Osasuna have reached an agreement to sign Espanyol striker Walter Pandiani on a three-year contract.
The Uruguayan international will travel to Pamplona in the coming days for his medical and, if all goes to plan, he will then be presented by Osasuna before joining his new team-mates for pre-season training.
The 31-year-old helped Espanyol reach the UEFA Cup final last season, scoring 11 goals en route to the showpiece where the Barcelona-based team lost on penalties to Sevilla.
Aside from Espanyol, whom he joined in 2006, Pandiani has played for Birmingham City, Deportivo La Coruna, Real Mallorca, Penarol, Basanez and Progreso.
We saw the piece in the Daily Star (and reported in Tribal Football this morning) that Newcastle are being linked with a potential move for Jaroslav Plasil, the Czech defensive midfield player.
The news is that an unidentified Premiership club could make a late swoop to snatch the player from under the noses of Spanish side Osasuna, according to the Monaco player’s agent. If anything happens it’s supposed to happen by the end of the week.
The Daily Star Sunday says Newcastle are the premier league team attempting to steal Plasil - so let’s take a look at what’s going on here - and see if we can make any sense of it.
Jaroslav Plasil
The 25-year-old has two years left on his current deal at Monaco - but he is now ready to quit the Principality outfit. Plasil is wanted by Osasuna to bolster their left-sided options. The Spanish side have already tabled a bid for the 25-year-old midfielder, but a bid from England could beat the Liga outfit to his signature - according to his agent Pavel Paska.
Pavel Paska told MF Dnes:
“The offer [from Osasuna] is lying on the table. We are only waiting for the statement from Monaco. “I expect it to be decided on Thursday or Friday. Jarda does not have to move anywhere though.
He has been considering the offer because the Spanish league has always been a league he wanted to play in.
“But there is an offer looming large from England too,”
It looks as though Plasil really wants to play in Spain although the way agent Paska framed the English bid above - we can only assume his client is interested. Plasil was quoted recently talking to the Spanish press:
“I want to play in Spain, because in those countries the teams play to win, in France they play to avoid defeat,”
Reports in Spain are also suggesting Osasuna could potentially strike a loan deal with Monaco with a view to a permanent transfer at a later date.
We all know that Sam Allardyce wants to sign at least and 5-6 players and Newcastle will be linked with each and every player that may be available. But it does seem that Sam is after another defensive midfield player to battle with Nicky Butt. It may also be that Sam sees Plasil as a left back – which of course we need desperately. The other link to us could be that we have just signed David Rosehnal and David is a team-mate of Jaroslav on the Czech republic team.
In fact both started in the latest Czech European Cahmpionship game against Wales when Sam Allardyce was in attendance. Both David and Plasil also played in the French league – so it may be that Sam and David have talked about Plasil’s availability - and it could also be that Sam was impressed with Plasil in the Czech Republic - Wales game.
We really don’t know if this report has any truth in it - but what we do know is we need both a defensive midfielder and a left back – and it appears that Jaroslav can play in either position. The potential link to Rozehnal also gives the story a little credibility - plus Sam has recently seen Plasil play. It’s supposed to be decided by the end of the week – so we’ll keep a lookout on this one - but there does seem to be a thread of credibility to the story.
For the record - Plašil is 6′0” tall and played for the Czech Republic at Euro 2004 and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He has been at the French league club Monaco since 2000 and played in the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2004. In that season, Plašil scored a goal in Monaco’s record-breaking 8-3 defeat of Deportivo La Coruña. He has played 109 times for Monaco scoring 5 goals and has represented the Czech Republic 17 times scoring once.
