In a bid to lighten their wage bill, Los Che are set to allow two midfielders to depart to their Primera Division rivals
Dani Parejo and Francis Coquelin will sign for Villarreal from Valencia in a deal worth €13 million (£11.5m/$15m), Goal can confirm.
Although both players were present on Monday at Valencia’s training ground to undergo mandatory medical checks, neither is expected to appear in the jersey of Los Che again. Indeed, head coach Javi Gracia does not want either present when the squad takes to the field for the first pre-season training session of the summer.
Both players were placed on a ‘blacklist’ of players at the club three weeks ago ahead of the final league match of the season against Leganes, a fixture that Geoffrey Kondogbia also missed after being told he was not wanted by the side.
The deals are very advanced, with former Arsenal player Coquelin especially close to the exit door.
Meanwhile, captain and leader of the dressing room Parejo is not far behind.
Coquelin and Parejo are both expected to retain the salaries that they earn with Valencia – €2.5m and €3m per year net – while the joint value of the transfer will be only €13m.
Valencia are seeking to cut their costs, and for that reason they have elected to let go of Coquelin, who had an altercation with a club doctor earlier in the season. It is, however, for primarily for economic reasons that he is being let go, with the club seeking to almost half their wage bill over the summer.
Parejo, meanwhile, wanted to continue with the club to see out his contract, which expires in 2022, but Valencia have elected to cut short his nine-year stay with the club after listening to offers.
The 31-year-old Parejo, who has featured four times for Spain, started his career with Real Madrid, during which time he made a brief foray to the Premier League on loan with QPR. From the Bernabeu, he switched to Getafe and after two years there moved to Valencia in 2011, establishing himself as a regular in the starting XI by featuring in close to 400 matches for the club.
Coquelin, meanwhile, was on the books of Arsenal for 10 years before moving to Spain in the summer of 2018.
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