Soccer News – Valencia-Levante

Valencia faces Levante in the big local derby of Valencia in a match from the first round of La Liga. This is an exciting way to start the new season for both teams, there’s no doubt about.

Valencia are starting the new season with a new manager at helm. This is Watford’s ex-coach Javi Gracia who led the English club to the final of the FA Cup. Gracia returns in Spain and there are big expectations for him and his job at the Mestalla.

We can’t say Javi Gracia was really backed by Valencia’s board, though. It’s known that right now Los Che are in a financial crisis and everybody can see it. On the transfer market Los Che didn’t make even one new signing so far, while players like Rodrigo, Ferran Torres, Dani Parejo and Francis Coquelin already left. Valencia really need new signings at the moment, but we don’t see any at the moment.

Levante start the new season with the same goal at mind – remain in the elite division. Last season Levante finished 12th in the standings, so if they can reach the Top 10 now it’d be great for them.

Paco Lopez remained manager of the team while on the market he was backed with a few signings. Levante managed to snatch two young players from Real Madrid – Jorge de Frutos and Dani Gomez, while Mirandes’ Mickael Malsa and Ponferradina’s Son signed as free agents.

The derby between Valencia and Levante is always offering the fans some nice emotions and good football. Usually Valencia are favourites, but right now Los Che are not in their best shape. They have a head coach and he’s a good one, but they do not have any funds to invest in new players. This makes Javi Gracia’s task really, really complicated. Let’s see if he can actually do something with what he has on his disposal.