In Catalan lands there has been no doubt for a long time: The signing of Raúl de Tomás was a success. The Spanish international has given a jump to the front perica and although he could not avoid the decline in 2020, his goals were worth to return to LaLiga and to be today in the quiet area of the classification (they march eleventh). Tomorrow at the Mestalla the forward will have the opportunity to continue scoring goals in a stadium that will fear him tomorrow …But how close he was to singing his goals.
And is that Raúl de Tomás was very close to landing at the black and white entity in the summer of 2019, after a season in which he scored 14 goals with Rayo Vallecano. The club that called the Spanish and He saw with good eyes landing in the entity of Mestalla, what he considered a step forward in your career, however the che also made him aware that It was not plan A. That first option was Maxi Gómez.
The operation ‘De Tomás’ was cheaper for Valencia than Maxi’s, however in the club they bet on the Uruguayan until they managed to convince Celta in exchange for 15 million plus Santi Mina. Very different amounts than 20 million that Benfica paid to sign Raúl, who after a few weeks waiting did not finally decline the Portuguese offer, suspecting that Maxi and Valencia would be closed.
And the rest is history, reverse stories. De Tomás did not triumph at Benfica but his move to Espanyol (also for 20 million) was the step forward he needed and since that end of the season He has scored 38 goals. The thing with Maxi has been the other way around, he noted nine goals in his first six months in the club … and stalled to the point where He has only scored a total of 19 goals in two and a half years.