Flash..... Aaaa aaaa

Levante this morning presented their new signing to the press. He is young Swedish attacker Muamer Tankovic. The 21 year old can play up top, or in an attacking midfield role. It is expected that he will be employed predominantly as a striker alongside Isaac Success for next season’s youth competition, but may also get a few opportunities in midfield if injuries / suspensions necessitate.

 

The new boy

The club fought off strong competition from Aston Villa to land the youngster, and are delighted to have him on board. The player himself was equally pleased. When asked, he said that he was disappointed when *** allowed him to leave, and that he was desperate to get back into the Top 100. When Tigres UANL told him of both Levante and Aston Villa’s interest, the player was delighted. Whilst saying that it was difficult to turn down a club the size of Aston Villa, he admitted that he joined Levante in part due to Parfitt’s willingness to give the youth players first team opportunities, and the fact that Birmingham is an absolute hell hole. He stated quite frankly that given the choice, he’d rather set up home on the Gaza Strip.

 

Better than Birmingham.....?

With the club now all but doomed to relegation, he may even be given a chance in the first XI before the season is out . Several youth players have already been given a run out over the last few games, and that trend is expected to continue until the season’s end.

Ryan Woods and Roberto Nunez were sacrificed to bring in Tankovic, although Parfitt suggested that he will continue to keep tabs on both players, along with a couple of others who have left recently, and wouldn’t rule out a return for any of them in the future.

A couple of weeks ago, seasoned pros Samuel Eto’o, Alberto Gilardino and Adam Szalai all came in to the club, and were followed almost immediately by Ivan Ramis and Aiden McGeady. With the recent arrival of the young Swede, and 26 year old Frenchman Jonathon Kodjia along with 23 year old Slavoljub Srnic fromCrvena Zvezda last week, Parfitt was asked about the clubs transfer policy. Did he have any kind of policy at all, or was it just a case of names in a hat.

The boss moved to clarify the position, stating that it was club policy to predominantly sign players under the age of about 24 / 25, that have the potential to improve and move through the leagues on an upward curve. The likes of Eto’o, Gilardino et al though were bought in due to the fact that the club have lacked goals consistently, and he felt that those players may be a bit calmer with the target in sight, and could pass on plenty of experience to the younger players.

Whilst on the subject, Parfitt said that he had one other target on his radar, and that a young midfielder may join the club over the next week or two. He also admitted that preliminary talks had taken place with another club regarding Adriano, and that although nothing had been agreed as yet, and that the player would remain with the club at least until the end of the season, there is a chance he would be leaving in a part exchange deal. Other than that, the squad is likely to remain largely as is for next season.

He also admitted that the club were one of a host of other sides to make an offer for *** Ponce, but the young Argentine opted for Chievo Verona and Italy instead.

Connor Washington has also completed a move to QPR for a fee of just over £400k. The Northern Irishman never made an appearance for Levante, but is again a player that the club will continue to keep an eye on with the door again left open for a return to Spain.  

Parfitt thanked all of the players for their efforts whilst at Levante, and wished them all well for the future.

Angel Romero remains on the transfer list, although if no acceptable offers come in for the young Paraguayan striker, then the club will be happy to keep hold of him. They feel that he still has something to offer, and is still of an age whereby he can improve.

Looking ahead to tonight’s match against promotion hopefuls Genoa, Parfitt admitted that his side were once again in for another difficult fixture. The Italian side have hit a rough patch at just the wrong time, but this weeks signing of Christian Benteke is a sign of their intent to get out of the division, and that they were not to be underestimated. The gaffer also said that three of the youth side had already been told they would start this evening, whilst a fourth was under consideration. If the fourth name misses out tonight though, the expectation from the manager was that he would get a start on Sunday.  

Parfitt rounded out the press conference by having a quick jibe at AC Milan counterpart Stephen Beddows. The beleaguered Milan manager was on SMTV Top 100 over the weekend, and seemed to be mocking Parfitt’s pleasure at the signing of Kodjia from Bristol City. Parfitt said that maybe if Beddows spent more time looking after his own side, and less looking at what everybody else was doing, he might be able to drag his side to safety. Eventually, the laughter amongst the assembled press corps subsided, and Parfitt admitted that in actual fact, there was no way that anybody with the managerial ability of Beddows could save his side, even with a step by step guide to saving stuff written by Flash Gordon, Saviour of the Universe.