BarcelonaFran Garagarza is a pragmatic man. “We are not a First Division club, we are a Second Division club that has been in the First Division and has been relegated twice in four years”, he said in the podcast Architects a couple of weeks ago. Mutriku’s is the sixth sports director of the Chen Yansheng era, and he knows well what it is to achieve promotion without abusing expenses. He worked at Eibar for ten years, and the club reached the First Division in 2014 after winning two promotions in a row despite their financial constraints.
When he signed for Espanyol, Garagarza was already well known as an expert in capital gains, and during the last summer market he was able to generate them: 33 million in income, with sales of players such as César Montes for 14 million or Sergi Darder for 8, and expenses of just over three million in total for Pere Milla and Salvi Sánchez. As ARA has been able to confirm, Espanyol has fair play financial for this winter market, but it also generates losses every year, and accumulates an amount of 54 million since the academic year 2020-2021. At the moment, a week from the closing of the winter market, this salary margin has not yet been used to move the roster and strengthen the staff.
Now, in Segona, Ramis’ team is third and unconvincing. The position still allows you to aspire to direct promotion, but the situation is borderline, with a very tight classification. There is only a five-point difference between second and ninth, and the lift goes up and down every weekend. The last games have not left feelings of stability or solidity. After five matches without victories, Espanyol finally added three points on the last day against Villarreal B, a subsidiary. But the team did not show off: victory and thanks. The result could easily have been different. This weekend, the parakeets play in Elda (2 p.m., Movistar) against a newly promoted team.
Previously, they wanted to repair the sports crisis with money and signings. Espanyol has made big bets in the last winter markets. The 2019-2020 season was one of the most important in the white-and-blue history, with a total expenditure of 43 million euros for Raúl de Tomás, Adrián Embarba, Lele Cabrera and Oier Olazábal. The following year (2020-2021), when the team played in Segona, only Landry Dimata arrived, on loan from Anderlecht. The procedure was similar in the winter of 2021-2022, with the transfer of midfielder Tony Vilhena. Last season, seeing that permanence was in danger, 8 million were invested in César Montes, nearly 3 in Gragera and 2.2 in Pacheco. In no case could the descent be avoided.
Caution and attention to winter bargains
From the club they report that the general feeling is that everything cannot and does not want to be solved with expensive signings, especially seeing the economic situation and that this policy has previously failed. Both Chen and the rest of the leadership want to take advantage of the assets at their disposal and are confident in the capabilities of the current squad to return to the First Division, “with almost all positions doubled”, they emphasize, and the incorporation of players from the subsidiary. It seems that the white-and-blues will have to weather the storm without further help, living with their particular winter.
If Garagarza finally brings in reinforcements following his usual method, it will be by exhausting the FIFA window until the last moment and taking advantage of an offer compatible with the club’s financial crisis. The sporting director already warned that Espanyol should adapt to the circumstances of the category and use the oars with humility, without losing sight of the objective.
2024-01-27 12:45:20
#learn #live #harshest #winter
