Espanyol has made a positive balance of a summer market that has closed with five reinforcements and an investment in transfers of 900,000 euros. The general manager, José María Durán Farré, and the sports director, Rufete, have contextualized a transfer window very conditioned by the narrow salary margin available to the club, which has had to operate as it found ways to finance . “We looked for immediate performance within the total resources and in the time we had. Everyone has been able to appreciate what the financial limit is and why things could not be done “, said the Alicante native, who acknowledged that it has been” a long, hard and complex market “. “It has been a marathon in which we have had to prepare many things and reach the end with energy. A very busy market that I think we close very satisfactorily “, added Durán Farré.
The first factor that came into play was the capital increase driven by Chen Yansheng, worth 38 million euros and approved at the end of June. This first step allowed “mitigating the effects of the decline and being able to start almost from scratch in terms of economic control,” admitted Durán Farré. This initial push was accompanied by two commercial agreements – the signing with Reale to appear on the sleeve and the relocation of Riviera Maya on the front of the shirt – which served to unblock the first strategic operation of the market: renew and shield Javi Puado.
With this portfolio closed, Espanyol faced the month of July with almost no capacity to add new salaries without finding ways out. In fact, the four players who have left the club, in addition to not leaving a transfer, did so between 18 and 30 August. In other words, until the last two weeks of the market, the entity was not able to increase the salary margin allowed by the League by releasing some of the cards it had.
It was time to look for other avenues of income, and here came into play the good start of the season ticket campaign and especially the trade agreement with Digi, which was made official on 28 July. The agreement gave an economic boost to the club, which on the same day could present Sergi Gómez. With the center, the cushion to incorporate new players was disappearing again. “It’s been three months of many changes, but I think we’ve lived up to it at all times,” said Rufete.
Fortunately for white-and-blue interests, on August 12 the League approved an agreement with the CVC investment fund that proved decisive. “Without this agreement we could only have brought two players. Thanks to this, we were able to continue developing the plan designed to retain the heritage and incorporate new players “, commented the Spanish general manager. The financial injection received as a result of this agreement, which allows 15% of the money to be invested in strengthening the staff within three years, was key to being able to take on the salaries of the four players who were yet to arrive.
In one week (between 16 and 23 August), Espanyol closed the departures of Lluís López, Víctor Gómez and Matías Vargas, and occupied the salary margin released with the arrivals of Manu Morlanes, Aleix Vidal and Loren Morón. Players who allow “a competitive and long squad”, as described by Rufete. There was the icing on the cake, Yangel Herrera, who arrived on the horn, hours after confirming the transfer of Lozano. “Manchester City, the player and Chen have scratched their pockets so that this ends in success,” said Durán Farré.
A totterreny midfielder
Herrera has been presented this Wednesday as Espanyol’s new footballer. He will wear the number 25 and hopes to recover from the fracture he suffered in the tibia within “between two and three weeks”. That is, he hopes to be able to train normally by the end of September. “In the beginning he played 6, but in Granada he played 8 and 10. We wanted to give the master versatility,” said Rufete about the Venezuelan.
“There were other clubs interested, but Espanyol was the ideal place to continue growing and evolving, which is what I want. We must thank the interest and seriousness they have shown for me “, said Herrera. The midfielder praised the Spanish club: “It’s a historic club with a long history in the Primera Division and it’s bigger than I thought.”
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