Arenas has moved quickly in the summer market, betting on signing already 17 players, plus three renewals (Carrio, Uranga and Luariz), which now bring the first team’s chips to 20. In addition to the five youth who promote in the preseason, plus another five on probation, among them Fano, Reche and Cabieces. Some players, the vast majority, very young and hungry to catapult: “It is a subsidiary type, in quotes, a team set up like that, very young, with enthusiasm, wanting to be footballers even in the First Division and some who have not played the Second B. They come with an illusion of the host,” he specifies Javier Olaizola, Arenas coach, to EL CORREO, before starting the preseason in Gobela. The cases of the Atangana, Estrada, Arzuaga, Iván Alonso, Vieites, Rementeria, Villanueva or Altube family corroborate this.
A squad skeleton made with a substantial budget cut even branded as «conservative»By its own president, Franki Egusquiaguirre, thinned out by his main sponsor for obvious reasons of a pandemic that has blown up the entire industrial fabric of resources for football clubs, especially the most modest ones. A squad, in principle closed, except for some coveted pearl that may rebound in the coming weeks: “If something comes out, we get involved with the presi and he makes an effort, well … we’ll see,” says Olaizola so as not to close any door with a lot of ground ahead.
Some players from the squad last year, due to their high cost, have not been able to renew, such as Etxaniz, Parra or Ibarbia, which await higher offers. The sports director, Toño Vadillo, has made bobbin lace to stretch the budget he manages for this course to the maximum, leaving a pen along the way for not reaching some objectives. Olaizola, as always, goes straight ahead and is sincere. It demands some caution and understanding so that the pieces fit together: «People have to understand that there have been 17 incorporations, that there are a lot of young people, that it takes time, that’s why we are going to start the preseason in advance to adapt as a team. Those ages motivate me. With two subsidiaries I managed to move up from Third to Second B, both in Mallorca and in Levante, doing good seasons. I love it and I hope to get the most out of this squad, ”says the former Eibar and Mallorca center.
Olaizola is confident that on October 18, clearing the prevailing uncertainties, the Second B League will start, with its five groups and subgroups. On that basis, they would start the “preseason 26 or 27 August.” A Second B Pro as a challenge to which all aspire: «Yes, we We will try to start strong to try to give the firecracker, but obviously it will not be easy. We are going to try to do something interesting, “says Olaizola. He sees the rest of the Biscayan representatives with the same financial difficulties to face a competition that hopes to uncork without too many setbacks. “Almost all those in the category, except for some teams like Atlético Baleares who continue to sign people with a resume after not being promoted, that’s the way it is,” says the coach from San Sebastian, who repeats at the helm of the Getxo bench. Health protocols are still at the wing, a latent point before the ball starts rolling, which requires investments yet to be determined. “From Second B down, it is the LPF that has to design the protocol for everyone and validate it with Health, but the teams do not have the same economic possibilities as the First and Second,” he says.
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