Villarreal has taken advantage of the credit of its network of former players and ambassadors to finalize some of its hires, as has been demonstrated with the arrival of Francis Coquelin and Dani Parejo, joined the club this week.
In his presentation act, Coquelin acknowledged that he had contacted Robert Pires and Santi Cazorla, friends of his and colleagues in English football, to seek advice when deciding to sign, as he did Dani Parejo.
The new Villarreal midfielder explained, for his part, that he had spoken with Cazorla himself and that he had also done it with the current Granada player, Roberto Soldado, with whom he had shared a stay at Valencia.
This dynamic has not been new in the club that presides Fernando Roig, who through this channel has managed to sign over the last few years to some high-level footballers that he otherwise would not have been able to achieve and that he achieved thanks to the fact that his former players have conveyed a solid, serious club image and competitive.
This type of cover letter has allowed Villarreal since its arrival two decades ago in the top flight of Spanish football to have players that it did not seem easy for them to wear the La Plana team shirt, by having offers from clubs with greater historical and even economic weight.
Names like those of Argentines Diego Cagna, Martín Palermo and Rodolfo Arruabarrena, Guillermo Amor, the danish Jon Dahl Tomasson, the French Robert Pires, the Turk Nihat kavheci or italian Alessio Tachinardi, among others, are a sample of the seduction capacity of the La Plana team.
In his early years in the elite, this task was spearheaded by José Manuel Llaneza, managing director of the club, who recalled that then it was necessary to explain and sell the entity's project because Villarreal was not a known club.
“The change occurred when we reached the semifinals of the Champions League in 2006. From then on, our way of doing things was already known worldwide, which made it easier to sit down and negotiate with great players” , he indicated.
This dynamic has been reinforced by the opinions of former players who have passed through the club and who are willing to specify the references needed by the footballer that Villarreal has been interested in.
The club has a number of former level players who are as their best ambassadors and who inform to the footballers before their doubts.
Arrubarrena, Gonzalo Rodríguez, Diego Forlán, Juan Pablo Sorín or Diego Cagna They have developed this role in South American football, especially in Argentina, since Villarreal maintains contacts with all of them, which contributes to the development of their projects.