Football Season Guide

The highlight of 2023/24 for Real Mallorca fans was a memorable cup run to the Copa del Rey final where they were beaten by Athletic Club, but in the league the team scraped through to survive in the final weeks, costing Javier Aguirre his job. New coach Jagoba Arrasate is looking to change the team's formation to the 4-3-3 shape he deployed succesfully at Osasuna, but his additions to the team have been slow to arrive, with Takuma Asano the only natural winger to arrive and address a problem position. Their strength remains defensively, where they conceded fewer goals than any other side outside of the top six last season, but they will have to contend with the exit of talented goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic. Hosting Real Madrid on the opening day is not ideal, but the team then have a favourable run which should allow Arrasate time to implement his new system. Now he needs his board and fans to be patient as he does so. In attack, the team has quality in Cyle Larin and Verdat Muriqi, but the challenge for Arrasate will be to provide them with the service for them to score goals. Asano and Johan Mojica will do that to an extent, but there is a lack of options in those wide attacking positions.