Rolón saga goes full circle and the player is now in Malaga

Sheikh Al-Thani called off the chase for the young Argentinian earlier in the week but he is now in the city for a medical

ANTONIO GÓNGORA / PEDRO LUIS ALONSO

Friday, 25 August 2017, 13:54

Club owner Sheikh Al-Thani has his man after all. With the new season kicking off last weekend, Malaga's preparations had taken another setback on Saturday when club owner Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani pulled the plug on a transfer move for defensive midfielder Esteban Rolón.

Al-Thani personally led the negotiations for the 22-year-old who plays for Argentinian second tier side Argentinos Juniors after vetoing a move for former Manchester City man Javi García, contradicting his head coach Míchel in a public put-down on Twitter.

However, the saga took a twist when the deal for his would-be replacement, which would have cost 3.5 million euros, was called off by the owner who tweeted: Ive been working for more than one month to finish everything but there is no solution. This is why I cancelled the deal because we were wasting time for nothing, I hope you understand.

It was understood that Rolón had been pencilled in for a medical two weeks ago ahead of signing a six-year deal, but that the sheikh decided to cancel the deal after negotiations, which had been ongoing for 21 days, seemed to be going nowhere.

New challenge

The stumbling block, it appears, was the division of the transfer fee with Rolón himself owning a 15 per cent share. However, he has since given that up in order to push through a move that will be a new challenge for him.

Rolón finally arrived Malaga on Friday to complete a medical before signing the deal and being presented in the number five shirt.

The midfielder, who is yet to represent his country at any level, is perhaps not the high-profile number six the club had been pushing to recruit after Ignacio Camacho joined German side Wolfsburg earlier this summer.

Emanuel Cecchini has been signed from Banfield but is viewed as a long-term replacement for Pablo Fornals who joined Villarreal. Until now, the injury prone Zdravko Kuzmanovic, who has made his loan from Basel permanent, has been the only recognised holding midfielder in the squad.

Al-Thani under fire

As a result of the protracted saga, Al-Thani has attracted criticism from both fans and Míchel himself for interfering in transfer matters.

Míchel, speaking in his press conference to preview the Eibar clash, said: I prefer not to do business on social media. My job is to pick the team and I hope no one will interfere in that.

Al-Thani, in turn, deflected attention back on sporting director Francesc Arnau, telling him to sign the striker the team needed.

Top 50

Esta funcionalidad es exclusiva para registrados.

Reporta un error en esta noticia