The upswing under Corberán
©IMAGO
At the beginning of the 2000s, FC Valencia fought for the big trophies in European club football, in the 2024/25 season it was about relegation in Laliga. Carlos Corberán, who spent large parts of the season on a relegation zone, has breathed new life back in and brought into safe fairway. But how sustainable can success be the six -time Spanish master with all problems?
On the first 26 game days of Laliga, Valencia was always on a relegation zone with the exception of the 7th matchday, the club was even the bottom ten times. After a 2-1 against direct competitor Real Valladolid in early March, the Blanquinegros left the relegation zone for the first time since September, have been undefeated for six games and the highest form after FC Barcelona. The Corberán team even won 2-1 at Real Madrid, and the cushion on the table 18. UD Las Palmas is seven points before the end of the end.
At Christmas, Corberán took over FC Valencia with twelve points from 18 games in 19th place from Rubén Baraja. Under the direction of the 42-year-old, the team won seven of the 14 encounters in the league and only went out of the square three times as a loser. “With regard to a possible relegation, the team has improved significantly since Corberán’s arrival, a young local coach who makes his debut in Spanish elite football. The club has been able to free itself from the greatest relegation worries,” says Iván Turmo, Area Manager Spain at Transfermarkt. Corberán mostly lets a 4-2-3-1 play, but is not afraid to deviate from his system and set up a chain of five, as he demonstrated in Madrid. For Marcelo Bielsa’s former assistant coach, it is the first stop in a top league after having previously trained Huddersfield, Olympiakos Piräus and West Bromwich Albion.
Turmo also blames a loan player for the Valencia upswing, who was hired during the winter break. “Valencia has succeeded in borrowing Umar Sadiq from Real Sociedad, who has significantly improved the team.” Sadiq is in eleven missions in four goals and is the team’s best scorer after the offensive trio Hugo Duro (9), Diego López (7) and Luis Rioja (5).
Lim saves Valencia and forced radical austerity course
In order to better understand the decline of FC Valencia, you have to go back a long way. In the early 2000s, the club celebrated two championships under Rafael Benítez and was in the final of the Champions League twice, but had to surrender against Real Madrid and FC Bayern. The club then continued to upgrade and wanted to build a new stadium with a capacity of 75,000 people. The project started in 2007, but was put on hold in the course of the global economic crisis in 2009, as the association plagued liabilities of 550 million euros. To this day, the “Nou Mestalla” rises as a huge shell in the Benicalap district.
In 2014, Peter Lim, a billion -dollar businessman from Singapore, saved the association from bankruptcy when he had 350 million euros in debt and could no longer pay salaries. He bought 70 percent of the club acts for 100 million euros and took over the liabilities. “He has been leading the club since 2014 to save it from debt. In recent years, his savings policy has led to the decline of one of the largest club of Spanish football. And all of this with the rejection of the fans that have been demonstrating for several years and demanding the millionaire’s departure.” The allegation against Lim was that he wanted to enrich himself at the club. In a court trial against him, the public prosecutor’s office in 2020 cited the transfer market market values as evidence.
In the recent history, Marcelino’s term was the most successful when Valencia 2017/18 and 2018/19 became fourth and qualified twice for the Champions League. This was crowned by winning the Copa del Rey 2019 – Marcelino had to go just a few months later. “Marcelino’s dismissal was part of Lim’s most controversial decisions, after he celebrated numerous successes with the club. A few months later, Lim released the manager Mateu Alemany, who later signed at Barcelona,” explains Turmo. Corberán has been the seventh trainer since Marcelino’s release in September 2019.
Ten grows in the squad: the advantages of Valencia’s austerity policy
“For economic reasons, Valencia has sold several of his best players in the last five seasons. The worst thing is that they did not get reinforcements. During this period, the investments exceed hardly 40 million euros and they have mainly focused on the loan of players,” explains Turmo. Income of EUR 204.8 million since the 2020/21 season is compared to expenses of 40.7 million euros – the highest positive transfer balance in Laliga. Among the departures, there were rows of regulars such as Ferran Torres, who went to Manchester City for 33.5 million euros in 2020, or Yunus Musah, which Milan hired for EUR 21.2 million. The most expensive new addition since 2020 was Marcos André, who came from Valladolid in 2021 for 8.5 million euros.
The FC Valencia professionals used are 24.5 years old, after FC Barcelona this is the second youngest team in Laliga. In the Corberán squad there are ten home -grown plants, including Cristhian Mosquera and Javi Guerra, who are among the most valuable professionals with a market value of 30 million and EUR 20 million. “The association has relied on its own youth, especially for economic reasons, making it possible for a few great talents,” said Turmo.
Thanks to a strong form of the greatest relegation worries, Valencia has got rid of and is located in the secured midfield in Laliga. In the summer, however, the club could lose service providers again, because goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili will join FC Liverpool after his loan and players like Mosquera or Yarek Gasiorowski are in great demand. A renewed austerity policy could cost the club its update.
