Chapter 376 Newly promoted Sporting Gijon

Sporting Gijon's last La Liga story had a sad ending. Although Preciado, the meritorious coach who coached the team for six years, was fired at the beginning of 2012 due to poor performance, when he became the coach of Villarreal in the summer of 2012, most Gijon fans still felt that Missing this old man.

Unexpectedly, Preciado died of a heart attack before the new season started. He was only 54 years old. Afterwards, Sporting Gijon erected a bronze statue of Preciado outside their home stadium to commemorate the coach.

When Preciado took office in 2006, Sporting Gijon had already been in the second division for almost 9 seasons. People have forgotten that this team competed in La Liga for 21 consecutive seasons and once won the league runner-up (78-79 season). team.

After Preciado took office, the way to change the team's decline was to let go and attack with all their strength. This has been maintained even in the three La Liga seasons after the upgrade in the 2007-08 season.

Although they often lose by big margins against Real Madrid and Barcelona, Sporting Gijon's game strategy of daring to attack is still unique among mid- and lower-tier teams.

They successfully avoided relegation for three consecutive seasons. When Lao Pu left the team, he had coached 218 games, which was unique in the history of the Gijon team.

This experience of Preciado has also been written as a biography by local reporters in Gijon, and the Preciado Memorial Tournament is held every summer.

However, Sporting Gijon, which returned to us last season, has rarely seen the style of the Preciado period.

The team cannot afford to spend money in the transfer market and can only rely on defensive counterattack tactics. Fortunately, several little demons on loan from big clubs performed well and were barely able to avoid relegation at the end of the season.

In the new season, Sporting Gijon failed to retain Halilovic and Sanabilla, but continued the transfer strategy of spending small money to do big things, buying people to control low costs, and almost all those who left the team had expired contracts. .

It is not easy for coach Abelardo to complete the task of avoiding relegation.

Coach Abelardo was a member of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games gold medal team and participated in two World Cups and one European Cup.

Abelardo, who debuted at Sporting Gijon and moved to Barcelona in the mid-1990s, has a brilliant career as a player. He won 7 championships with the team at Camp Nou.

After retiring in 2008, he first started coaching in the B team of his parent club Sporting Gijon. After a short period of training in the low-level league, he returned to Gijon in 2012 and led the team in the final round of his first season in 2014. Led the team to achieve a miraculous comeback against Girona and advance to La Liga.

Last season, although Gijon had an upset result of a home draw with Real Madrid and a victory over Atletico Madrid, they only escaped the relegation zone by defeating Villarreal in the last round.

This season the team lost almost all its attackers: the loaned young players Halilovic (who returned to Barcelona on loan and then moved to the Bundesliga), and Sanabria (who returned to Roma on loan and was loaned to Real Betis) failed. He stayed on the team, and defensive lineman Hernandez (moved to Premier League champion Leicester City) and midfield attacker Jonny (moved to Malaga) were also poached.

Although personnel were transferred as supplements in the summer window, judging from the performance in the preseason, the situation is not ideal.

Although the debt problem was resolved last season and the transfer ban was lifted in the summer window, the team's goalkeeper position was still not replenished in time. Team B youngster Denis Dias served as the third goalkeeper for one season.

In the new season, the contract of substitute goalkeeper Albert Garcia expired and after a free transfer to Getafe, which was relegated last season, Sporting Gijon immediately signed their main goalkeeper Diego from relegated Levante. Marino served as a substitute, and then signed the young goalkeeper Oscar Valli from Real Zaragoza, who played on loan at Uusca in the Spanish Second Division last season.

However, veteran goalkeeper Cuellar's main position should be stable. Cuellar, who came to the team in 2008, came from Atletico Madrid's youth training. He is currently the third-longest player in the team, with 255 games and 72 career games. Completed zero seal for the first time.

Ruiz Hernandez, the absolute main player last season, switched to Premier League champion Leicester City in the new season, and Colombian international Bernardo Espinosa, who performed solidly, also moved to newly promoted Premier League club Middlesbrough on a free transfer. , coupled with the fact that the young Chilean central defender Rich Nowitzki, who had few opportunities, returned to Porto in the Portuguese Super League on loan, Sporting Gijon suddenly lost three central defenders in the summer window, which became their most critical factor in signings. Location.

2 million to sign Babin, the main player of last season's relegation opponent Granada, and 3 million to bring back former Athletic Bilbao player and Venezuelan international Amorebieta from the Premier League. These are considered the biggest purchases that Sporting Gijon can afford. .

Among the remaining players, the 19-year-old Spanish national youth player Herjo Mere has gradually become the main force. Although he was born in the youth training of the archrival Real Oviedo in the same region, Gijon still signed him with a liquidated damages of 25 million. Euro contracts.

Bosnia and Herzegovina international player Verajes, who joined in the winter window, mainly played at right back for most of last season, but he may still return to his familiar central defender position in the new season.

Last season, the full-back combination of Isma Lopez and captain Albert Lola had solid playing time. After the former came to Gijon in 2013, he quickly established his main position. In the first round of the new season, this player who came from Osasuna's youth training will once again face his old club Athletic Bilbao.

Although Lola is a native of Madrid who came from Real Madrid's youth training, he came to Sporting Gijon in 2006 and was promoted to the first team by Preciado the following year. He contributed 4 assists last season.

In terms of substitute players, at left back there is Gijon's own youth training player Roberto Canea, who has entered the first team in 2006; and as the only signing at the full back position in the summer window - Leo Castel from Eibar. Jarno, although he lost his main position in the team last season, he is considered a versatile defensive player and can play on both sides and as a central defender.

Sporting Gijon's central midfielders are all from Gijon B team.

Of course, not all of this is produced by the Gijon youth training. For example, Rachid Eitartman, who represented the Algerian Olympic team in the Rio Olympics, came from the French club Lens. He only joined the Gijon B team in 2013 and played in the last Got the opportunity to enter the first team this season.

And the 16-year-old Cameroonian teenager Danny Nati was signed to the Gijon B team due to his outstanding performance in Cameroon U17, and officially entered the first team in the 2014 season.

Sergio Alvarez, Nacho Cassese, and Pablo Perez are all local children from the Asturias region.

Last season, Sergio Alvarez and Nacho Cassese were the absolute main players in the defensive midfielder position. However, the Croatian teenager Halinovic in front of them has moved to the Bundesliga in the new season. It was a big blow to Sporting Gijon's offensive organization.

It should be said that Gijon's midfielder is all on his own this season, but before the league has even started, Sergio Alvarez was injured in the pre-season, and Atman also finished third in the Olympic group stage. In the second round against Argentina, he was replaced early due to injury. These two attritions made Sporting Gijon's lineup even worse.

Among the new players in the summer window, only Victor Rodriguez can play in the middle, which can temporarily alleviate the personnel imbalance caused by injuries. It doesn't matter that Rodriguez's best position is on the left wing.

Jonny, who contributed 5 goals and 7 assists last season, moved to Malaga on a free transfer. This is Sporting Gijon's biggest loss in the summer window, because after all, Halinovic and Sanabilla are still on loan, and Jonny The contract expired and there was no agreement on renewal.

The other two players who left the team are Alex Menendez (free transfer to Girona in the second division) and Bustos (loan to Mirandes in the second division), both of whom were trained by the Gijon youth training.

Jonny's left wing is the position where Sporting Gijon has invested the most in the transfer window, apart from the centre-back, whether it's Burge, who played for Espanyol last season on loan from Real Madrid, or the main player Victor Ronaldo who returned from Getafe. Driggs and Moises Gomez are both players who are good at playing on the left.

On the right wing, last season's main player Carlos Carmona is the first choice. When defense is needed, the central midfielder can be used as a guest player.

Sporting Gijon mainly uses a single forward tactic. The youngster Sanabria, who was on loan from Roma last season, played a major role in the team's relegation (scoring 11 goals and assisting 1 goal). Although the team failed to continue the loan in the new season Sanabria, but the idea of signing up is still to rent young players.

Djordjopp, who scored 7 goals and assisted 3 goals in Malaga last season, joined from Serie A Cagliari on loan for 1.5 million euros and is very likely to enter the main lineup.

As for the seemingly mysterious Qatar's first La Liga player Afef (who joined Villarreal and was loaned to Sporting Gijon), he was actually sent to Europe by Al Sadd for training as early as 2012. In Seville After spending two and a half seasons with Atletico Asia (Sevilla B) and Villarreal’s third-division team, he spent the past year and a half with the Belgian second-division team Eupen, playing 26 times. Scoring 8 goals and assisting 1 goal, adapting to the European arena will not be a problem.

In addition to last season's main substitute, Carlos Castro, who scored 7 goals, will continue to play the role of bench killer, while another substitute forward Miguel Gredo (played 13 times last season Scored 2 goals) left the team to join Leganes, the newly promoted team in La Liga this season, which has little impact on the team.

As the founding team of the Spanish Second Division, Sporting Gijon has been promoted to La Liga 7 times and has played in La Liga for a total of 42 seasons, ranking 15th in the historical list.

The 1978-1979 season was the closest they came to winning the championship. Under the leadership of the club's legendary forward Gini, they were overtaken by Real Madrid in the final rounds and lost the championship.

Throughout the 1970s to the late 1990s, Sporting Gijon had only one season without remaining in La Liga (1976-1977 season).

However, they have not been able to get past the second round in 6 UEFA Cup appearances.

Taking the return to Cornea Stadium in 2009 as a time point, the Spaniard gradually showed signs of recovery under the leadership of former meritorious player Mauricio Pochettino. However, the current Tottenham coach was still a young coach at the time, and his lack of experience led to the team's failure. My performance plummeted in 2012, and I had no choice but to leave.

However, the tradition of promoting young people has been retained. The current Spaniard team has 8 people from its own youth training, although it may be in the final 25 people (the upper limit of registration in La Liga, the excess can only enter the reserve team or B team) This number will decrease during league registration, but it is already among the top in La Liga.

As the first Chinese-funded team (at the end of last year, Espanyol was owned by Xinghui Entertainment Interactive Company, with owner Chen Yansheng holding 56%, this year Granada was owned by Double Edge Sports, and owner Jiang Lizhang held 98.1%, both of which reached an agreement. The club dominates the discourse, and these are the first two Chinese-funded teams.

However, Wanda boss Wang Jianlin bought 20% of Atletico Madrid, Chinese fans joined Eibar’s crowdfunding shares to “raise league registration fees”, and Chinese fans joined Real Oviedo’s second crowdfunding share to “build global popularity”, which does not completely count. It is a Chinese-funded team. ), the relationship between Spaniards and Chinese football is beginning to become closer.

Although the hostile relationship with Barcelona makes this connection somewhat complicated among the Chinese fan base, as one of the founding teams of La Liga (1929), the Spaniard has the most teams after Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bilbao (all 85 season) (81 seasons with Valencia), I believe that both the fan base and player exchanges in China will be on an upward trajectory.

It is worth mentioning here that the name Espanyol may be the abbreviation or full name in the minds of non-La Liga fans or non-Espanyol fans, but in fact this club was awarded the title by Alfonso XIII in 1912. Royal title, so let's get familiar with his full name "Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona, S.A.D." - Royal Espanyol Sports Co., Ltd.

In the new season, the Spaniard fired the coach and former meritorious player Romanian Galca and poached Flores from the Premier League Watford.

Despite successes at parent clubs Valencia and Atletico Madrid, his most recent experience in La Liga, his second with Getafe, was unhappy (he resigned after just one month).

Last season in the Premier League, Flores led the team to successfully avoid relegation and eliminated the defending champion Arsenal in the FA Cup. This time he returned to La Liga and faced a young team that had lost its offensive core (on loan) Real Madrid's Asensio returns to his parent club this season), how to get the team back to the European theater in the shortest time while completing relegation will be the biggest challenge.

Because the main goalkeeper, 21-year-old Paul Lopez, is rumored to be joining Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League coached by former coach Pochettino.

The Spaniards introduced 30-year-old Roberto Jimenez early in the summer window. Roberto was the main goalkeeper of the Greek team Olympiacos last season. He left the Iberian Peninsula two years ago and has 90 La Liga 22 games. The game experience of shutting down opponents twice.

If Paul leaves, he will become the main goalkeeper in the new season.

Last season's main central defender, Chilean international Enzo Rico, did not stay with Espanyol after his loan expired. He returned to Oyce in the country and was sold to Mexico's Blue Cross; similarly, Young returned to Espanyol on loan. Central defender Railho also did not stay on the team, and he was sold to Real Mallorca.

In the new season, the Spaniard's central defense will be handed over to Alvaro Gonzalez, who had the highest appearance rate on the defensive line last year, as well as Costa Rica international Oscar Duarte, who joined in the winter window, and the Argentinian defender who just transferred to the team from Manchester City. Father Demichelis.

On the bench, there is the French veteran Chiani who joined last summer, but he only got 2 appearances last season.

Luis Lopez, a 19-year-old player from the B team, may also be promoted to the first team.

In the new season, teenager Ruben Duarte and captain Xavi Lopez, two players from the Spanish youth training, will still be the first choice on the two wings.

Alex Fernandez, who returned from Reading's loan spell, will stay with the team for the new season. In the new season, he will serve as a backup option in the center of the midfield with veteran Salva Sevilla.

Papu Diop from Senegal, who joined last year, this "black and hard" defensive midfielder with a fierce playing style will definitely occupy a starting spot.

The other position in Flores' flat midfielder is mainly competed by the team's second captain Victor Alvarez and third captain Victor Sanchez. Coincidentally, both of them are somewhat stretched. With Marcia blood, joining the Espanyol team is a bit like switching to the archrival.

Alvarez moved from Barcelona's fifth echelon to Espanyol's fourth echelon that year, in the same class as Bartra, Tello, Thiago and Pacheco.

Sanchez only completely left Barcelona in 2011 to join the Neuchatel team in Switzerland, and joined Espanyol the following year.

Due to the departure of Asensio (returned to Real Madrid on loan, and winger Burgi also returned to Real Madrid on loan) and the arrival of Flores, the Spaniard may no longer have an attacking midfielder setup in the new season.

Last season, Hernan Perez and vice-captain Victor Alvarez often appeared on both wings, but in the new season, with three experienced wing attackers, Jurado (1.2 million euros from Vodafone) Telford joins), Reyes (free transfer from Sevilla), Piatti (on loan from Valencia), Alvarez will return to the center.

Hernan Perez's position on the left will be strongly challenged by Jurado, because Jurado played for the Watford team coached by new coach Flores last season. In terms of tactical understanding and The execution is definitely better.

As for Piatti, who can play both left and right, and Reyes, who is getting older, they will compete for the starting position on the right.

Two black players with few opportunities left the team in the summer window, Senegalese forward Mamadou Sylla (on loan from Belgium's Oypen) and Congolese forward Thieves Byfuma (free transfer to French Ligue 1 Bastia). The Spaniard spent 3.5 million euros to introduce Leo Baptisto from Atletico Madrid.