In: Paulo Gazzaniga (Fulham), Yangel Herrera (Manchester City), Ivan Martin (Villarreal), Daley Blind (free, Bayern Munich), Savio (loan, Troyes), Pablo Torre (loan, Barcelona), Yan Couto (loan, Manchester City), Artem Dovbyk (Dnipro-1)
Loan returns: Manu Vallejo (Real Oviedo)
Out: Ramon Terrats (Villarreal), Valentin Castellanos (New York City/Lazio), Rodrigo Riquelme (Atletico Madrid), Javi Hernandez (Leganes/Cadiz), Reinier (Real Madrid), Oriol Romeu (Barcelona)
Summary so far: Sporting Director Quique Carcel has a couple of tricky tasks so far, but it may yet get harder too. All of the players, with the exception of Reinier and Terrats, that are leaving were significant contributors to Michel Sanchez’s side last season. Oriol Romeu was understandably tempted away by Barcelona, and that automatically becomes Carcel’s priority. Romeu was a difference-maker last season, providing leadership, strength and know-how in the middle. It was a coup at the time, which looked more of a bargain as the season went on, and now it looks like a real struggle for them to replace him. Perhaps Daley Blind will occupy that role, the truth is he could fill in at any one of five positions.
Gazzanigga performed well last season, and has won the confidence of the defenders and Michel. In Taty Castellanos, Girona have lost their top scorer, and one of their more creative forces in Riquelme.
They have done well to bring back some of the rest of the midfield in Herrera and Martin, both of whom were important last season and will be more so after the above losses. While Carcel and Michel could have looked elsewhere, having both back and knowing not only that they fit, but understand the system, saves Michel valuable time. It also means he can play a team at the start of the season that knows exactly what he requires, rather than rebuilding.
Brazilian youngster Savio is an unknown quantity, but had the raw talent for the City Group to invest in him, and Torre might have been mothballed by Xavi last season, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the most promising Spanish youngsters around.
The deal for Artem Dovbyk looks brilliant on paper. At €7.75m for the 26-year-old, they can probably sell for a profit in a couple of years, but here and now he’s a barreling forward. Large, quick and determined, he will do some of the running Taty Castellanos did, and povide a major threat from balls into the box.
The bones of a good attack, Viktor Tsygankov, Christhian Stuani and Aleix Garcia, are all still present, and Carcel has done a good job of reinforcing around them. No doubt it’s still a tough job, building out the rest of the squad again. Carcel proved he had an eye for a player and an ability to bring them in last season though, and having shown just how beneficial they can be for a young player’s development, that will work in their favour as they pursue the next wave of ambitious and talented youngsters.
Key Need: Girona have signed Dovbyk in the forward position, a.k.a their original need.
Take nothing away from Girona, retaining Martin, Herrera and persuading Aleix Garcia into a new deal is fantastic work. But priority must now be focused on filling the notable gap, there is nothing beneath the surface about Romeu’s absence.
Michel has called Romeu the player who understood and manifested his gameplan best last season, and the chances are, they will not be able to find anyone who can do his job – perhaps Blind is one of those unique players who understands and reads the game like that though.
Michel should have a good idea by now, and the sensible thing would be to have another option there. So far Blind has been at left-back in preseason, with Yangel Herrera deeper in midfield. It’s likely one of Martin or Garcia is forced to contribute deeper as a result, but an alternative would be handy – Herrera is much better arriving in the box anyway.
Beneath the Surface: Girona’s football was highly entertaining last season, and they ranked top five for offence, but also in the bottom quartile for goals conceded.
Their stable of central defenders is currently Santiago Bueno (24), David Lopez (33), Alexander Callens (31) and Bernardo Espinosa (34) is perhaps the best option. Only Bueno looks to have a long-term future, and thus finding someone younger to develop in the next year would be wise.
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