Mallorca capture Alfaro as Sevilla struggles to sell Romaric
Sevilla’s Alejandro Alfaro has joined Mallorca on a four-year deal for €500,000, despite having repeatedly claimed he did not want to move this summer.
Whilst initially wanting to remain, the 24-year-old striker found his place at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in jeopardy when it emerged last week that, alongside Christian Romaric, he had not been assigned a squad number for the 2011-12 campaign. Featuring predominantly from the bench last term for Los Rojiblancos, Alfaro made 20 appearances, scoring twice.
Alfaro was understood to have had several offers on the table, but opted for the Balearic Islands side with Mallorca reportedly agreed a €500,000 fee for the striker a few days ago in secret. They also followed this up by flying the player in unannounced over the weekend to take his medical and complete terms.
In sharp contrast to the signings of Chico, Gianni Zuiverloon, Pablo Caceres and Juan Calatayud that were well-reported before completion, club director Llorenc Serre Ferrer’s express wish was that the islanders completed this deal before announcing it. The player will therefore be presented to the club within hours of his move having being announced, after which he will join Michael Laudrup’s squad for training.
With Alfaro leaving the club, attention now turns in Seville to Romaric’s curious state of affairs. The final week of July saw Sevilla agree a €2m deal with Turkish side Bursaspor for the Ivory Coast midfielder, and where it was understood the player had also agreed terms, the move has since collapsed.
Where Marcelino Garcia Toral is open to Mouhamadou Dabo finding a place within his squad should the Andalusians not find a buyer, Romaric has had it made clear to him that he has no future in the first team squad in 2011-12.
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