It’s not the first time he’s left the nest, and he might even return again one day, but Jonathan Viera’s latest exit from Las Palmas only leaves a feeling of sadness.
To the tune of a reported €23m, Viera departs his boyhood club and grabs a once in a lifetime payday. He will land €7m just for signing a contract with and then be rewarded with €6m a season for his services. Eye-watering figures, and it’s understandable in part why Viera decided to push for the move - which apparently he did according to club president Miguel Angel Ramirez.
Viera’s never been that handsomely paid throughout his career. After leaving Las Palmas he aimed to better himself at Valencia but the move was a failure. The player maybe arrived at the club, in a mess at the time, during the worst possible moment. Viera too, has been accused of lacking the mentality to succeed at the top. This move to Beijing Guoan, therefore, isn’t such a great surprise to everyone.
One thing that can not be doubted is the ability of the player. A sparkling array of skill, quick change of pace and vision on the field. He’s the type that spots gaps others don’t and makes passes others can’t. He’d be an asset for most teams in La Liga, even those in contention for European places, and on a wider scale could’ve potentially suited some in the Premier League.
Imagine then that a team battling relegation has him in their grasp. Las Palmas did, and despite Viera’s best efforts, he couldn’t lift their gloom entirely. Others didn’t seem to be on his wavelength, and when they were it was quite clear he needed better individuals around him, or as Quique Setién provided last season - a unit. Still, he was a unique quantity in the fight for survival and his moments of brilliance, game-changing ability, gave the Canary Islanders that extra chance.
It’s not just Las Palmas that loses him though. LaLiga does too. A player that helps pad out the depth of the league and shows its quality from top to bottom. How many other leagues possess a low ranked team with a player of such ability? It’s something that has made La Liga, and Spain in general, special. China are now aware of this, and before Viera, they tried to prise another asset away.
It could’ve been worse had Maxi Gomez left Celta Vigo in January. Despite the Galician side being tempted into a sale, the Uruguayan hitman stood firm and saw his immediate future in Spain. At 21-years-old and halfway through his first season in Europe, there wasn’t such an urgency to leave. For Viera, being seven years his senior, it makes more sense.
He may also see no need to stick around. From a sporting point of view Las Palmas have been cutting corners for quite some time, and have gone the way of Málaga by selling stars and cashing in, but not providing quality replacements. The team from the island has gambled with its future for quite some time and it’s quite possibly caught up with them. A stream of coaching changes, poor signings, in-fighting and constant division with the fans. There’s a joke Viera didn’t deserve this, though that one doesn’t seem quite so funny anymore. Maybe he actually didn’t.
With the money coming in from the deal Las Palmas immediately alleviate the potential financial burden of relegation. If they stay in La Liga, fantastic, their risky bet pays off. If they go down, then at least they will be in a strong position from a financial point of view given Viera’s sale, plus others they’ve made in the past year or so. They might actually get away with the cost cutting and running the club on the cheap.
La Liga will go on but one of its finest pieces of china has been taken from the mantlepiece. Chinese football, for whatever your views on their transfer splurges, will be all the more dazzling with a player like Viera as part of its act.
