Premiership clubs to hold Riquelme miss?

By European Football
April 13 2005

Spurs, Middlesbrough and Newcastle could all be about to miss out on Argentine star Juan Roman Riquelme, with Villarreal confident that they can land the star on a permanent basis at the end of the season.

His fine form has helped propel Villarreal in to the quarter finals of the Uefa Cup and fourth place in La Primera.

But it also brought him a number of potential suitors, who have the wealth of the Premiership behind them. Villarreal are however confident of landing Argentine star Juan Roman Riquelme on a permanent basis in the summer and were monitoring the situation with his loan deal from Barcelona but Villarreal president Fernando Roig stated on his clubs chances of hanging onto the player:

"I am optimistic on this subject."

"Our plan is to keep our stars next year and I believe an agreement with Barca is possible."