Riquelme Could Be Sven’s Next Citizen

Poor Juan Roman Riquelme is still unwanted in the Villarreal first team. But apparently he’s also too valuable to let go on the cheap. And so the ultra-talented midfielder is stuck in limbo, despite The Offside doing all it can to put him in the internet shop window. Boca Juniors wanted to bring him back to Argentina permanently, after his successful loan spell ended with them winning Copa Libertadores. But apparently Villarreal wanted €4 million, Boca star striker Rodrigo Palacio and half the rights to another player, so Boca said no. A pre-transfer deadline deal with Atletico Madrid mysteriously fell through, so it looked like a season of thumb-twiddling for Riquelme, which is exactly what a footballer approaching 30 doesn’t want (Winston Bogarde excepted of course.) But help could be on the way in the bespectacled form of Sven Goran-Eriksson…

Word is that the Man City boss has got the go-ahead from Thaksin Shinawatra to bring Riquelme to the Premiership on an £80,000 a week loan deal. I’m guessing Sven would have to wait until January to pull off the deal, but I think it would be a great idea. Not just because we would all benefit from seeing Ray Hudson’s favourite player back on the field again, and not just because it would be great to see him every week in the Prem, but also because Man City fans love a creative player. Georgi Kinkladze was probably half as good and at least twice as inconsistent but City fans still treated him like a king, so I can only imagine how they’d receive Riquelme.

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Category: World Football