo Bauza, Funes Mori suffered a serious knee injury during the 2-0 loss to Bolivia. The Everton defender has not featured under the new coach. Who might his main targets be in London, for example? Manuel Lanzini? A check on the recuperation of Erik Lamela? Roberto Pereyra of Watford, perhaps? Or maybe problems in the full-back positions mean there might still be a chance for Pablo Zabaleta?Īlso on the list is Liverpool, which can only mean one thing – a chat with Ramiro Funes Mori. And Manchester, to meet Sergio Aguero, Nico Otamendi, first-choice goalkeeper Sergio Romero and Marcos Rojo. And Paris, where Angel Di Maria plays his football. Some are obvious he must, of course, go to Barcelona, home of Lionel Messi. ![]() Time, then, is a precious resource, and Sampaoli is surely spending it wisely by going around Europe to sit down with those in contention for a squad place. There is just one more chance to unite – the FIFA dates at the end of March – before the World Cup squad is announced. Appointed in the middle of last year, Sampaoli has had few opportunities to get together with his players – a pair of friendlies last June, six high-pressure World Cup qualifiers and a couple of friendlies in November. So the math is still the same-right now, we have Pau, Albiol, Mandi and Cuenca if Pau were to leave for big bucks, we’d be looking to invest in a new central defender.įarewell Funes, good luck, don’t call us, we won’t call you.Argentina coach Jorge Sampaoli is on a tour of Europe, meeting his players, judging their form and fitness, and explaining to them what he intends to do. Yes, Funes leaving means one less CB but if Pau left he was never going to start anyhow-that much was clear. One we let get away.ĭoes Funes Mori’s departure mean we’re more confident about keeping Pau Torres? Not really. Still only 30, he has had a pretty good career with Eibar, Newcastle and Alavés. Don’t remember him? He was the young French center-back that Villarreal developed in the 2011-14 seasons but let him leave on a free transfer. In an odd twist of fate, news comes today that Alavés have today signed Florian Lejeune from Newcastle. He leaves with a Europa League medal (he looked like he was trying slightly too hard to celebrate, didn’t he? And wearing his shirt back-to-front? Awkward). And decent was the least we were hoping for, spending almost €9m on him. I’ll mostly remember him for the blunders and clumsy jumps, but he did put in some decent shifts-just nothing any better than that. I can’t imagine any Villarreal fans are going to miss him he wasn’t awful, in fact sometimes (especially under Emery late last season) was decent, but you always had the feeling that a misstep or a blunder might be only a second or two away. ![]() It was pretty much an open secret he was leaving, and the wording of the official club comminiqué sort of reflects that-terse, brief thanks, but see ya. ![]() Unai Emery evidently wasn’t impressed with him either he saw only 700 minutes of La Liga action in 2020-21. Funes Mori was given the chance to succeed, and he didn’t really take it-not only did he have 15 (!) yellow cards in 2018-19, but even though Javi Calleja relied on him that season, the next year, the emergence of Pau Torres, plus an Achilles tendon problem once the pandemic-suspended season resumed, meant that he played in only 7 league matches. We hoped for more, we didn’t get it.įunes Mori featured a lot in his first season with Villarreal-31 matches in the league plus 10 in the Europa League-but of course, that was the 2018-19 season when we flirted with relegation. Funes Mori was a controversial signing to begin with-his time at Everton didn’t exactly indicate he was a calm presence in the back line. We apparently transferred him for the amount of his transfer fee left to be amortized (€2.2m). The Argentine defender, signed from Everton three summers ago, has left to join.Al-Nassr FC in Saudi Arabia. Well, we won’t have Ramiro Funes Mori as a member of Villarreal’s 2021-22 squad.
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