Spanish Football: Llorente departure would be a huge blow for Bilbao

"Even if Llorente stays this month, you can imagine Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting for him in January."

Ben Lyttleton discusses what losing Fernando Llorente could mean to last season's entertainers Athletic Bilbao...

How important can one player be to a club and what is the impact of keeping him for the final year of his contract if he doesn't want to stay there? That was the dilemma that Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger had to wrestle with last week, eventually deciding that selling captain, top scorer and talisman Robin van Persie for the healthy sum of £24m was the answer.

And now the bosses at Athletic Bilbao have the same problem after Fernando Llorente announced last week that he would not be extending his contract which runs out in 12 months.

That, and the ongoing transfer saga of his team-mate Javi Martinez to Bayern Munich, which is expected to be tied up this week, overshadowed Athletic's start to their new season, a campaign which began with inspirational coach Marcelo Bielsa almost losing his job after coming to blows with the site manager of Athletic's Lezama training-ground, when he discovered work scheduled to be done over the summer was not completed.

Last season Athletic reached the Europa League and Copa del Rey finals, winning admirers from all over the world for their high-intensity style of play and generation of Basque-only young players.

I fear that last season was their one and only chance of success: not because the talent is not there ­ behind the jewels of Martinez and Llorente are the likes of Ander Herrera, Iker Munian, Oscar de Marcos, Andoni Iraola and Markel Susaeta ­and nor because this team has not won a trophy since 1984 (the League and Cup double followed by the SuperCup). Bielsa, meanwhile, last won a club trophy in 1998.

No, I feel that part of the genius of Bielsa's methodology, which is said to be obsessive, intense, and pressurised, is that the novelty factor naturally wears off in year two of the project. Perhaps it is no coincidence that his last 10 years in employment were as a national coach, where his work was in short, sharp bursts.

If anything, Athletic's opening match of the season against Real Betis on Sunday night was a microcosm of last season: the players, without Martinez and Llorente (who was the subject of hateful banners unfurled by the Athletic support) struggled early on and seemed lost without their two key players. At half-time they were 3-0 down. Then they rallied brilliantly and brought it back to 3-3 but were so shattered by the effort that Betis ran out 5-3 winners.

As always, there was enough quality to take some positives from the performance, but with fourth place in La Liga up for grabs, even that looks like a stretch for this Athletic team, especially if Llorente does leave this month. Aritz Aduriz, while a decent player, simply isn't in Llorente's class and Bielsa's impact last year might not carry with it the same sprinkle of magic-dust.

Even if Llorente stays this month, you can imagine Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting for him in January.

A decent outside bet for fourth place would be Sevilla, who have already come in to 3.613/5 in the Top 4 Finish market after an opening-day win over Getafe. The club has gone for stability this summer: keeping Michel as coach, and key players Ivan Rakitic (outstanding on Saturday), Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo, who scored the winner.

At the top, Barcelona are already clear of Real Madrid, after beating Real Sociedad 5-1 with the champions drew 1-1 with Valencia. After just one game, Barcelona have come from 2.26/5 to 1.768/11 favourites, with Madrid drifting to 2.3411/8.

There are bound to be plenty more twists and turns before this season ends; the first clash between the two sides is on Wednesday in the Super Cup first leg, with home side Barcelona 1.845/6 to win and Madrid, who won at Camp Nou last season, 4.3100/30.

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Gordon Elliott: Wolverhampton wins would top a good weekend

Gordon Elliott / Gordon Elliott / 28 November 2011 / Leave a Comment

Can Priors Gold repeat at Wolverhampton

"Priors Gold was long odds-on when winning over a mile and six here at Wolverhampton on Friday night and he gets the mandatory six-pound increase for that effort.
Brendan Powell, who we've booked for this afternoon, is a young jockey with a bright future and he claims 7lbs off him so he's effectively running off a pound lower mark."

He landed a valuable race at Navan on Sunday and has a trio of runners going at Wolverhampton - can they follow up? Read Gordon's exclusive thoughts here

Let's start off with a quick look back at Navan yesterday afternoon, where Mount Benbulben did us proud when winning the Grade 2 Monksfield Hurdle - an important win for us. The horse has come out of the race pretty well and it was great to win for Barry Connell, who bought him at the Cheltenham sales.

Davy Condon gave him a great ride to get him up late and, after that, I don't think the horse will dropped in trip. As I said all along, he's a horse that will get three miles in time, so hopefully it's onwards and upwards for him.

He could reappear at Navan next month or, if not, we'll wait until January and a trip to Leopardstown. His long-term goal is one of the novice events in Cheltenham, so fingers crossed he continues to improve for us.

Getting back to today's action, I have three runners in Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton, 14:10
Caracal
He remains a maiden and has been well beaten on his most recent runs, although he was third in a handicap at Dundalk back in October. He's been dropped seven pounds since then and I suppose that gives him some chance of reaching the frame but, with him, it's all about his frame of mind. He certainly has the ability to win at this level but it's all in his head.

Wolverhampton, 17:20
Priors Gold & Sounds Of Thunder
These two go to Wolverhampton this afternoon because I can't get them in at Dundalk. Priors Gold is a pretty consistent hurdler, who has shown a decent level of form in that sphere but both of his wins have come on good ground and so we thought we might take the opportunity to run him on the all-weather while the turf is soft.
He was long odds-on when winning over a mile and six here at Wolverhampton on Friday night and he gets the mandatory six-pound increase for that effort.
Brendan Powell, who we've booked for this afternoon, is a young jockey with a bright future and he claims 7lbs off him so he's effectively running off a pound lower mark. He goes an extra couple of furlongs today, which is probably about as far as he wants to go on the flat, but he's in great form and Brendan seems to riding with real confidence so we're hopeful of another big run.
Sounds Of Thunder is similar to Priors Gold in that all her winning form over jumps is on good ground. She was a winner on the all-weather here at Wolverhampton for Harry Dunlop back in 2009, when running off a mark of 65. She's five pounds lower than that today, but that victory came over nine furlongs and the two-mile trip is a worry.
On her last run on the flat - in Dundalk back in April - she wasn't beaten all that far but, again, that was only over 11 furlongs. I'm also concerned that she might need this run.

Tharawaat is the major hope for Gordon Eliott in the feature event of the weekend - the Troytown Chase at Navan - read about that horse and all his other runners here...

It's all systems go for Gordon Elliott with runners on both days including one on English soil (well, the All-Weather at Wolverhampton). Read about them all here......

Gordon Elliott takes us through his five chasers and five hurdlers to watch in what is already shaping up to be a cracking season for the Irish trainer and Betfair columnist......

Betfair website