Pellegrini: €20 million for Cazorla "would be a giveaway"

In a press conference today leading up to Malaga's friendly with Zamora, the team's manager Manuel Pellegrini spoke about the situation with apparent wantaway midfielder Santi Cazorla. He is understandably upset, and this is all very messy right now. So let's dive into the muck, shall we?

The main point of his comments was that, while he acknowledged the recent turmoil, selling Cazorla for the €20 million that's been mentioned "would be a giveaway" (which is basically true), and that selling him for that amount wouldn't be good for the team (which is kind of obvious). He also said that should there be a better bid placed, the club would be forced to consider it.

The speculation is, of course, that they may have to consider it anyway.

Here's Pellegrini's statement in the original Spanish, as transcribed for Malaga's official website:

(Planificación plantel – Santi Cazorla) "En cuanto a la restructuración del plantel siempre hay ofertas a distintos jugadores. Hay una oferta, dicen por ahí, por Santi Cazorla; vender a Santi Cazorla en 20 millones es regalarlo. No creo que el club esté en condiciones y en intención de hacerlo; hablaba mucho con Abdullah Ghubn y con el jeque y no es la mentalidad de ellos. Sería menospreciar la intención de disputar la Champions League, y si llegan ofertas importantes por jugadores siempre son atendibles, pero no creo que por 20 millones Santi vaya a salir del club porque sería regalarlo y sería muy mala formación hacia el exterior".

And here is the (admittedly awkward) translation:

(Planning the team - Santi Cazorla) "As for the restructuring of the squad there are always deals to different players. There is an offer, they say, by Santi Cazorla, Cazorla sell 20 million is give it away. I do not think the club is able and intends to do, talked a lot with Abdullah and Sheikh Ghubn and not their mentality. It would belittle the intention to contest the Champions League, and if they deals are always important for players worthy of consideration, but I think for 20 million Santi will leave the club because it would give away and would be very bad to the outside training. "

Luckily, since I don't read Spanish fluently anymore (and don't entirely trust the translator), there are some football experts who do. The primary source for all things Malaga thus far has been Sid Lowe, and he boils it down to this:

And Pellergini seems to me to be sending mssages to the owners as much as he is to Arsenal.

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) July 26, 2012

Pellegrini doesn't want to sell Cazorla. But then we knew that already. And, sadly, that may not matter very much.

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) July 26, 2012

All in all, this looks sadly familiar to me as an Arsenal fan. Malaga are in a situation where they may be forced into parting with a player a player who wants out, who they desperately want to keep, for less than they'd ever dream of selling him otherwise. The manager and fans are upset, and Pellegrini in particular is trying to make a stand verbally, but there may not be a whole lot that can be done. Unless the owners make an injection of cash, Cazorla may be on his way out, and everyone seems to know it.

Of course, tomorrow the owners of the club could decide to dump several millions of Euros into the team once more, and this will all be settled in the other direction. But at the moment, it sounds like that may not be the most likely conclusion.