Nilmar Comes Up Short and Is Shipped Off To Europe

Villarreal president Fernando Roig is confident Nilmar will be a bit hit at El Madrigal after the Primera Division club pulled out all the stops to sign the Internacional striker.

Nilmar will soon be presented after agreeing a five-year contract with Villarreal, who have been looking for attacking reinforcements following the departures of Nihat Kahveci and Guille Franco this summer.

According to reports in Spain, Villarreal have agreed to a fee in the region of 11million euros with Brazil's Internacional for Nilmar, smashing the Yellow Submarine's transfer record, and Roig admits they made a huge push to bring in the 25-year-old.

Brazilian striker Nilmar had also been tracked by Manchester United and the English tabloids had rumoured an even greater offer of 23million euros in a bid to bring him to Old Trafford and the EPL.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson badly needing to strengthen his attacking options after losing both Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and having no real home grown talent to call upon.

And so the exciting Nilmar was an option as Manchester looked to revamp their squad.

However La Liga's Villarreal managed to close a deal first and Roig had this to say:

"We have high hopes and for this, we've made the biggest effort in the history of the club, because we are convinced he will be a great player for Villarreal for the next five seasons."

Meanwhile, Nilmar said this of his switch to Spain: "I have the opportunity to play in one of the best leagues. I hope to shine in Europe as I shined in Brazil.

"Internacional will always be my second home and I will keep great memories."

The same cannot be said of Internacional management sentiment towards Nilmar as he came up terribly short this season failing to win any major silverware.

Apart from winning the local state championship for a second year running Inter were unable to pull of victories in both the Recopa Sudamericana and the Cup of Brazil.

They also currently struggling to hold on to a slender two point lead keeping them in the Libertadores classification zone of the Brazilian Championship.

Inter had opted to pay higher wages and hold back on player sales in this their centenary year but this 2009 strategy ended up not yielding the desired results and Nilmar's sale is a sure indication of a shift in club policy.

At his hight after winning the 2008 Copa Sudamericana Nilmar was retained for another season—the centenary year.

His current form is questionable apart from one sensational solo effort at the start of the Brazilian Championship.

A Confederations Cup calling from Dunga must have weighed in his eventual signing to Villarreal even though he barely played in that competition and looked quite ordinary for the few minutes he was on.

Nilmar still remains a top player and has shown moments of pure magic this year so at the end of the day it must be said that Villarreal have managed to buy themselves yet another top class Brazilian superstar.