La Liga Transfer News: Jonathan De Guzman signs with Mallorca & Maxwell says Ibrahimovic will stay
Spanish side Mallorca has completed the singing of Jonathan De Guzman from Feyenoord that is their first successful bid of the transfer window. The deal is believed to be for 3 years, and the Canadian born player will stay at the club till the end of 2013 season. Jonathan, who is the younger brother of Deportivo La Coruna’s Julian De Guzman, played more than 100 matches for Feyenoord; he had been at the club since the age of 12.
De Guzman, who represented Holland at the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, was delighted to have finally completed the move.
He said that he is very pleased to join Mallorca; he said he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. De Guzman, who played his entire career at Feyenoord, said that he wanted to experience a new brand of football that he would be able to get at Mallorca.
Mallorca will not be able to take part in the Europa League this season because of the financial problems at the club. De Guzman brushed aside the missed opportunity, and stated that he was happy with the confidence the club showed in him.
Jonathan said that he has been a fan of Spanish football for a while, and wanted to be part of it. He said the style of play in Spain is very appealing and there are a number of world class players in the league. He said that he has spoken to the Mallorca team owner Serra Ferrer and Coach Michael Laudrup, and the confidence they have shown towards him is very heartening.
Serra Ferrer said that he is confident that the midfielder would add a lot of value to his team, and with time would be an integral part of the team.
Ferrer said that he is still very young and has a lot to learn; the team owner said that Jonathan is technically very gifted and is at a stage of his career where he needs to step it up. He said that he is a player with great mobility and can adapt to any position in the midfield, and even in attack. Ferrer said that he has no doubt that Jonathan would be able to adapt to the Mallorca culture quickly, and would turn out to be an asset for the team.
Mallorca played Feyenoord in a friendly match on Sunday; it was a farewell match for the Dutch captain full-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Mallorca won the match 2-1.
The Mallorca players went on the field of play with a message on their shirts that said "UEFA Fair Play Please", the move was in protest to UEFA’s decision to not allow them to participate in the Europa league this season.
In other news from Spain, Barcelona left-back Maxwell has said that he has no doubts that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will stay at the club for the upcoming season.
Barcelona signed David Villa before the World Cup, and since then the place of Ibrahimovic has been under question. There were numerous rumours linking him with a move away from Catalonia. Manchester City are also believed to be thinking of singing the Swede, but Maxwell has said that he is sure that Ibra will not go anywhere.
On Tuesday, there was a report in a Spanish newspaper that said that Barcelona is looking to offload the striker. The report went on to say that the Spanish champions are only waiting for the right price for their front man. A spokesman for Barcelona, however, last week denied any rumours of Ibrahimovic leaving the club.
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