Valencia are midtable in LaLiga right now. Yet the future might be bright for the club – brighter than they could possibly imagine.
The Eastern Spanish club were challengers for the title in the noughties before slipping away in the 2010s. Peter Lim bought a majority stake in the club in 2014 and since then, Los Che have only qualified three times for the Champions League.
Fire sales have been common. Stars have left for free – or very little – to go to rivals. One ex-manager has claimed that he was fired for winning the Copa Del Rey. Even Gary Neville has had a crack at the manager's job – but all of that may be about to change…
Valencia are set for a takeover…
Step forward Roman Abramovich, single and apparently ready to mingle with another football club, following his breakup from Chelsea FC. The divorce papers haven't yet been signed but one rival bidder has stated that the Russian oligarch is bidding for Valencia.
Miguel Zorio, who also wants a slice of Los Murcielagos says, “Peter Lim has tried to sell the club in London for €250m,” calling Abramovich “that of the Russian oligarch of Chelsea.”
Valencia are in crippling debt – but if you remember, so were Chelsea when they were first purchased by a mysterious billionaire back in 2003.
“And from here, I tell him that either he puts €50m every year to compensate for the losses he generates or he sells to us. Whether he likes it or not,” Zorio added.
Would Abramovich turn Valencia into a successful side?
Let's look at the timeline of his last footballing venture. Chelsea were purchased 19 years ago and in that time, no one in English football has collected more silverware.
In his first season as owner, the Blues reached a Champions League semi-final, in the second, they were league champions for the first time in 50 years. Five years down the line they were Champions League runners-up and a further four seasons passed before they won the trophy.
Chelsea were forever dangerous with Abramovich as their owner for the simple principle that he invested when no one in football would. He was the first of big-money billionaires to back a team: he was there when COVID-19 first squeezed the game, coughing up for a huge summer of signings. He turned the women's team into the most successful in the country and established a frankly astounding academy to give the west Londoners a fighting chance of becoming sustainable without his billions.
Abramovich knew how to run a football club, however controversial his hire-fire-and-win-at-all-costs mentality was (or however controversial he's become since). He's shown he's more than willing to back a football team financially despite rising debts and he's happy to shell out as much on a Makelele or a Kante as a Havertz or Ballack.
Lightning doesn't always strike twice in football. It's quite possible that his bid won't even be accepted – or that has won everything in the sport, Abramovich doesn't want to pump the same levels of wealth into another club.
But this is an owner who has the potential to change LaLiga with the same financial might that made Chelsea an overnight force in 2003 – and kept them at the top until his sanctions almost two decades later. He's leaving west London with his pet project European champions: some Valencia fans might just hope that they're his next plaything.
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