Monday 12 January 2009

Racing's Loss is Velez's Gain

In a previous post relating to Racing Club I felt that that the new regime had to demonstrate to it's legions of fans that they were serious about dragging La Academia out of the doldrums. What better way was there to show this than retain the services (albeit on loan) of wonderkid Maxi Moralez? Today's news that Maxi has been snapped up by Velez Sarsfield will lead to sighs of resignation amongst the faithful in one half of Avellaneda. Misery piled upon misery following Racing's 4-0 reverse against Independiente at the weekend in the Torneo de Verano and claims of dressing room unrest.

Amid much mud slinging today each side had their say on who was to blame for the departure, with Maxi bleating that he didn't feel his staying at Racing was the boss' number one priority and he could have signed for Estudiantes or Velez last week but he held out for Racing. Llop countered by saying that they were never even close to retaining him contrary to press reports last week. It appears that money talked. It would have been disappointing enough for the fans if the player had returned to the frozen wastes of Moscow but to move down the road will be hard to swallow. Molina will need to act quickly to pacify the fans before the start of the Clasura campaign.