Girona have had the biggest rebuild in Spain and a very fascinating window and I wanna talk about that. But before I talk about it, here's what the manager thinks.
#Michel Quotes:
“The preseason has been bad. We have not been able to have all the players available. Right now I am not clear about the team or the way to play… and we are five days away from the competition.”
“I’m impatient. I don’t know how the team will go into the season. There are players who have trained less because they arrived late, but I am convinced that we will have a good week to arrive at the league match in good shape.”
“We don’t have to be worried, but we do have to be alert. With work, the team will give a very good version.”
“Right now, I don’t have a clear idea of the team, nor the way of playing, injuries, players at the Euros, at the Olympics, signings arriving late... I’m worried about that. About not being able to train together.”
#Transfer Incomings:
•Alejandro Frances: A great center back I've wanted in the top division for two years now alongside Mika Marmol who luckily got the move last year to Las Palmas.
•Ladislav Krejci: A left footed center back who I've seen very little of but looks like a decent ball playing cb and a long term replacement of Blind.
•Gabriel Misehouy: Very young and unlikely to make much of an impact in the short term.
•Abel Ruiz: A decent young striker who played over Samu at the Olympics.
•Bojan Miovski: Very highly talked about by people who know his game, from the little I've seen, I like him dropping deep and connecting play.
#Loans:
•Pau Lopez: Has a buy option and a much needed second keeper.
•Oriol Romeu: Return of the man who never ought to have left. Will probably do fine this season.
•Donny van de Beek: Let's see if he even stays fit.
•Bryan Gil: Clearly has the talent but seems weak and has failed to make a difference. Tactically would do a lot that Savio did and hopefully can be half as impactful as Savio.
#End of loans:
•Eric Garcia: Played a lot last season and had his career revived, disappointing to see him leave.
•Yan Couto: One of the best fullbacks around honestly, did a spectacular job last year. Big loss but atleast Arnau is around.
•Savio: Best player in the team. Too good for Girona tbh.
•Pablo Torre: Didn't even play a 1000 minutes, won't be missed.
#Sold:
•Dovbyk: Atleast got 30m for him.
•Aleix Garcia: The heart of the team. Absolutely ran the game and one of my favourite midfielders in Spain. Would have liked to see Kirian Rodriguez as his replacement. Lost for under 20m unfortunately.
Irrelevant players left/loaned:
•Pau Victor: Wasn't at Girona last season.
•Toni Fuidas: 3rd choice keeper.
•Sala
•Kebe
•Gabri
•Callens
•Borja Garcia
#Current Squad:
Only 12 players played over 1300 minutes! 5 of which have left, Pablo Torre the only not to have played a big role of the 6 major leavers.
Arnau Martinez and Jhon Solis are the only 2 players in the squad who could have an improved role this season.
The club and manager still want 3-4 more signings and that makes sense. They relied on just 12 players last year and this year they'll have more games to play.
#Further transfer rumours:
•Pubill after failed medical at Atalanta (is it me or are far too many deals falling through at medicals this window?)
•Sergi Roberto was linked although I thought he was closer to Ajax.
•Failed to land Bryan Zaragoza who would've been useful.
•Nico Paz and Oroz have been linked as attacking mids while Oroz won't be leaving and Girona look like an unlikely destination for Nico Paz too. Giannis Constentellias is the third and it seems PAOK did not even want to negotiate so unlikely.
•Javi Guerra was openly a target for Girona and Atletico cancelled that transfer. Girona might just gk for him again.
•Orri Oskarsson and Umar Sadiq were strikers also linked to Girona but 2 have been signed already. Vitor Roque was also linked but I feel thats just a random rumor.
•Arnau Comas was a center back linked but with Krejci and Frances already done I don't see that happening.
•Petrusenko is a Ukrainian midfielder. Now I don't know how real this link is but Girona need a midfielder and have targeted the Ukrainian league recently. Looks the likeliest of the rumours to me.
•Left back Lucas Piton. Not a position the club is targeting.
•Unai Lopez is another midfielder although perhaps just not good enough for Girona rn.
#Season Prediction
At this point Madrid, Barca, Atletico and Athletic Club are the clear top 4. La real are probably the 5th best despite Le Normand and possibly Merino leaving, atleast Zubimendi stays. Betis and Villarreal both seem to think center backs are unimportant in a squad somehow and yet I'd say they still have more of their core intact and would probably end up above Girona. So my prediction would be Girona ending at 8th in the League and being irrelevant in the UCL. And I say 8th only because I pray for the failure of Valencia.
