Valour FC signs Spanish midfielder with “adventurer mindset” to multi-year deal

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This article was published 15/07/2019 (2588 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Valour FC’s new midfielder José Galán has a passport full of stamps, but his most recent one isn’t exactly from a popular honeymoon destination.

The club announced the signing of Galán – a 33-year-old Spaniard who most recently played for a second-tier Saudi Arabian club called Al-Jabalian FC – to a multi-year contract.

With 34-year-old Croatian midfielder Josip Golubar lost for the season with a torn ACL, Galán becomes the most experienced player on the pitch for Valour. He’s played in 12 different countries in his career, including stops in Qatar, Hong Kong, Andorra, Jordan and Cyprus. But before Galán travelled the world, he got his professional start in 2005 with Atlético Madrid’s C-team.

“OK, I have to admit, I have this adventurer mindset,” Galán told the media at Monday afternoon’s introductory press conference at IG Field. “Sometimes I could stay for longer for one club for example, but I say ‘Ah I have to look at this one. Maybe this place is amazing.’ But now I hope, because I got married, I want some stability. I also think Canada is a great country to be (in) and this stadium, the facilities, and the people who work for the club, it’s the right place to be and to stabilize if possible. So, this is my dream and let’s see if it can happen.”

Valour’s spring season ended on July 1, but the transfer window to acquire new players didn’t open up until July 9. Valour head coach and general manager Rob Gale said adding an experienced player to the roster was one of their top priorities in the break between the spring and fall campaigns.

“When you look at our league and having young Canadian players around and people like Raph Ohin, they need experience, but they also need people with experience to help them through,” Gale said. “To learn from, to see and compete with on a daily basis, so we wanted to nurture that talent we already have and bring in pieces.”

Gale’s recruiting efforts were made a little easier as Galán used to play with Valour defender Adam Mitter in Asia.

“First of all, I follow him (on Instagram) so I can see from my own eyes,” said Galán. “He told me basically about the teammates. It’s a good team, like a family. They’re playing really, really good even if the results are not coming, but they’re dominating the game. The style of game I think it fits for my style as well. And also, you can see the facilities. Of course, it was his first time also in Canada and he’s feeling very good.”

Considering how Valour ended the Canadian Premier League’s spring season in dead last at 3-7-0, the addition of Galán certainly can’t hurt. Valour lost four straight league games to close out the season and had more than two weeks to think about everything that went wrong. Their fall season opener is on the road against FC Edmonton on Wednesday.

“We felt out of this two-week break was really a chance internally to look at everything,” Gale said.

“We recognize leading into those last few games when we were out in the spring that some veteran leadership, some more men in the room amongst the young boys who can help them, especially the first-year pros, on what it takes to be a professional at this level. But above all, it’s quality of footballer and quality of person and we recognized very early on the talent José has would improve what we have here, not just, yenno, bring in an extra body. We wanted a top level CPL talent and that was our mandate first and foremost.”

Gale also assured that despite the fact his new player hasn’t had much time to get used to his new team, they will waste no time using him and that he could play on Wednesday.

“Quality can adjust very quickly,” Gale said.

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Galán describes himself as a player who’s comfortable in all positions in the midfield, whether it’s an attacking role or more of a focus on defending. He may be versatile and experienced, but one thing Galán has not been known for in his career is scoring goals. The last time he found the back of the net was in 2016 for Romanian club Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț.

Gale confirmed the club will continue to use the rest of the transfer window, which closes on Aug. 7, to try to improve the roster and that a goal scorer may be on their way to Winnipeg sooner rather than later. Considering how Valour scored a league-low eight goals in 10 Spring league games, fans better hope that’s true.

“You won’t have to wait long,” said Gale.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.