Balliu, close to signing for Rayo

The first signing of the Ray is to fall. Iván Balliu (Caldes de Malavella, 1992) can become a franjirrojo player in the next few hours, according to Salva Gomis from RadioEsport Valencia. As has also been able to confirm that the operation on the right side, 29 years old, is quite advanced and will sign for the next two seasons. The defender will land with the release letter under his arm, after his contract with Almería expired on June 30.

The option of Rayo has finally prevailed over that of other big clubs that were bidding for him. And is that Valencia, Osasuna, Mallorca and Espanyol also had the Albanian international on their agenda. Balliu was trained in the Barcelona quarry, where he went from childhood to the subsidiary and was the captain of that youth who won the triplet (10-11). That led him to do the preseason with the first team in the summer of 2011, hand in hand with Guardiola, and the following campaign (12-13) debuted, with Tito Vilanova, in the Catalunya Cup.

After two stages in Portugal (Arouca) and France (Metz), the right-back returned to LaLiga two years ago with Almería. Last season he played 2,803 minutes divided into 34 league games, 31 of them as a starter. In addition, he participated in the two playoff games for promotion to First Division against Girona. If nothing goes wrong, Balliu will fulfill his dream of playing in the elite of our football and this week you will be able to train under Iraola's orders.