La Liga Preview: Would Valencia Give Up a Lim to Be Like Atletico Madrid?

It was the Diego Simeone mantra as we’ve known it, but with a twist. “The only thing that matters to me,” started the man who essentially owns partido a partido, “is Valencia, and then Valencia and after that, Valencia.”

When the Atletico Madrid boss uttered those words, Los Che weren’t a threat to his side; they were simply their next opponents as Atleti reached a final gauntlet. But in the 12 months that would follow, Valencia would be a threat, and it’s remarkable to remember how recent that was. 

As these teams prepare to meet at Mestalla on Sunday—the visitors as title challengers and the hosts as a club trying to avoid complete implosion—they’re little more than a year removed from when, for Simeone, all that mattered was Valencia, and then Valencia and after that, Valencia.

Only two seasons ago, the Argentinian had repeatedly said the men from Mestalla were his club’s direct rivals, and when the final day of 2014-15 arrived, the stakes were high. An Atleti loss and a Valencia win would have seen them switch places. Simeone’s men were away to Granada, and the lot chasing them were away to Almeria.

Third spot and the final guaranteed place in the following season’s Champions League were on the line.

Though Atletico Madrid and Valencia are different clubs, right there, in that moment, they looked strikingly similar. 

Not now. Valencia enter Sunday’s meeting with their fourth manager since that day in Voro, and he’s had the position twice. After stepping in when Nuno Espirito Santo departed in late 2015, the man who is normally a club delegate has it again following the rapid-fire sackings of Gary Neville and Pako Ayestaran. According to AS, Cesare Prandelli will take over next week, meaning Valencia will have had five managers across six stints in 10 months. 

Would they give up a Lim to be like Atletico now? Yes, but sort of no, too. It’s complicated. 

Struggling Valencia appoint former Italy manager Cesare Prandelli on a two-year deal https://t.co/k3JLTpjtCt pic.twitter.com/J6tCfbR9Zi

— AS English (@English_AS) September 28, 2016

When Peter Lim assumed control over Valencia in 2014, it was meant to mark the beginning of a surge for the club in both Spain and Europe, but that’s not at all what’s unfolded.

After a bright first year under the Singaporean billionaire, Valencia have fallen apart, gripped by structural issues that have translated themselves into countless others. 

The overriding problem is that Valencia don’t seem to know who they want to be. This is a club that discarded an existing structure and inserted a new regime with little footballing experience; a club that has somehow spent both recklessly and in an underwhelming fashion at the same time; a club that has turned to cozy relationships rather than expertise. And it keeps going. 

Valencia is also a club that has sold its best players despite promising not to; a club at which the suspicion exists that agent Jorge Mendes’ influence is far too strong; a club with European ambitions that is lingering in the lower reaches of the …

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