|
Valencia paraded Ezequiel Garay and Eliaquim Mangala at the Mestalla stadium on Friday with 6,000 fans turning up to welcome the club's last summer signings. Argentina international Garay, who had spells at Racing Santander and Real Madrid, returned to La Liga on Wednesday from Zenit St Petersburg and put pen to paper on a four-year deal while Mangala has joined Los Che on a season-long loan from Manchester City. "You can see from my facial expression just how happy I am," Garay said at his unveiling. "I hope I can give the club and the fans a lot of happiness because throughout the negotiations, they showed me a lot of affection even when they didn't know if the transfer would be completed." The 29-year-old central defender will replace Germany international Shkodran Mustafi, who joined Arsenal earlier this week. Capped 32 times by Argentina, Garay said: "This is a big challenge for me and I want to prove that I can help this team." Mangala is looking forward to his first experience in La Liga and eager to prove his worth after failing to make an impact in his two seasons in the Premier League since moving to the Etihad from FC Porto in August 2014. "I hope I can achieve great things here," Mangala said. "It was destiny for me to arrive to Valencia." The 25-year-old had opportunities to join Valencia earlier in his career, first while playing for Standard Liege and he turned down a move last summer hoping to earn a place in Manuel Pellegrini's side. "I'm here now and we have a big challenge this season at Valencia," Mangala said."One of the most important aims is to return to the Champions League. Our ambition is huge. "This is an important club with a big history." Both players trained with the team coached by Pako Ayestaran and could make their Valencia debuts at home to Real Betis in La Liga on Sept. 11. Valencia missed out on European football after a disappointing 12th-placed finish last season. The club has gotten off to a poor start in La Liga, losing 4-2 at home to Las Palmas in their opener before falling 1-0 at Eibar last weekend.
|
