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When receiving € 72 million for Alex Baena and Thierno Barry, Villarreal did what that club does best: sell high at its top assets and bets on young players or market opportunities to replace them.
When signing Thomas Partey for a one -year contract, the yellow submarine of Tack changed and broke with his reputation as a family -friendly club that desires young people and has an excellent development of development restaurant.
Of course, after two rounds of La Liga, nobody really talks about Thomas, a football player who returns to Spain after being accused of five rapes and one sexual violence in the United Kingdom. Villarreal's support for a measure to move his December match against FC Barcelona to Miami to Miami, now also puts no social media on fire, although you read Miguel Pereira last week, discusses the new trend of the Groguets to appear on the wrong side of moral walking.
This is because winning everything heals. And after two rounds, Villarreal is at the top of the table with two wins, seven goals scored and zero admitted.
In anticipation of their return to the Champions League, the men of Marcelino illuminated a seasonal 2-0 win over newly promoted Real Oviedo in the first round before he had to be considered Girona Bashen-Die as relegation candidates, even at this early stage-for the 5-0 on Sunday.
In the midst of Marcelino calling for a new attacker, Tajon Buchanan – bought for € 9 million from Inter Milan – played the role by scoring a hat trick against Girona. Buchanan is part of an edition of € 60 million in La Ceramica this window, because Villarreal has used the departure from Baena to Atletico Madrid and Barry's Exit to Everton to recharge. Buchanan, a former striking Major League football, has already scored more goals (3) than in 13 performances (1) for the yellow submarine in 2024/25.
After breaking the club transfer record to sign Barry a year ago, Villarreal spent € 24.5 million (excluding bonuses) to sign the extraordinary defender Renato Veiga van Chelsea, which was previously strongly linked to Atletico in the window. After Baena's club record sale to Athleti, those clubs did business again when Villarreal Santiago Mourino signed for around € 10 million, the Uruguayan came in to replace Logan Costa after the Cape Verde International sustained a terrible knee injury last month.
The Mourino signing is another one that we have started to associate with Villarreal. He played on the right back against Girona on Sunday, while his former club Atletico is noticeable light on strong straight -footed defenders. The rise of Mourino to awareness has been fast; Last year on loan at Alaves, he struggled regular minutes until February, and now he looks like a perfect fit in a Marcelino defense. The power, versatility and ball play properties that he has shown make you wonder how he has not convinced Cholo Simeone.
The Veiga deal is a risky move for a club in the position of Villarreal – but by signing Thomas, the club makes it clear that the future is not later. So it does not really matter that Veiga has signed a seven -year contract to play in Castellon, nor that Chelsea is entitled to a 40% clause when Villarreal leaves. With skills that are tailored to Center-Back, left back and even defensive midfield, Portugal International Veiga is also someone you can imagine in Atletico but instead, he has become a member of a rival club.
To replace Baena, for the pound the best shot maker in Spain since the fall of 2023, Villarreal for Las Palmas Gem Alberto Moleiro dived. He only played for 42 minutes in two rounds, but Moleiro left instructions with regard to his enormous potential in Gran Canaria, where the young playmaker showed his technical skill and strong ball foot.
Villarreal is also not finished closing deals. The club is said to try to sign goalkeeper Arnau tenas from Paris Saint-Germain; Artem Dovbyk, the Pichichi winner two years ago, is outside of Roma's plans and could find a new home in La Ceramica. Internal improvement is also expected; Yeremy Pino is now almost two years away from an ACL tear, while the 21-year-old attacker Etta Eyong looks like a baller.
But what could be one of the Feel-good stories of Laliga and everything clicks here, Villarreal is easily the fourth best side of the competition is in the midst of the Miami Fiasco and the signing of Thomas, which gave rise to sufficient discomfort for where Villarreal fans created a petition. The verbal statement of the club, which took the passive voice to 'prove' respect for 'the fundamental principle of the suspicion of innocence' in the case of Thomas, did little to suppress the dissatisfaction of fans. However, the player has not started one of the two games so far and has only played 53 minutes, Marcelino prefers the Pape Gueye – Santi Comesana pair so far.
Anyway, these are two mess of making Villarreal's own, which threaten to derail one of the model clubs of Spanish football, one side of a city of 50,000 people who has long been an example to do more with less. Now it is possible that the Groguets have bitten more than they can chew.