Football Season Guide

A magnificent effort last season saw Girona finish third (ahead of Atletico Madrid!) to claim a UEFA Champions League place for this campaign. It made history for the Catalan minnows. Unfortunately, it also attracted numerous clubs to sign their talented players, which has led to a huge rebuild ahead of the domestic campaign and also their first foray into the UEFA Champions League. The spine of the team was ripped out pre-season. Their best creative player Aleix Garcia, star striker Dovbyk, talented winger Savinho, defensive mainstay Eric Garcia, Manchester City loanee Couto - they all moved on. They got a really good price for Dovbyk but have still had a tough time trying to replace him. They've settled on former Barcelona academy graduate Abel Ruiz, who had been playing with Sporting Braga in Portugal, but it's a risk. Indeed, there's a good chance that they'll start this season slowly. They've got to integrate new players into their squad and, although there's no questioning that they've signed talented players in the likes of Bryan Gil, they've also taken some big risks on the likes of van de Beek (barely a single good game played in years) and Krejci (more brawn than brains a lot of the time, and is now carrying an injury). Oriol Romeu is a safe bet, though - he should be able to make an immediate impact, although it's not yet clear if Michel will consider him a regular or not. They're also expecting to lose more players before the season commences. For example, young defender Arnau Martinez is being courted by West Ham United. This could again slow down Girona's passage into their campaign, which has already been somewhat pedestrian at best in recent friendlies. Aside from defeating a rusty Napoli, they've generally found it very hard to score goals. Chances are good that they'll have to start the season without Abel Ruiz and Miguel Gutierrez Ortega after they participated at the Olympics with Spain U23, and Tsygankov/Stuani/Krejci through injury, again potentially slowing down the entire project. It looks likely that, even if Girona get going, it will be later in the season so it could be frustrating for them, especially whilst attempting to juggle participation in two major tournaments.