Mysterious Mark

Mark De Val Fernandez arrived at the Keepmoat in the last pre season as one of Paul Dickov's summer signings. But why has he only made a handful appearances so far during his Rovers career?

Mark joined from Spanish giants Real Madrid, whom he had joined at the age of 19 for 4 Million Euros from Espanyol. Mark played in their C team making 41 appearances. He also spent loan spells at UE Olot and CD Olimpic de Xativa, the latter he made 36 appearances for and scored on his debut. 

New Rovers manager Paul Dickov had been watching Mark since 2011, however could not make a deal due to Real's asking price of 260,000 Euros being too high for Oldham. Paul did however manager to land his man on 24th June 2013. After an impressive pre season, Mark was unfortunate to pick up a bad injury during a friendly against Motherwell, which would keep him out of action until mid November, however, since coming back he has only made 4 appearances so far. 

Many people have questioned why he has played so few games, is he not good enough? has Dickov made a mistake? or is he simply not fit?

Well Dickov has said that Mark has been struggling to adapt to life here in England, even so much that he cannot eat English food. Rather then cook him a Paella, maybe it is important to Paul that everyone who plays for Doncaster must eat Yorkshire puddings. However, maybe this is the main reason behind his lack of involvement, whilst having no experience myself, I do imagine moving countries can be very hard, especially going from the place most of us go to to get away from our weather.

Take a look at this, below is a picture from Wikipedia of Mark's hometown, Blanes

And here is Doncaster's

Has Dickov made a mistake? Well after years of keeping an eye of Mark, i highly doubt it, maybe Paul is a little disappointed that he hasn't been able to use Mark more, but i'm sure they have sat down together and had a chat and come up with a plan.

I have never spoke to Mark, but maybe communication is a problem, maybe he is not fitting in with the team, maybe after his injury he has struggled with confidence  and Paul knows, playing him in a game where every point is important may not help him.

Many fans have cried out for him to be given a chance, especially whilst we have missed players Paul Keegan (injury) and Richie Wellens (suspension). But I have heard mixed reviews, whilst many have praised his few contributions so far, some people have said he doesn't seem to have the quality. To me, Mark looks quite lightweight, maybe playing in one of the toughest leagues in the world in one of the most physically demanding positions is not the best idea.

In this case, I would normally be crying out for him to get some experience out on loan, get some playing time, however in this case, I don't think it would help, especially if he is not settled in to Doncaster. He could of started to get used to life here right now, it might not be for the best to ship him out to somewhere like Shrewsbury. The benefit of him staying at the Keepmoat is that he is in and around his team mates, he is training with them and is playing in development matches.

He seems pretty decent from dead balls

My opinion on this matter is one that I share with many, if he gets a chance this season the great, if not, give him next season, give him the whole summer to maybe take a trip back home, come back and prepare for the season, give him a run of 90 minutes in competitive games and see how he does. 

I for one am certainly not writing this player off as I would like to believe he could be a great coup for us. 

Many of you might recall when Dumbuya was signed, he joined from a non league club, and we barely saw him during his first season, O'Driscol used this first season for him to adjust, and by the time he was in his second season he impressed many of us. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a simular story here with Mark.

Thanks for reading,
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