Owner of Valencia CF Peter Lim greets the fans (Picture: Getty Images)

Something big is brewing in Valencia.

Ever since Peter Lim successfully took the reins with the promise of bringing the glory days back around, there has been an air of expectancy in this part of Spain.

On the flip side, the white elephant of the Nou Mestalla has served as a stark reminder of everything that has gone wrong at this great club over the course of the last decade.

A monument to such monumental financial mismanagement to rank alongside the inevitable sales of the club’s crown jewels.


Villa, Silva, Mata, Soldado and Alba. A high-quality quintet all gone just to keep the club afloat.



How on earth were Los Che expected to come back from that?

Perhaps it was Lim’s own successful investment track record that started the buzz in the city.

Quiet murmurings to begin with, that inevitably gathered pace when it appeared that Singapore’s 10th richest man with an estimated wealth of over £2 billion was indeed serious about turning around the fortunes of this once great La Liga giant.

Following the successful restructuring negotiations between Meriton and Bankia that will allow for the entirety of Bankia’s €320m debt to be repaid, things really were looking up for the club.

But dare the Valencianistas really dream that the success of Rafa Benitez’s tenure could be repeated?

It was left to new manager Nuno Santo to convince the locals that he could build something special with just a few studious purchases in the transfer market.

Valencia’s Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo celebrates with his players (Picture: Getty Images)

Nothing ostentatious, just what was needed to pad out the squad and make it a force in La Liga once more. And he has been true to his word.

Lim has backed him to the hilt, and the expectations of early season have not been diminished. Quite the opposite in fact.

Not 10 months ago, at the conclusion of the last campaign, Valencia had finished outside of the European places in eighth on 49 points. One place above them, Real Sociedad were a cavernous 10 points ahead.

They had lost 15 games in the season and with 51 goals were by some distance the lowest scorers in the top eight.

Fast forward to now and they’ve already scored one more goal than in the whole of last season, having amassed 60 points at this juncture and losing only four games in the process.

Indeed, just one league loss since the 94th minute smash-and-grab by Barcelona in mid-November informs us that this is a squad bang in form and high on confidence.

It’s a remarkable turnaround and the momentum that Valencia have with them at this juncture cannot be understated in any way.

The men from Mestalla find themselves sitting pretty in third place in La Liga and importantly with no European distractions to deflect them from their aim of Champions League qualification.



Having leapfrogged last years league Champions and UCL runners-up Atletico Madrid, Valencia are in the enviable position of having their destiny completely in their own hands in that regard.

After another pulsating El Clasico clash, Valencia find themselves just four points behind Real Madrid and eight off of Barcelona in top spot. Both of those teams will drop points again between now and the end of the season, so there is a very real possibility of further advancement in the table.

Of course it will be difficult, but not impossible. And with so many of their players enjoying something approaching their best form, Los Che are well placed indeed to make a final push for glory over the last ten games.

A return to the promised land beckons.

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