Valverde's contract is structured for review at end 2021. He has what is, in effect, to continue my analogy from before (yes, I referred to Marcus Pettersson as in the Pittsburgh Penguins #28, because the team effectively didn't know how much cap space they would have for him that year, but because he was RFA, they agreed to basically give him a one-year, lowball offer contract for below his market value, on the understanding that the following year when the team had more salary to play with, his contract would be extended to turn it into the contract they originally wanted to offer him, so they effectively gave him the 6-year, $21m contract he was looking for, split across 1 year at $1m because the team was tight on salary, then a new 5 year deal at $4m/year) similar to a two-way contract in the NHL, it pays at different levels based on what role he has. He is currently under contract to Abarcá until 2024, but only as a rider until end 2021. Therefore, as they don't know how much budgetary wiggle room they will have at end 2021, because of a) sponsorship budget being affected by the pandemic etc., and b) how much money owed to Valverde being unclear, my thinking was that MAL might not be seeing the kind of salary he was hoping for being bandied around the market as a lot of teams are either happy with their leadership or their sponsors are feeling the squeeze, and if you're taking a wage you feel you could be worth more than, a team like Movistar having the flexibility to offer one year with "extension salary TBD" is more attractive than being tied down to a salary you agreed while injured for, say, four years - especially what would be hoped to be peak years.