Football Season Guide

He has managed Sevilla, Tottenham Hotspurs and Real Madrid but before he became a household name across Europe, Juande Ramos spent a season in the dugout at La Rosaleda. Having most recently spent time working in Russia, he has swapped places with Javi Gracia, who left Malaga to join Rubin Kazan this summer. Ramos’ returns to a Malaga team which seems to be in a constant state of transition. Gracia was a popular figure at the Rosaleda because he favoured the promotion of young talent, endorsed attractive football, and led the Boquerones to a healthy 8th placed finish last term. That could have been better but for the club’s record-breaking goal draught at the start of the campaign. It will be a slightly different team which Ramos inherits, although not so drastically morphed as they were last summer. They missed out on European football narrowly last term and the expectation is that they can go one better and finish in the top six or seven this season, thereby triggering Europa League qualification. The sensations have been very positive in pre-season and Ramos’ team is so far unbeaten, having beaten Sampdoria on penalties in their latest fixture to claim the Costa del Sol trophy. They appear to have recruited wisely. The only doubt is whether the young players adapt quick enough to the new manager’s regime. Given the hunger in the squad and Juande Ramos’ technical experience, all the ingredients appear to be in place. Charles Dias remains the club’s main striker and we could see a switch from the 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1 under the new boss, partly facilitated by the departure of Charles’ striking partner Duje Cop. In come three new young and very talented young attacking midfield players to sit behind the Brazilian, with Jony Rodriguez from Sporting Gijon, Keko from Eibar and Sandro from Barcelona all expected to feature regularly. If they gel quickly, we could see a return to the sort of excitement we had in the 2014-15 season at the Rosaleda when Juanmi, Samu Garcia and Samu Castillejo played in tandem. Keko and Jony were outstanding performers at their clubs last term. Sandro has more to prove because his minutes were limited at Barca, but he could be the most explosive of the bunch. Roberto Rosales will be key in defence again and it was great news that he decided to stay after much speculation he would leave. The retention of Recio and Ignacio Camacho in the middle of the park will also give Malaga quality and stability in an otherwise changing format.