Football Season Guide

Espanyol fans have endured a tough summer, losing many important players and seeing very few replacements arrive. Besides Hernan Perez’s return from a loan at Alaves and the signing of goalkeeper Roberto, the only player Espanyol have signed so far has been striker Borja Iglesias. While his 2017/18 tally of 22 goals for second division side Real Zaragoza is impressive, this surely isn’t enough to make up for the exodus of talent. Already last season’s star striker Gerard Moreno – who netted 16 LaLiga goals, almost half of Espanyol’s total of 36 – has departed, while other starters like Marc Navarro, Jose Manuel Jurado and Carlos Sanchez have passed through the RCDE Stadium exit doors too. It’s also expected that starting left-back Aaron Martin, one of the team’s best players, could be sold too before the end of the window, with Espanyol desperate for cash. On top of all this, Espanyol have a new coach, with Rubi having been hired in the summer after getting Huesca promoted to LaLiga last year. He has experience working with the Espanyol B team, which is a positive, but his LaLiga track record is not all that inspiring, having been relegated with Levante and Sporting Gijon in each of his previous LaLiga seasons as a manager. Espanyol should have enough talent on their books – especially with their academy being one of the best in the country – to avoid another relegation, but the possibility shouldn’t be ruled out. They were already poor last season and only finished as high as they did in 11th because youth team coach David Gallego took 13 points from 15 when he coached the final five matches of the campaign after the dismissal of Quique Sanchez Flores. With a coach whose LaLiga experiences have been disappointing and with a much weaker squad compared to last year, Espanyol could struggle.