Iñigo Vicente has had to go the long way round to make it to LaLiga.

In the late 2010s he was on the fringes of first team opportunity at Athletic Club but couldn’t — or wasn’t lucky enough with circumstances — to find a place there. He only played at San Mamés once in LaLiga, doing so in the largely underwhelming Gaizka Garitano era. And it would take six years in the second tier and eventually hitching a ride back with Racing Club de Santander for him to make his first top-flight start, earlier this month, at the age of 28.

If circumstances would have been kinder to him in the beginning, the attacking midfielder always had the talent to arrive. His pure ability was sufficient. But although he’s had to take that long road back, a much longer one than his ability should have required, you could also say he’s been fortunate to land in his current context; the one that has not only laid the path for a top-flight return, but squares him as arguably one of the most important players in the division upon return.

After, check out one of our other recent articles on Racing teammate, Gustavo Puerta.

If followers of Spanish football weren’t aware last season, then they probably are by now that Racing are not your average team. Their football has a different look. Even to the most casual eye, it’s clear to see that there’s a different level of approximation between players on the pitch and an in-possession ‘crowding’, if you want to call it that, that generally isn’t seen in most other games.

(Of course, that’s the very rudimentary way to explain what Racing do. For a more detailed look, so as not to get too far off the Iñigo Vicente focus, here’s a piece we wrote on them in Segunda.)

Although that tends to produce a holistic style of football, there is still a clear engine clearing the path to goal: Iñigo Vicente. Racing can pull opponents into awful scenarios on the pitch, displacing all sense of defensive organisation and cover, but more often than not it is the 28-year-old who applies the dagger.

It was a theme of their promotion drive and now, back at the top level, we’re already seeing that Racing and Iñigo’s tricks can give nightmares to LaLiga opposition too.

On Friday night, it was Elche who got the first hand experience of both. And probably, the realisation that preparing to face Racing is one thing; actually being on the pitch with them when you’re having to make decisions on the fly is a different one.

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Not even a minute had passed before Racing and Iñigo were into their groove, with his first through ball of the game coming after just 47 seconds. This is where we already start to see what will be two main themes: the opposition not knowing how to combat Iñigo’s roaming, and the mentality of Racing’s attackers when Iñigo gets on the ball facing forward (runs, runs, runs).

Five minutes later, we see a similar scenario. The right side of Elche’s defence (RCB/RWB) occupied by two Racing players that aren’t the left winger, and Iñigo dropping into the free space where nobody is in position to follow. This time, it’s a cross-field run from the right winger (Andrés Martín) — appearing on an already-populated left side — that Elche are beaten by, resulting in a good chance for Canales inside the box.

At 3-0 down Elche are still without a clear response to the Iñigo-front line connection, who continues to hurt them from deep. Nobody from the defensive line is close enough to step out and Elche’s attempts to press from the front have already been beaten, leaving the midfield light on cover.

Again, a delightful outside-of-the-foot through ball gets in behind Elche’s defence, with the RW (Andrés Martín) curling a run in between the CB-RCB channel. The run is also clearly one that Affengruber is unaware of, not expecting the movement to be made from that particular player/starting point.

Giving up initial space for Iñigo to get on the ball with his head up is a serious risk, especially for the fact that this Racing team are skilled in creating advantages through close range passing and combinations. These allow them to shift the ball under control, removing opponents from the play, and give the likes of Iñigo the momentary space to be able to make the defining last pass.

In this example, that starting freedom isn’t afforded to the midfielder having just regained the ball, but his quick combination with Canales opens him a window to pick out an agonisingly close connection with striker Yassir Zabiri (already making his run before the ball was at Iñigo’s feet).

The old adage used against star players, particularly the example of Lionel Messi in his heyday, was that “you’re happy when he’s deeper”. Further from goal was supposed to mean not a threat (or less threatening), which did make some sense with Messi given his goalscoring output, but never felt totally legitimate. And in his own right, it is a similar feeling with Iñigo Vicente.

He was one of only two individuals across the top two tiers of Europe’s major leagues, along with Bruno Fernandes, to assist 20+ goals last season. Logically, his threat increases the closer he is to the penalty area, but he isn’t a player you can be comfortable leaving on the edge of the game with opportunities to get on the ball. This Racing team is programmed to attack as soon as Iñigo is in position to play a pass, no matter if he’s in his own half. What looks like a player receiving a pass in a simple phase of consolidated possession can quickly result in one of your attackers chasing a ball in behind, with the opposition scrambling to cover.

Racing made 51 off-ball runs in behind against Elche, which was one of the highest game figures in the new LaLiga season so far, despite only averaging 39.8% possession.

The equation is simply that Racing embrace the particular talent of Iñigo Vicente and his upfield vision, moving in a way that looks to get the biggest return from the midfielder’s interventions. That means that even if José Alberto’s side are characterised by their close-quarter combinations and relationist style of play, every time that the ball lands at Iñigo’s feet is considered a chance to make a major progression, either in advancing the ball or turning a possession phase into something more threatening of the goal.

It is one of the reasons why Racing, despite being a team who can combine effectively via short passes and play through the opposition, still retain such a direct edge to their football. According to Opta, they have been the fourth-quickest team in LaLiga so far in terms of moving the ball upfield (2.1 metres per second), and they ranked sixth in their promotion season with an almost identical average (2.05 m/s).

Racing want to threaten in close proximity and play through the opponent’s shape, but need no invitation to pursue direct play in behind if opportunities are there — typically from Iñigo’s right foot.

Here’s his touch/heat map from the game against Elche, where he created six chances (including an assist) and made eight defensive-line breaking passes:

(Not exactly the painting of a left winger who was the creative force of the game.)

The dilemma Racing are going to present all season long is that it will require different off-ball approaches to what opponents are generally coming up against on a weekly basis. That dilemma is presented as a collective. However, within that is what you do specifically to combat Iñigo Vicente is doing — or rather, where he is.

From his starting ‘left wing’ position, the 28-year-old is free to interpret the game and go looking for the ball, even if that happens to be on the far side of the pitch. With the width typically provided by left back Jorge Salinas, Iñigo is especially encouraged to roam and appear as the extra man in situations where you wouldn’t expect a ‘left winger’ to involve himself.

Such as here, at 2-0, overloading the right side and helping Racing to advance through the opposition midfield. The two players typically closest to him during the game (the RCB and RWB) simply have to pass him on, communicating on the fly with midfielders already dealing with other Racing players all around them. This scenario doesn’t present the room to make a killer ball himself (nor are his teammates ready for one), but these overloads can easily free him up when repeated during the course of a game.

Unless it’s Lionel Messi, most teams will usually maintain their defensive shape and expect that even having one player fewer in a specific part of the pitch won’t ultimately be a huge threat if it’s deeper on the pitch. But as we saw in the first half against Elche, Iñigo Vicente’s specific ability to turn the opposition defence when he’s on the ball — even from long range — means you can’t allow him a free ride.

As of this weekend, he has created more chances from open play (9) and made more defensive line-breaking passes (23) than anyone else in LaLiga.

Although it’s still early days, the combination of Racing’s style and Iñigo Vicente’s individual quality promises to make them, at worst, an uncomfortable opponent at the top level. Their relationist football forces defensive shapes to react differently, their runs in behind are abundant, and in the form of Iñigo, have one of the quickest triggers in the country when it comes to picking forward passes.

Time will tell if he can be effective enough to warrant special consideration from opponents, and maybe man-marking is reserved only for the elite. But as Elche found out in the first half at El Sardinero, the sight of Iñigo Vicente on the ball with time to pick a pass is one that should set alarm bells ringing. Even if he’s in his own half.

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It is impossible to write about Rayo Vallecano without first mentioning the situation the club finds itself in. There is a moral obligation to mention just how shoddily the players and supporters have been treated but there is a tactical reason too.

Rayo’s stadium has been deemed unfit to host games, meaning their first home fixture of the season was played at Leganés’ Butarque last week. Their second might be played in Burgos. After that? Nobody knows.

The stadium has fallen into disrepair and, in its own way, so has the squad.

They finished eighth last season, reached the Conference League final and sold two players for around €20 million each this summer. But not a lot of that money has been reinvested into the squad.

For all the institutional decline, Rayo have remained remarkably progressive on the pitch. Andoni Iraola’s aggressive hybrid pressing system helped establish him as one of Europe’s most interesting young coaches and Iñigo Pérez continued that tactical lineage before leaving for Villarreal. Rayo’s last two long-term managers are now coaching Champions League clubs.

The results have consistently exceeded the club’s financial profile. Rayo have repeatedly outperformed their Club Size Points over the last six seasons, a Goalunit KPI designed to estimate how many points a club’s financial strength suggests it should be winning.

The situation at Vallecas matters from a tactical perspective too.

Rayo’s stadium is hard to play possession-based football in. It is a tight, claustrophobic ground with the stands pushed close to the pitch and supporters almost on top of the action. Rayo have learned to turn those conditions into an advantage over the last six years.

They have built a team that thrives when matches are compressed. They create chaotic situations because that’s what they’re built for. Tight spaces, second balls and high pressing.

It was an ideal environment for Iraola’s football and Pérez kept a lot of the same intensity and aggression. It is also part of the reason the club turned to Beñat San José this summer.

The problem is that he has inherited a squad increasingly poorly equipped to play that way.

Rayo are trying to preserve the same footballing identity while losing many of the players who made that identity possible. And now, at least temporarily, they have lost the stadium that helped shape it too.

San José To The Rescue?

Beñat San José is the continuity candidate but he has inherited a squad incapable of playing the kind of high-tempo football Rayo have built their identity around.

In that sense, Rayo’s success or failure this season may not ultimately come down to San José’s tactics. The players at his disposal will matter more. At his presentation as Rayo coach, he made it clear that he had not arrived to rip things up and start again.

“I’m not here to make drastic changes. Iñigo did a wonderful job and I’m here to keep building on that.”

That fits with how San José has always spoken about coaching. In an interview with Marca in 2016, he explained:

All coaches talk about playing well, attacking... but what I try to do, above all else, is look after the group. You don’t pick the system, the players determine that. The tactics board has to serve to exploit the ability of the players.

That adaptability is part of the reason Rayo went for the former Eibar manager. There are obvious similarities between the football San José produced at Eibar and the style Rayo have developed over recent seasons, although there are nuances that could make a significant difference.

Eibar finished last season with the third-best defence in the second division by xG conceded (47.8). They achieved that in part by squeezing opponents and creating turnovers high up the pitch clocking up 317 high turnovers across the season. That was the third-highest total in the league behind Castellón (367) and Real Valladolid (319).

But San José’s football was not simply about pressing higher and playing faster.

Eibar reduced the amount of time they spent in a high block compared with San José’s first season in charge in 2024/25 according to SkillCorner’s report on the new manager. They finished the campaign with the fourth-most sequences of 10+ passes in open play (442). The amount of time they spend in defensive transition is considerably lower (27th percentile) than what Pérez asked of his squad last season (75th percentile).

That gives us a better picture of what San José wants. His teams can be patient when progressing the ball and are comfortable circulating possession until an advantage appears. Once they create that advantage, however, the intention is to accelerate quickly as we can see from their time spent in the “finishing” phase.

Rayo’s Disappearing Left

Regardless of the nuances between San José and Pérez and the broader tactical lineage that connects them, the more immediate problem is that Rayo’s squad is not currently built to execute any demanding style of play with enough quality to avoid a relegation fight.

The last six years has been one broadly continuous project. Iraola followed by Pérez, interrupted only by Francisco Rodríguez’s short and ill-fated cameo. Now, San José is the next coach being asked to carry that identity forward.

The left-hand side during this project has consistently been one of Rayo’s most important sources of creation and one of the opposition’s biggest headaches. Their recent squads have always featured a relentless runner at left-back, with Álvaro García further forward providing width and threatening the space behind the opposition back line. There was Fran García and then Pep Chavarría with Pacho Espino providing cover. Even before them, Álex Moreno offered a similar profile.

Now Chavarría is at Chelsea and Espino has left too. Iván Balliu, a 34-year-old right-back, started on the left against Sevilla in Rayo’s opener. Against Alavés, San José used Jozhua Vertrouwd, a converted centre-back, in the position.

That would be less of a concern if the player ahead of them could still carry the flank on his own but Álvaro García is approaching 34 and can no longer reasonably be expected to sustain an entire attacking presence down the left by himself.

Fran Pérez arrived from Valencia with plenty of promise, but he has struggled to for form and so far lacks the kind of explosive burst that has made Rayo’s left-hand side so dangerous in recent years.

Rayo have lost one of the mechanisms that allowed the whole flank, and the whole team, to function.

A Squad Running Out of Legs

Rayo’s starting XI against Sevilla had an average age of 31. The youngest starter was Andrei Rațiu at 28. Many of the players who have carried the club through this recent cycle are now moving beyond their peak.

Isi, once such a dynamic presence as a number 10, is 31 and recently pulled up injured against Alavés. Álvaro García, for so long one of the quickest and most non-stop wingers in the league, is 33. Óscar Valentín, the aggressive defensive midfielder at the heart of Rayo’s defensive solidity, is 32. Unai López is also on the wrong side of 30.

Maybe age isn’t a problem in and of itself but when you’re asking the players to play a specific style, it becomes one of the most important issues.

Rayo are all about repeat, intense actions. It is a physically demanding style even for a young squad. Rayo need players who can perform very specific functions within a very specific type of football.

The departures may not be finished yet.

Pathé Ciss refused to train last week as he attempts to force a move away from the club while Pérez reportedly wants Jorge de Frutos at Villarreal.

That is the challenge facing San José. He has been hired to provide continuity at precisely the moment when the squad may no longer be capable of sustaining it.

When Racing Santander signed Gustavo Puerta, Chema Aragón said it felt like the club had won the lottery.

At the time, it sounded like just another sound bite from a sporting director selling a new signing, a club talking up a player they had worked hard to get. Less than a year later, with Racing Santander promoted to LaLiga and with Puerta’s consistently brilliant performances at the World Cup, it looks like an understatement.

Puerta looks every bit the modern central midfielder capable of surviving almost any tactical context.

The 23-year-old has confirmed at international level what many suspected during his 12 months with Racing Santander and probably what made him go relatively unnoticed until now. He is not easy to define because he can do a bit of everything. He can run, duel, receive, carry, combine, press and protect. He can play as a 5, as an 8, to the right, to the left, deeper or slightly higher.

Puerta summed it up neatly when asked about his role with Colombia.

“The Profe asks me to be very versatile. He puts me on the right, on the left, as the 5… He wants me to duel when it’s time to duel and play when it’s time to play.”

He was second (145) in offering himself to receive the ball inside the opposition team’s shape for Colombia after striker Luis Suarez and no Colombian received the ball under pressure more than him (116) during the tournament. No Colombian player applied more defensive pressures (147) or direct defensive pressures (30) than Puerta during the tournament.

He can play when he needs to and does not shy away from a duel. That was also true at Racing. And this is what makes Racing such an interesting team and the platform from which Puerta had built the confidence to go and boss the midfield on the biggest stage of all.

José Alberto López’s side won promotion to LaLiga with a fluid, relationist style of football that drew attention far beyond the usual confines of Spain’s second tier. For the uninitiated, Racing often used a 4-2-3-1 on paper, with Andrés Martín given freedom to come inside from the right, Iñigo Vicente drifting into central areas to pull strings, and Peio Canales offering another attack-minded presence between the lines. The entire point isn’t the starting shape but the movement around it and the connections made when players are given the freedom to interpret space.

José Alberto explained that distinction himself when speaking to Sky Sports.

For me, the nuance is important. Positional play is more about structuring the team through predefined spaces and very precise occupation of zones. Our ‘relationist’ approach focuses more on the interactions between players than on fixed positions. We don’t give up on structure because we want balance, but we aim to be a team that can adapt, move and create advantages through connections, not just through positioning. In the end, it is less about where you are and more about who you connect with and why.

That is exactly the kind of environment that reveals Puerta’s value. Prior to landing in Cantabria for the ridiculously low fee of €3.5 million, the 22-year-old had never quite fit in. Leverkusen bought him from Bogotá FC because, as ever, the German side’s eye for talent allowed them to see the raw tools of a potential top-level player. From there he went on loan to Nuremberg where he barely played and then to Hull City.

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For the Leverkusen scouts, they saw the raw tools but every manager until then wasn’t quite sure of where to put him. Ruben Sellés, who arrived at Hull when Puerta was there says, “we found ourselves a very combative player with a real willingness to learn.”

Little by little, he earned his place and he ended up directing our play despite the fact we were fighting for relegation, the play went through his head and his boots. He’s an all-round midfielder - todocampista. He likes to move the ball, he knows how to play one and two-touch football, play in tight spaces, he can arrive in the second line. And then on a defensive level, he is remarkably committed, really aggressive when he presses.

That description sounds impossible and almost unnecessary. There’s no way he can do all of these things at a high level. If you’re everything at once, you’re nothing in reality. But the premium is no longer just on specialists, it is on midfielders who can survive across phases.

The Perfect Modern Midfielder

The modern midfielder is becoming harder to define.

In Scouted’s discussion on Mapping the future of midfield, Jon Mackenzie makes a useful point: “We’re not really thinking about footballers having profiles or skillsets anymore. We’re thinking about footballers having skillsets within phases.”

That feels like the right way to think about Gustavo Puerta.

Formations and player profiles have always been attempts to simplify something much messier. But the map is not the territory. A player might be listed as a 6, an 8 or a 10, but the game rarely asks him to be one thing for 90 minutes. It asks different things in different moments. You have to receive under pressure, cover a transition, jump to press, carry through midfield, combine in tight spaces, protect the centre, arrive in the box, slow the game down or speed it up. His heatmap from last season with Racing Santander confirms his ability to ‘get himself about’.

Two stats from his domestic campaign stand out too. He had 8.6 progressive carries, second in the Segunda last seaosn among players with 900+ minutes. And he won the ball back 6.4 times per game, fourth in the division among the same group of players – an excellent number given he played in one of the most attacking teams in the league.

The need to interpret the phases and what is required has become even more obvious in the current era, where matches are increasingly shaped by transition, pressing and controlled chaos. Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth are one Premier League example of that shift. They were a team built to provoke chaos, embrace it and play within those conditions. In that kind of football, fixed positional labels become less useful. What matters is not simply where a midfielder starts, but what he can do when the game changes state.

That is a long way from the cleaner midfield map we associate with Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Sergio Busquets at the base, Xavi controlling rhythm beside and ahead of him, Andrés Iniesta operating closer to the final third. The roles weren’t perfectly captured by naming their profile either, of course, but the general structure was still easy to understand. The map reflected the territory more clearly.

Modern football is less forgiving. The athletic demands are higher, the spaces open and close faster, and midfielders are judged not only by what they do in possession but by how quickly they can affect the game when possession changes hands. And every coach or player who talks about Puerta speaks about his ability to ‘interpret’ the game, or understand what is needed in any situation… and then go and do it.

That is why the cost of signing all-phase midfielders has exploded. Declan Rice is the obvious example. He is not Toni Kroos or Sergio Busquets, but he is technically secure enough to play in possession, physically dominant enough to affect the game without it, and versatile enough to solve problems across different phases. That is why Arsenal paid so much to sign him from West Ham two summers ago.

He might be lacking top-end speed but he does everything at a sneakily high intensity and he just keeps going. He had the highest average speed among Colombian players during the World Cup (6.63km/h). He also led the team in high-speed running and total distance covered. He just never stops.

That is the version of midfield Gustavo Puerta has shown for Colombia this summer. And it is the version Racing Santander saw before almost anyone else was paying attention.

Football, as we know, tends to move in cycles. This may not be a trend that lasts forever, but we still have not reached the tipping point for clubs searching for this kind of rare talent.

Puerta proved his credentials at Racing last season and revealed to the world that he was ready to assume an even larger role this summer. His release clause is set at around €20 million and, as strange as it might sound, that may one day feel like a bargain.

The first signing of the Monchi era at Espanyol is a good one.

Álex Calatrava was destined to play in LaLiga. Whether that happened with Castellón or somewhere else, the outcome felt inevitable. He has been one of the standout attacking midfielders in Segunda División for the last two years, helping Castellón reach an unlikely promotion play-off place this season and continuing his rise after arriving on a free following his departure from Atlético Madrid B.

Castellón are now left with a difficult, maybe impossible, task in replacing him.

They cannot replace Calatrava like-for-like, of course, and these things never happen in a vacuum. Brian Cipenga, another ever-present for Castellón has left for Almería, upon the expiration of his contract. Beñat Gerenabarrena returns to Athletic Club on loan after a hugely successful spell. There will likely be other departures too.

This is what success looks like for Castellón. They’ll take the funds and the freed up wages from those departures and bet again on undervalued talent. This is the model Bob Voulgaris has built and it’s hard to argue with the results when we see the likes of Calatrava turned from free agent to top flight attacker.

Players who can create, carry, combine, produce in the final-third and handle a heavy workload are not easy to find, especially for a club operating within Castellón’s market. He also worked desperately hard off the ball as is required from all of Castellón players.

So the objective is not to find “the next Calatrava” but to identify players who can reproduce parts of his value, either individually or in the aggregate.

And that is the purpose of this exercise.

The process is simple:

1. Define what Calatrava gave Castellón.

2. Decide where we are scouting.

3. Use clustering and then player ratings model to identify players with similar statistical profiles.

What Calatrava Did Best

According to Goalunit, Calatrava accounted for 48.1% of Castellón’s Transfer KPI, which is a big chunk. Given his performances over the last two seasons, a sale always felt likely. His profile stood out clearly among attacking midfielders and wide creators aged 25 or younger in Segunda División.

He led that group for expected assists per 90 with 0.26. He also ranked first for xT from passing with 0.11 per 90, while ranking second for xT from dribbling behind Yeremay Hernández.

The rarest kind of threat. Calatrava is not just a final-ball player. He added value as a passer, carrier and chance creator. He could receive between lines, progress attacks, draw defenders and still deliver end product while making sure that the defensive side of his game never suffered.

Just as importantly, he proved he could handle volume. Despite being a smaller attacking midfielder, he played 2,232 league minutes in 2023/24 before increasing that to 3,492 minutes in 2024/25. No Castellón outfield player played more minutes this season.

So before looking for replacements, we need to be clear about the profile we are trying to replace. A high-usage attacking midfielder who creates chances, adds threat through both passing and carrying, presses with repeat intensity and can stay on the pitch for almost an entire league season.

Where To Look

Castellón are probably a year ahead of schedule. They are riding a wave of optimism. When Voulgaris said he would take them to LaLiga, many sneered, but that is looking more and more likely with every transfer window under the Greek/Canadian owner.

They are looking for proven talents now and have already signed Juanjo Nieto from NK Celje, Álvaro Martín from Andorra and more will arrive. We decided specifically to look for players in the Primera RFEF, which is more than accessible, and has a lot of underrated players. Although Voulgaris and co. will likely just sign someone from the Latvian 3rd division and blow us out of the water, we focused on the division below where Castellón currently play. Are they the perfect match? No. Is it a shopping list for Castellòn? Also no, but it’s an interesting exercise in defining you scope and scouting players when replacing a star player.

Iván Corralejo Mantero - Betis Deportivo

This one is slightly speculative and would almost certainly have to come through a loan deal. Although Corralejo was one of the players most similar to Calatrava in our model.

The 19-year-old is one of the latest talents to emerge from Real Betis’ academy, and they are unlikely to let him leave permanently given his long-term contract and first-team potential. He has already made his senior debut, which tells you how highly he is regarded internally.

He is similar to the outgoing playmaker but it’s not a clean Calatrava replacement. He does not get into the box as often, he does not shoot much, and he profiles more as a deeper creator than a high-volume attacking midfielder as the video below shows.

Signing him would probably require Castellón to redistribute some of Calatrava’s attacking load across the team but that’s going to happen anyway given Cipenga’s departure and other squad movements.

But this is also what makes him interesting. Corralejo’s value is in his ability to create from central areas. For a player of his age, his vision, technical quality and pass weighting stand out. He sees passes early, can receive in traffic and has the touch quality to connect play through crowded central zones.

The clips below show that technical ceiling. He is not replacing Calatrava’s full attacking output today, but as a loan-market bet, he offers a different route to replacing some of the creative value Castellón have lost.

Roberto Arroyo Gregorio - Osasuna Promesas

Roberto Arroyo was not specifically one of the closest statistical matches to Calatrava in the dataset.

But one aspect of Calatrava’s game that Castellón will want to replace is his work off the ball and that’s where Roberto Arroyo could be just the man. Calatrava had 3.05 opponent half recoveries last season, one of the highest marks in the league among forwards, Arroyo had 2.43.

Two seasons ago, Arroyo was used more regularly as a winger. Last season, however, he operated closer to goal, often as a centre-forward or central attacker. That positional flexibility makes him both interesting and harder to sell as a direct Calatrava replacement. He can play across the front line, carries threat in transition with his pace and direct running, attacks space well and gives his team a more physical attacking presence making route one an option.

That physical profile is probably the most relevant point from Castellón’s perspective. Calatrava may only be 175cm, but Castellón’s attacking structure still demands aggression and their creative maestro was not exempt. Arroyo brings that naturally. He won 7.5 duels per 90 last season and is comfortable using his frame to protect the ball, absorb contact and compete with defenders.

Despite his background as a winger, Arroyo now operates closer to goal and offers more threat as a deep runner. Last season, he scored four goals from 6.27 xG, or 0.26 xG per 90, while also adding two assists from 2.89 xA, or 0.12 xA per 90.

The underperformance in front of goal is worth noting, but the shot volume and xG numbers suggest he was consistently finding good positions. For Castellón, that could be valuable. Calatrava gave them creativity between the lines while Arroyo would give them more penalty-box presence, more direct running and more physicality in the final third.

The clip below shows Arroyo at his best. He receives the ball under pressure, controlling the ball cleanly, rides the challenge and slides a pass through to the attacker. It is the kind of action that explains why he appears in a Calatrava replacement model, even if they not like-for-like.

The second clip highlights something Calatrava does not really have in his locker but Arroyo can do. He shows off his ability to run beyond the defensive line and use his body to get across the defender. Arroyo is not just a technical creator. He can threaten depth, compete physically and arrive in areas where he can generate shots for himself.

Mehdi Guillermo Puch - Hércules

Mehdi Puch is a slightly different type of attacking midfielder to Calatrava. He was classified as a ‘hybrid profile’ in our model meaning he didn’t fit neatly into any primary cluster.

Where Calatrava usually started from the right before drifting inside, Puch plays more on the left and drifts centrally. He is not necessarily the player who provides the final pass before the move is finished. He is more often the player who carries or combines his team into the final third.

If Roberto Arroyo offers a more physical, box-oriented version of the profile, Puch offers something closer to a central progression piece.

The 22-year-old is one of the more interesting under-23 players in Primera RFEF. He came through Ajaccio’s academy and made his Ligue 1 debut with the club in 2022/23 before moving to Hércules. He has pedigree and made a breakthrough in one of the most competitive leagues in Europe as a teenager.

Puch did not play until January, but once he came into Beto Company’s side, due to bureaucratic problems with his signing. He finished the season with 1,515 minutes, effectively becoming an ever-present during the second half of the campaign.

From a Castellón perspective, the appeal is obvious. Puch is comfortable receiving centrally, turning under pressure and helping his team move into advanced areas. He does not profile as a direct Calatrava replacement in terms of final-ball production, but he does offer value in the earlier phase of attack. He can receive between the lines, carry the ball forward and connect midfield to the final third.

That makes him a different kind of solution. Castellón would lose some of Calatrava’s right-sided creativity and final-third passing, but Puch could help replace his ball-progression value from more central zones. The video below shows his quick thinking and even quicker feet in the penalty area.

He was at or near the top of most counter-pressing recoveries and opponent half recoveries last season too. His reputation is growing. Hércules are expecting interest from higher up the pyramid this summer, and he is under contract until 2029. Watch this space.

As we said, this isn’t a shopping list for Castellón, just some ideas as to younger players coming through in Spain’s third tier. Carlos Segura is another player that could step into more minutes, coming up from the team’s B side but the jump is significant (from Segunda RFEF to the second tier).

Note: below is a list of some of the other names to keep an eye on coming through. We included a lot of different leagues in the model so that’s why you see a player from Leicester and from Valenciennes.

We’ve seen it before. Spain up against a team with 11 men behind the ball, circulating the ball between their centre backs and centre midfielders in a U-shape pattern, while Pedri waits somewhere high up in the middle of the U. We’ve also seen something else before: Spain’s play almost immediately improve once Pedri is taken out of the U and placed in that outer flow of play.

Their World Cup opener against Cabo Verde featured something similar. It’s not that Pedri wasn’t allowed to drop deeper — he was, and did so from the beginning of the game. But Spain simply had too many sequences where he was the one ahead of the ball and having to try impact the game with movement as his primary weapon. By the time Pedri was less a runner and more a conductor, the pattern of the game and Spain’s flat start was hard to flip. No matter your opposition, the World Cup doesn’t allow you to throw the opening 30 minutes down the drain and expect to be able to recover your flow thereafter.

Take this sequence of play from the first half. Was Pedri an option to receive a pass at any point of this 18-pass move that lasted the best part of a minute?

At best, there were perhaps a couple of brief windows where they could have tried to find a run behind Cabo Verde’s back line. Of course, those runs were never really on, and forcing passes against a defensive block you’re trying to wear down isn’t the type of intelligent football Spain should be dealing in.

We otherwise see Pedri running horizontally across the pitch, arriving to one side, and then having to go back to the other when Spain have already started to shift the ball the other way before he can get there. He ultimately throws in a few half-hearted runs up against the defensive line, sensing he could neither arrive to the ball or have it consolidated around him, before Rodri gives it away and Gavi concedes a free kick.

The clip summed up Spain’s lethargic start to the tournament.

Without the double dose of wing electricity from Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, they were condemned to being either quick with their movement of the ball or very precise in doing so. They were, of course, neither of those things, and didn’t appear to be on the verge of finding either with 30 minutes already elapsed and their their midfield struggling to work openings.

At that point of the game, only three Spain outfielders had played fewer passes than Pedri. Just to be clear that’s Pedri, the central midfielder with the most passes, through balls and open play chances created in LaLiga last season. The three with fewer were: Gavi, a strange and surprising selection to play off the left, Ferran Torres, a non-dribbler who was used as a right winger, after having a great season at club level playing as a centre forward, and Mikel Oyarazabal, who didn’t touch the ball at all and was unavailable in the middle of the Cabo Verde pack.

The problem with Pedri being the least available of Spain’s midfield trio is that you lose one of the best in the world at moving the ball in those central areas, as well as diluting the attacking qualities from whichever midfielder is the one who is most advanced at any given moment of the game. In this case, that one was often Pedri while Fabián played closer to Rodri; a questionable configuration.

Here’s another intriguing clip of Spain’s midfield from the first half. In this case, Pedri decides to drop deeper and go looking for an easier ball, knowing he was rapidly becoming detached from the game. And then a good looking situation arrives when Spain work the ball inside to Fabián, with Pedri just a short pass away.

Between the more ambitious (but certainly viable) lofted ball to find Marcos Llorente’s run or the simple pass to his left to guide Pedri into play in his preferred zone (and with Cucurella ready to move), Fabián decides to cut a short pass back to Rodri.

As you will see in the clip, that was Rodri being marked by the referee and quickly ensnared on all sides when he probably wasn’t expecting a pass.

In a game where Pedri’s role had already taken him out of his typically effective zones as a Barcelona player, there we finally see a situation where he took himself deeper of his own accord and into that left-leaning space he so often makes an impact at club level. We have seen him come onto passes like the ones Fabián could have made so many times, before driving with the ball towards the box, drawing defenders and then making his final decision.

Except, Fabián makes an odd decision and a Spain move that finally looked to have Cabo Verde rotating into weakness quickly fizzled.

Here’s what happens not long after when Pedri, again waiting in the teeth of the opposition defensive lines to start with, decides to take himself out of there and forget about occupying a space. An easy dump-off pass from Cubarsí allows him to face the play. Immediately, the trigger for Pedri with the ball at his feet facing forwards is movement: Gavi drags his marker out of the way while Cucurella, already on his way, leaves his marker for dead.

Pedri finds the full back’s run and Spain are almost in to score.

As half time was drawing closer, it was clear that Spain couldn’t bring the ball to Pedri often enough and that simply dropping out of his higher starting position was re-connecting him with play — and producing better results for the team.

In this example, he drops in front of Cabo Verde’s midfield line and takes another easy pass from a centre back. Pedri gets the chance to face the play and, in what must have caught the opposition by momentary surprise after a first half of seeing pass after pass, presents them with a dribble through the middle. He eliminates the striker from play, attracts two midfielders to the ball, and forces another to have to move, opening a pass into Ferran Torres in the pocket.

From there, Spain bring Marcos Llorente to play and get to stand a cross up to their striker at the back post — one of their better wide entries at the end of a difficult half.

Into the second half and Spain’s capacity to find ways through Cabo Verde had a lot to do with Pedri being on the ball facing forward. It’s impossible to say how much of this was an instruction by the coaching staff, or whether it was simply the player’s intuition. But even if he was 40 yards from goal, that was a better outcome than anything they could channel through him when playing higher up in the early part of this match.

Here, he connects with an Oyarzabal run over the top from a deeper position, where a better touch might have produced a shooting opportunity inside the box:

And then not long after, Pedri produces an even better ball from the same zone to connect with a Fabián run into the box:

In a game where Spain had Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams together on the pitch for just nine minutes, four orthodox midfielders in the initial starting XI, and essentially no 1v1 dribbling threats on the pitch until the 71st minute, we also saw remarkably little of them being able to make use of their technical qualities by playing through central areas.

The example below of Pedri connecting with Dani Olmo in the final 10 minutes stood out for the absence of anything similar during the rest of the game. This punched pass through the lines and quick pop-off pass to a teammate is a staple of Hansi Flick’s Barcelona — one of the great central attacking teams in the game — and had Cabo Verde immediately in a tricky spot with a collapsing defence. Had it been a player with a bit more shiftiness around the box than Mikel Merino, or had he just brought in the diagonal pass to Lamine Yamal, Spain could have found a nice opening after having gone right through the middle of their opponent.

Of course, for most of the game, Spain had few means and even fewer intentions of doing what Pedri did, and no Dani Olmo — his synergistic Barcelona teammate — primed to receive on the half-turn in between the lines.

With the wonderful benefit of hindsight, it’s hard not to feel that Spain’s disappointing opener had a lot to do with team selection. And that’s not to say that Luis de la Fuente had a perfectly smooth run of options to pick from; we know that Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams were not fully ready to go, leading to various knock-on effects. Perhaps if Fermín López hadn’t have been ruled out with injury, he would have started this World Cup in one of the midfield spots and we would have been left with a different first chapter entirely.

But even if we’re to conclude that De la Fuente’s confidence in someone like Dani Olmo is on the wane, surely if he could go back again, he would consider bringing in a more attacking midfield profile to play a game in which Spain — predictably — had all of the ball and were almost exclusively tasked with breaking Cabo Verde down. Starting a natural no.10 like Olmo might have been worth its while even if just to allow Pedri to play deeper and be the one looking to engage the attacking midfielder in his place.

The irony of all this is that Pedri led all players on MD1 of the World Cup for expected assists (1.2), as well as having the joint-most chances created (5) and through balls (3). After spending much of the first half on the fringes, Spain got enough out of him as an individual to have warranted more than a 0-0.

Indeed, Luis de la Fuente’s side should still have won the game, and they will get better if (or when) Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams are fit enough to play in the coming weeks. But just because they stormed Euro 2024 by riding their dynamic wide pair doesn’t mean they’re going to do the same at the World Cup, especially if the road to match fitness isn’t so linear.

In that case, they’re going to need a much better midfield display. And on the basis of the Cabo Verde game, their original idea appears unlikely to give them the best chance of that.

Spain ought to be careful with Pedri’s workload

The main concern from the opening game was what was happening with the ball. That’s without a doubt. However, it was hard to watch the first half (especially) and not come away with the feeling that Pedri was having to cover a lot of ground. Along with his constant shifting to try get himself on the ball, his work at the top of Spain’s defensive shape — where he was balancing getting pressure on defenders without losing sight of Cabo Verde’s deepest midfielder — meant plenty of shuttling in the opposition half.

The numbers would later back it up. As per data supplied by Jesús Lagos, Pedri covered a game-high 12.6 kilometres, which was by far the most by a midfielder on either side. His 41 sprints were also a game-high figure.

And on top of that, his 55 high-intensity pressures in the opposition half were the most by any player on MD1 of this World Cup (via Opta). That’s a pretty startling number when you consider that Spain had 78 percent possession in their match.

It’s not that Pedri can’t produce that type of output — clearly, he can. But at an international tournament at the end of a long season, in games where temperatures will be challenging, do you really want your most creative midfielder dominating the running charts? The guy who you want to have 80+ touches of game and steer Spain’s football? The guy who needs as clear a mind as possible and his legs to feel as light as possible?

Shouldering a high in-possession responsibility — as Pedri needs to in this team, no matter how much De la Fuente stresses it — is not easy under those conditions. Even in a game where he was on the periphery for much of the first half, he ended the Cabo Verde game with 130 touches and was the one leading the drive to make their possession play count deep into the second half.

Again, it’s easier said than done. A certain amount of legwork is a given and it’s not like Luis de la Fuente can ask him not to play on easy mode. Rather, the question would revolve more around whether Spain are better off using a different player in that more advanced midfield role and relinquishing Pedri to a more standard central midfield spot, like the one he’s used to with Barcelona.

One need only watch the Cabo Verde game to see the difference in running output between Pedri and Spain’s other midfielders. Especially without the ball, Fabián and Rodri were much more likely to be sitting tight around the halfway line in screening/blocking mode while Pedri was more occupied with maintaining pressure on the ball and covering larger spaces, as reflected in the numbers.

Perhaps, fundamentally, the Barcelona midfielder’s role in this team simply speaks to ideological differences between Luis de la Fuente and the likes of the man he replaced, Luis Enrique. Where De la Fuente was praised and Luis Enrique besmirched in the wake of Euro 2024, where Spain were reinvented as the new vertical, exciting Spain who no longer needed to make 1,000 passes to dominate, the current boss seems less occupied by the essence of midfield play and those different players like Pedri than Luis Enrique did.

It’s true that there are plenty of favourable quotes about him from De la Fuente, but there’s also others that seem awkward when considering what we see from the Barcelona midfielder at club level, where he is a conductor who combines unrivalled ‘feel’ for the game with no.10 qualities, rather than being a no.10 by definition.

“Pedri has a special talent as a no.8, no.10… I like him to play closer to the area,” De la Fuente said in June 2025. “You score goals closer to the area, and [make] key passes also. For us he brings a lot there, because he makes defining passes, finishes moves… [and] he’s improved a lot with his shooting.”

One year on from those quotes, Spain came into the 2026 World Cup and saw LaLiga’s outstanding passer almost immediately reduced to the edges of a game against a team ranked 67th in the world. Will Luis de la Fuente file that simply under a bad collective day at the office? Or will he be inclined towards a more Pedri-featured midfield against Saudi Arabia (surely another exercise in low block erosion), and into the tournament thereafter?

Who knows at this point. Maybe Lamine Yamal will just come back and solve everything.

This story could have waited until there was something more tangible to wrap it all up into a neat tale of success. Málaga have not actually achieved anything yet beyond qualifying for the Segunda División playoffs. But the manner in which they have done so is a success story in itself.

Just two years ago, Málaga were playing in Primera Federación, Spain’s third tier. Last season, their first back in Segunda, they finished 16th. The expected next step was to establish themselves in the division, stabilise the club and then, perhaps, make a serious push for promotion further down the line.

Málaga have accelerated that process.

Since the start of the season, they have climbed 201 places in Goalunit’s power rankings and risen 14 places among Spanish clubs to 23rd. Over the past six months, they have outperformed their club-size points benchmark by 0.24 points per match, the fourth-best figure in the division behind only Castellón, Córdoba and FC Andorra.

It is a sharp change in direction for a club that has spent most of the past decade drifting away from the top flight. Málaga played 16 of the first 18 seasons of this century in LaLiga, but finished bottom of the division in 2017–18 and were relegated. They have been out in the cold ever since, eventually falling into the third tier for the 2023–24 season.

Now, less than two years after escaping it, they are within touching distance of LaLiga again.

A Strategy Built From Necessity

The strategy behind Málaga’s rise has centred on the academy and on appointing a coach, Juanfran Funes, who understands the players coming through along with their strengths and weaknesses maybe better than the players understand themselves.

Looking at the numbers shows us this approach may have been driven more by necessity than by a carefully designed long-term plan.

Málaga’s transfer revenue had collapsed over the years. Roberto Fernández was their biggest sale since 2020, a stark contrast with the 2014–15 season, when the club generated around €46 million through the departures of players such as Sergi Darder and Willy Caballero.

The change in strategy can also be seen in the age profile of their recruitment and the number of signings. Málaga’s average signing age was above the league average in five of the first six seasons following relegation from LaLiga. That trend was finally reversed in 2024–25 by a lot. Their average signing age remained below the division’s average last summer even if it did rise.

Put plainly, Málaga had run out of alternatives and were forced to turn towards the academy. Fortunately, the academy was producing an unusually strong generation of talent.

Málaga have the second-highest Transfer KPI according to Goalunit (a number signifying a team’s ability to develop talent that might generate future revenue), behind only Real Sociedad B, a team whose primary purpose is to develop players for La Real’s first team. 41% of their playing time has gone to players under 24 years of age, which is sixth-highest in the league.

Chupe, whose full name is Carlos Ruiz Rubio, naturally accounts for a significant part of that figure, but he is far from the only young player emerging.

Aarón Ochoa, Izan Merino, David Larrubia, Rafa Rodríguez and Dani Lorenzo are all part of a group that has allowed Málaga to turn a financial limitation into the foundation of a coherent (and successful?) sporting project.

The Captain Of The Ship

Málaga also stopped looking outside the club for solutions on the bench. If the next generation of first-team players was going to come from the academy, there was an obvious logic to appointing the coach who already knew them best. Even if he was only appointed when it became apparent that Sergio Pellicer wasn’t going to get them where they wanted to go.

Juan Francisco Funes had spent the previous five years managing Atlético Malagueño, Málaga’s reserve team, before taking charge of the first team. He understood the players coming through, knew what they could handle and was willing to trust them immediately.

That trust has been central to Málaga’s rise. Since taking over, the 42-year-old has leaned heavily on youth and given academy graduates meaningful roles rather than token minutes.

The impact can also be seen in the value of the squad. Málaga’s players increased in market value by €12.9 million last season, the third-highest rise in the division behind only Racing Santander and Real Sociedad B.

Funes has therefore done more than improve results. He has connected the academy to the first team and turned Málaga’s youth strategy into something tangible on the pitch with an aggressive and effective style of play.

The Style

Málaga are not a possession-dominant side. They have averaged just 51.7% of the ball under Funes, but they are more than capable of playing patiently when the game demands it.

Since Funes took charge, Málaga have ranked among the top two teams in the division for both direct attacks (1st - 2.73 per game) and build-up attacks (2nd - 2.37 per game), a very rare thing to see. That contrast captures the adaptability at the heart of his approach. They can progress methodically from the back or attack space quickly when the opportunity presents itself.

Funes has translated that flexibility into results. Málaga have recorded the third-best expected-goal difference in the division since his appointment, behind only Castellón and Córdoba.

Their fluidity in possession was particularly evident against Las Palmas. Izan Merino regularly dropped into the defensive line to initiate the build-up, while Carlos Dotor and Dani Lorenzo rotated around him depending on where Málaga needed an extra passing option. They can play with a double-pivot, a single pivot and sometimes no pivot at all.

Lorenzo (#22 in the graphic below), a 23-year-old academy graduate, is crucial to that flexibility as he can play at almost every level. He can drop deep to support the first phase, move into the pivot position or advance between the lines. It is in those higher areas where he is most dangerous, receiving under pressure, turning in tight spaces and creating problems for opposition defences.

The approach suits the balance of the squad. Merino (#23 in the graphic above), another academy product at just 20, can organise the first phase of possession. Joaquín Muñoz, David Larrubia and Aarón Ochoa provide one-on-one threat in wide areas, while Chupe has the physical profile to act as a target for more direct attacks.

Málaga do not need to dominate the ball in one particular way. They can build through pressure, isolate defenders out wide or play directly into Chupe. Their strength lies in having several different routes towards goal and knowing when to use each one.

Without the ball, Funes uses the youthful exuberance of his team to press in a mid-high block. We saw this against Las Palmas, a team that boasts the technical ability of Mika Mármol, Lorenzo Amatucci, Kirian Rodríguez and Jonathan Viera but still couldn’t and didn’t dare break them down.

They are tied for third in high turnovers since Funes took charge (7.33 per game). They had been 12th under Pellicer. They want a game played on their terms and are aggressive in how they go about it. Funes, in that sense, is like a young Unai Emery. As competent in every phase as possible without relying too heavily on any single one. It means you can mix it with the best of the best but also dominate weaker teams who are willing to sit deeper.

Funes is a modern manager for a modern version of Málaga.

His and Málaga’s story this season doesn’t need promotion to be one of success but it deserves a happy ending.

The Manager of the Year award is, in theory, a prize for continued brilliance. In practice, it is usually a prize for the best story. The season with the highest high, the team that overreaches, the manager who turns limited means into something that looks like destiny.

That is not necessarily a criticism. If the award is really for the manager whose work felt most meaningful, most memorable and most narratively complete, then fair enough. It would be hard to argue against Iñigo Pérez, who took Rayo Vallecano to their first European final ever and got them to within a point of European qualification on one of the lowest budgets in the league. This is the kind of achievement awards are built for. A very humble manager at a modest club with a clear identity and emotional pull.

But football awards have a habit of turning a complicated season into a neat little story. What they do not always reward is the quieter, more stubborn form of over-performance and the manager who keeps taking points from matches where the market, with all its money and modelling capacity, did not think those points would be won.

There are plenty of expected-points models built from post-match data, after we know what happened: shots, chances, possession, territory, pressure. But we have started before we knew what would happen during the game. Before the red card, the rebound, the keeper’s sudden religious experience.

So we took the pre-game betting odds from all 380 La Liga matches last season, converted them into implied probabilities, and turned those probabilities into expected points. Then we compared expectation with reality. Did the team the market expected to win actually win? Did they draw? Did they lose? And, across the season, which managers kept upending those expectations?

So our manager of the year award goes to the coach whose team most consistently dragged points out of matches beyond the market’s pre-match expectation.

The full list is at the bottom of the article but here are the top three.

Marcelino - Villarreal

Marcelino was never really considered as the manager of the year. His Villarreal side didn’t win anything meaningful. There was no crescendo given they had qualified for the Champions League earlier in the season than anyone had anticipated. It was just good old-fashioned consistency that got them back into Europe’s top competition.

They won 0.31 points more per game than expected, the highest in the league. They won a grand total of 11.8 points more than expected overall to finish with 72 points when the betting market figured they would only get around 60. Their biggest result of the year came away to Athletic Club at San Mamés, where they had only a 30.9% chance of winning. They also beat Atlético Madrid (home) while beating Real Sociedad, Espanyol, Sevilla and Valencia on the road.

Of course, this is now more about legacy than future forecast for Marcelino and Villarreal. They decided to part ways at the end of the season but whoever does have Marcelino managing them next season is getting one of Spanish football’s most reliable over-performers.

Villarreal, on the other hand, might have done more to make him stay. They now head into the season with a new coach in the dugout. Iñigo Pérez takes over after his spell at Rayo Vallecano came to an end. Rayo finished with 1.4 more points than expected this season but that might have looked different had they not been focused on fighting their way to a Conference League final.

Will they come crashing back down to market expectations or can Pérez, one of the most exciting coaches in Europe, keep them winning like his predecessor.

Hansi Flick - Barcelona

Maybe Flick is the actual correct answer here. In terms of expected points, the bookmakers had Barcelona winning the league with 82.9 but they exceeded even those lofty expectations.

They won 11.06 more points than expected to finished the season with 94 points. That might have been even higher again had they not taken their foot off the accelerator late on in the season. According to the analysis, they had an average implied win probability of 66.8% but crushed that number.

We can see, thanks to the folks at Goalunit, how Barcelona are overachieving. The margins are pretty fine but their expected points (underlying performance) are higher than what you might expect from a club their size. Flick’s appointment has been an inspired one.

Their biggest ‘upset’ came with a win over Atlético Madrid away from home when the market only gave them a 44% chance of collecting all three points. They also had a big win against Villarreal away from home and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou.

The biggest upsets were defeats to Girona, Sevilla and Real Sociedad at home. It’s also worth noting that this way of measuring expected points penalises Barcelona more when they lose games they should have won. For example, against Girona they had a 68.1% chance of winning the game but lost and so lost 2.23 points in this specific ranking. That’s the price of brilliance, I guess.

Flick will continue for another year and chase the Champions League more hungrily than ever in his third year. They are doing their homework early this summer having signed Anthony Gordon to complement an already awesome attack.

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José Bordálas - Getafe

If we are rewarding football results on a budget, the winner can only really go to one man. José Bordálas is the Sisyphus of Spanish football. He just keeps on pushing that rock up that big giant hill. It isn’t pretty but it’s hard to argue against its efficiency.

Getafe finished with 6.7 points more than expected. They will play in Europe next season when every sound and reasonable argument suggested they were a prime candidate for the drop.

Their two biggest wins came against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, obviously, and at San Mamés against Athletic Club. They had just a 1% chance of winning that game against Real Madrid and was one of the lowest points during a season filled with multiple contenders.

Bordálas and Getafe are currently locked in talks over his future but all signs point towards an exit this summer. We wrote about him recently asking whether his brutally simple strategy can scale up. We might be about to find out but on the flip side of that, Getafe are about to find out just what life is like without a miracle worker on the bench.

^{Note on methodology: Decimal odds are converted to implied probabilities, then normalised by the total implied probability to remove bookmaker margin.}

^{Expected points are then calculated as 3P(win)+1P(draw). So, for example, Getafe had a 15% chance of beating Athletic Club so that is 3 x 0.15 plus their probability of drawing 1 x 0.27 and they are expected to get 0.72 points. They ended with three points so that is 3-0.72, which is equal to 2.28 points above expected.}

Jose Bordalás’s style of football is seen as crude, disruptive and cynical. It can be infuriating to watch, even as a neutral. His teams break games up, slow the tempo, provoke opponents and turn matches into emotional battles. At times, the football borders on the unwatchable.

It also works. It looks primitive, but only if sophistication is measured aesthetically rather than strategically.

As a strategist, there might not be a better operator in Spain and even Europe relative to the resources on hand. He understands something that many football clubs don’t: football is not judged on aesthetics in the league table. He actually leans so heavily into functionality over aesthetics that he has proudly become a meme.

To understand Bordalás properly, it helps to think about strategy less as philosophy or goal-setting and more as problem solving. Roger Martin, the author of Playing To Win, once described strategy like this:

Strategy is not a thing that you need because you learned at business school that you are supposed to have one or your board says it needs to approve one. Rather, strategy is a problem-solving technique. When you are facing a problem, strategy is the tool you use to make that problem disappear.

Bordalás inherited one of the most difficult problems in Spanish football. Getafe do not have the luxury of strategic grey areas. Like many smaller clubs, they cannot afford vague ideas or expensive mistakes. One bad summer can lead to relegation.

He understands that Getafe cannot win a technical arms race against clubs with superior players, infrastructure and budgets. So he built a brutally simple strategy designed to reduce that gap.

Richard Rumelt makes a similar point in Good Strategy/Bad Strategy when discussing Apple after the return of Steve Jobs in 1997. Rather than trying to expand Apple’s ambitions, Jobs stripped the company back to a smaller, more coherent core that could survive.

By September 1997, Apple was two months from bankruptcy. Steve Jobs, who had cofounded the company in 1976, agreed to return to serve on a reconstructed board of directors and to be interim CEO. Die-hard fans of the original Macintosh were overjoyed, but the general business world was not expecting much.

Within a year, things changed radically at Apple. Although many observers had expected Jobs to rev up the development of advanced products, or engineer a deal with Sun, he did neither. What he did was both obvious and, at the same time, unexpected. He shrunk Apple to a scale and scope suitable to the reality of its being a niche producer in the highly competitive personal computer business. He cut Apple back to a core that could survive.

Bordalás reached the same conclusion in football.

He stripped away almost everything Getafe could not reliably execute against better opponents. Long possession sequences, open and flowing games and complex buildup patterns. He reduced football to the areas where organisation, compactness, aggression, territorial pressure and emotional manipulation could compensate for inferior talent.

Most clubs think strategy means adding more ideas. The best strategists often do the opposite. They remove everything that does not serve the central objective.

Getafe are back in Europe not by ignoring their limitations, but by building an entire football model around them.

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The Rationality Of Disruption

Since Bordalás returned, Getafe have climbed 25 places in Europe and improved from 17th to 10th in La Liga according to Goalunit using his aggressive yet functional style.

There are times when football data needs interpretation. Getafe’s numbers do not.

They have the lowest ball-in-play percentage in La Liga this season (49.5%). They rank first in fouls, duels, delays and percentage of long passes. They are last in passing accuracy and passes per sequence.

The statistic that captures them best, though, is sequences of ten passes or more. Getafe have produced just 65 all season. The next-lowest side, Espanyol, have 221.

Every one of those numbers points toward the same objective: reducing the amount of football played on the opponent’s terms.

The Power of Constraints

Counter-intuitively, Bordalás has also become an excellent developer of players.

Most people would assume that such a restrictive style would limit players but the roles within the team are so clear that it gives his squad a clearer route to success and individual improvement too.

That clarity also simplifies recruitment. Getafe are not searching for universally gifted footballers. They are searching for highly-specific profiles capable of surviving in Bordalás’s environment. Fewer variables mean less risk.

The January arrivals of Martín Satriano, Zaid Romero and Luis Vázquez in January helped transform the season.

According to Goalunit, Getafe’s developed squad value has increased by €6.5million since the start of last summer with two of those winter arrivals among the biggest beneficiaries of Bordalás’s magic touch.

Satriano accumulated 5.1 non-penalty xG and scored six goals. Among forwards with at least 1,000 minutes, he ranks seventh in La Liga for duels won per 90. His goal against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu alone justified the transfer.

Romero won 8.5 duels per 90, the highest figure among La Liga centre-backs with over 1,000 minutes played. Getafe concede 0.5 goals per game with him on the pitch compared to 1.3 without him.

Then there are the players who came before. Christantus Uche is the best example. The Nigerian’s rise under Bordalás encapsulates the system perfectly. He went from the Primera RFEF to playing 2,692 minutes in La Liga within a season and a move to the Premier League.

These players were not flawless prospects before arriving at Getafe. Bordalás turned them into highly functional specialists operating inside a coherent structure. That clarity creates value.

The Elephant In The Room

Admirers of Bordalás are probably right to be worried. He has not solved football nor has he even solved his own future in the game. He has solved Getafe’s problem. Bordalás is leaving the club for the second time and has been linked with a move to the Premier League although a move within Spain is appearing more likely.

The next part of the puzzle is scaling up, which is something he failed to do when he went to Valencia four years ago. Although, in hindsight, that might not have been his fault given Valencia’s own lack of a strategic vision.

Ironically, while much of football spent years chasing trends and trying to be someone they’re not, the market has swung toward many of Bordalás’ instincts. To the point where that Premier League interested seemed justified and almost inevitable.

If we are to draw a comparison, Diego Simeone might be the best one. He made his name as a no-nonsense coach, built around defensive compactness, emotional intensity, and strict positional discipline and famously said “when a match ends 5-4, everyone says, ‘what a great game’ I say: they scored 5 goals against us!”

It took him years, a lot of money, mistakes and patience from Atlético Madrid to find his way of playing a more modern attacking system. And he did that with a lot of credit in the bank, at times running that credit so low as to almost find himself in the red. Bordalás, not being an elite former player and not winning trophies (yet!) won’t be afforded such time to get things right.

Bordalás may never coach one of Europe’s biggest clubs. But that does not make him less strategic than the coaches who do. He is a specialist in what he does and needs to pick his next project carefully. Do the club have a long term vision where they are willing to invest in players who suit his style? Will he be afforded time to get comfortable as a supposedly more possession-heavy side? Can the club withstand the pressure that will likely come when things don’t go exactly as planned?

Bordalás has already proven he can build towards survival. The question now is whether he can build towards dominance.

After an outstanding 2024-25, where they were Spain’s fourth-best side and made it to the final four in the Europa League, things have sputtered for Athletic Club this term. So much so that Ernesto Valverde, one of the true wise guys of Spanish football, has already called time on his latest spell with the club.

What last summer looked like a real high point for Athletic, not only for being competitive, but competitive for an extended period, hasn’t materialised. The reasons for it are abundant. Nico Williams has been handicapped by injury all season, fitness has also hampered a disappointing Oihan Sancet, Yeray Álvarez was suspended for 10 months, and beyond personnel issues, a team whose identity is built around energetic off-ball work is not well served by injuries (especially to key players) while dealing with a packed calendar.

Even in that context, there are are infinite decisions and things Ernesto Valverde might have done differently with another go.

Perhaps, in the small recesses of his mind, might the decision to loan out Peio Canales have been one of them?

It would be unrealistic to suggest that Canales could have made a major difference to Athletic’s course, and it remains a plenty fair decision to allow him to leave. But could it have made his life one percent easier, or the ending one percent less painful?

At the point when they decided to loan Canales to Racing Club de Santander, Valverde’s recommendation was said to be that playing and feeling important somewhere else would be better — and the latter has been the case. Except, Selton Sánchez — a 19-year-old creative midfielder — was later promoted to the first team and has featured 13 times this season, including starting against Barcelona. With the fact of Oihan Sancet’s injury record and the later promotion of Selton, the window of opportunity for Canales might not have been as tight as thought.

(Hindsight is a wonderful thing.)

Whatever the case, Ernesto Valverde will soon say farewell and any mental micro-revisions he might have will fade. And as their legendary boss goes, we expect that Peio Canales will be coming back in the other direction; positioned to start writing his own history.

Introducing Peio Canales

As the story goes, Chema Aragón — Racing Club’s Sporting Director — was as enamoured with Canales as anyone.

It took him just one day after beginning work in his new role — remember, this was a club fully expected to be a promotion-level performer — to call Athletic Club about the signing of the then 20-year-old. Aragón had followed him closely in Athletic’s youth ranks and was convinced that a player with almost no experience above the third tier must be a part of Racing’s all-or-nothing season.

Perhaps the best description of Canales’ game came from Aragón himself, in the press conference to present the new signing:

“He’s got a very high technical level. He dances, as I say.”

A midfielder who can play as a six, eight or ten, we have seen that dancing that Aragón refers to applied all across the pitch this season. When used deeper, he’s tricky to press and get to grips with; when used higher up, he’s a constant threat to jink away from a defender and open up holes in the opposition’s shape.

(Or slam a shot into the bottom corner.)

Watching Canales play, there’s a permanent sense of 360 degrees of options being available to him — as if there’s no blind alley he can’t fall down where you would give him a zero percent chance of escape. He twists and turns at speed without getting his feet twisted up and his changes of direction are difficult to read. And whether his dancing keeps him on his stronger right foot or shifts him onto his left also appears insignificant in Canales’ mind; for a player with no fear of his ‘weaker’ left foot, it fuels the unpredictability.

A recent Diario AS article on Canales was headlined with the “Pedri of the second division” — a tag which has probably become a bit tiresome and overused at this point, as well as not feeling all that accurate. But another comparison made in the same piece, Mateo Kovacic, ought to give you more of an idea as far as that specific elusiveness on the ball goes.

Indeed, it comes as no surprise to see that Canales’ dribble success rate (58%) is the second-highest by a central/attacking midfielder in Segunda this season. He falls into the sweet spot of players who attempt enough to be known for dribbling ability, whilst maintaining high efficiency; a demonstration which is helped by throwing in LaLiga players from this season too, where only three instructive names have a higher percentage: Pedri (68%), Pablo Barrios (62%) and Aleix Febas (61%).

In other words, the gold standard of Spanish midfielders who largely use dribbling as an accessory but can and will make you look silly if you go chasing them.

That shiftiness alone opens a whole sea of possibilities as to what comes next for Canales — both in the immediate on the pitch and in the wide view of his career. Where some coaches will see the 21-year-old as an attacking midfielder who can make game-winning contributions in the final third, others will see a central midfielder who can play a crucial role in navigating opposition pressure and smoothing the team’s passage through the thirds.

At this stage, both of them might be right.

Most assists by players 21 or younger — LaLiga Hypermotion (last 10 seasons)

As for what we know for sure, Racing have made use of him mostly in an attacking midfield role in their 4-2-3-1 this season — and the results have been spectacular. (He has been plenty useful when used deeper when needed too.)

Canales has chipped in 13 goal involvements in Segunda this term, supported by an eye-catching eight assists. Across the last decade, the only players aged 21 or younger with more assists in a Segunda campaign are Emi Buendía (13 in 2017-18) and Carlos Álvarez last season (11).

Where goals and assists are concerned, it’s worth stating from the jump that Canales is playing in a very productive attack for this level, which does inevitably make life easier (or at least easier than it would playing for a team like Burgos).

But it’s also true that the youngster is an essential part of making that attack what it is — the dynamism, the speed of play, and the synergy with his teammates has been there throughout. Strip out some individual goals and assists from Canales’ season and, at his age, it would still be evidence of a midfielder with top-level potential.

As a player whose midfield role has yet to become specialised — and we needn’t be in a rush to call it — the Athletic youngster has delivered us moments all season long to support whatever one’s verdict might be. Want to call him one of Spain’s next great no. 10 prospects? Or the play-making no.8 Athletic have been looking for? There’s cases and evidence for both. To watch him is to often see one version flow into the other.

The other part of his game that shouldn’t be ignored — and which supports his case to play in both roles — is his leg work without the ball. In the absence of detailed tracking data, all that’s left to say is there are almost no concerns there. Canales gets through plenty of intense work and has been a reliable player helping to lead Racing’s press all season long, with a clear understanding of when and where to jump or sit tight. Athletic aren’t going to recover a player who needs masses of instruction as to what to do on the defensive side of the ball.

And when he has been used deeper, like in a recent game against Huesca, club data accounts for him as leading the team in distance covered at just under 12 kilometres. Covering ground won’t be an issue.

Quite honestly, it’s difficult to know where Canales will see out his prime years. Random circumstances will probably dictate that more than anything. Who his positional competition is, what system of play he lands in, what team style his attributes are most productive in… all of those and more.

The attraction is that, for now, you can picture him being a first division level midfielder in more than just one midfield role. Canales’ ball-striking and vision are both excellent, which make him a threat in the danger area. But he’s a class of player where it’s tempting to use him deeper, even if only to maximise his touches and involvement in the game. More contact with the ball, even if not in his absolute preferred zones, might still be the better call.

After helping Racing to promotion, Canales will soon return to Bilbao with a good-looking case for minutes. Athletic have options in central midfield and in the attacking midfield roles, but none with the ability to blend both that the 21-year-old does. And in a team who struggled to generate football in 2025-26, that ought to be a welcome remedy.

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It hasn’t been easy for Athletic Club this season. In fact, the atmosphere around the club is as strained as it has been in a very long time.

They roared into the Champions League last season for the first time in a decade with an aggressive and intense style. They had the most high turnovers in the big five leagues and left their mark on essentially every opponent they played. They still have the highest opponent recoveries in Spain but they are conceding almost twice as many goals (1.28) as last season when they led LaLiga with just 0.7 per 90.

This season they have looked unrecognisable from the formidable force they were and sections of the fans at the San Mamés are not happy. They have whistled the team in various games and another section of the fans seemed to whistle Nico Williams’ substitution during a recent game against Osasuna.

The vibes are far from where they imagined they would be at the start of the season.

Trust the youth

Athletic Club have been decimated by injuries this season. Beñat Prados, a midfielder who plays a key role on the defensive side of the ball, tore his ACL. Nico Williams has only played 50% of minutes due to injury too. Recently agains Osasuna, with Aymeric Laporte gone off injured, Yeray Álvarez had to literally limp through the last 10 minutes as he nursed a hamstring problem.

Whoever the new manager is, they’ll need a fresh injection of youth to bolster the squad. They have given 25% of their playing minutes to 24 year old and younger, 9th in LaLiga this season. But fear now, because help is always on hand from the club’s academy, which we will get to, but three players on loan can make an immediate impact next season provided they are trusted by the new manager.

Beñat Gerenabarrena & Peio Canales

Athletic Club are already well stocked when it comes to aggressive central midfielders, with Mikel Jauregizar and Beñat Prados occupying those roles. But Gerenabarrena’s development this season has been impossible to ignore. At this point, he has done enough to earn an opportunity with the first team. He’s an all-action midfielder, defined by intensity and defensive bite. His teammates call him “the little Gattuso” to give you an idea of the intensity we are talking about.

In 2,258 minutes this season, he is averaging 22.7 interceptions+ball recoveries+duels won per 90 this season, a figure bettered by only three players in the league: Stanko Jurić (Valladolid), Miguel Ángel Atienza Villa (Burgos) and Juan Pedro Jiménez Melero (Málaga). What makes that even more impressive is that it comes in a Castellón side that spends far more time attacking than defending.

Another midfielder on loan in the Segunda has also captured the attention of those watching is Peio Canales. He is very different to Gerenabarrena, but it’s hard not to see whoever the new manager is making significant use of him.

(Look out for an individual analysis of Peio Canales on here, coming soon!)

Among players with 50 or more take-ons this season, Canales is completing 79.2% of his dribbles per 90 one of the best marks in the league for attacking midfielders. His game is defined by composure in tight spaces. He’s able to receive under pressure, slow the tempo when needed, and then pick the right pass to move attacks forward and help plays develop. He’s fast, tireless out of possession and a smooth dribbler.

The evidence suggests they are ready and capable of taking the next step.

Manex Lozano

In the modern era, Athletic Club have produced just one 20-goal La Liga striker: Aritz Aduriz, who reached the mark in the 2015–16 season.It’s a position Athletic have struggled with for years, often forcing square pegs into round holes to make it work.

However, Manex Lozano might be the club’s next great striker. He has the physical tools to play as a traditional nine and his finishing looks superb. Based on what we saw during his brief spell with Racing Santander, he may even have the potential to become a 20-goal forward.

He turned 19 in February and then suffered an ACL tear that will keep him out for the rest of the calendar year, which is obviously a big variable. Assuming he returns without knock-on effects, he still has plenty of development ahead of him and those four games with Racing were exciting enough to raise expectations. Maybe another loan will suit him well and next season might be a stretch for him to contribute he has everything a modern day striker needs to contribute consistently.

Projecting The Future

As for Bilbao Athletic, they currently sit 13th in Primera RFEF and have lost four of their last five. But winning is not the most important thing for the academy side, development is. They have given 98% of minutes to players under 24 this season, only Betis Deportivo and Real Madrid Castilla (both 100%) have given their youngsters more minutes.

The step up to the first team has to be earned and sometimes a loan move to Segunda, as we have seen, is the natural next step after progressing into the second team.

Athletic Club’s ‘overbooking’ in midfield and in attack are in contrast to their lack of depth at full-back. Jesus Areso has failed to live up to expectations and Andoni Gorosabel probably isn’t the long-term answer either at right-back. Yuri Berciche is 36 and Adam Boiro is the only player that has played in that position behind him. Hugo Rincon is returning from Girona and should earn minutes immediately although Areso should see an improvement under the new man on the bench.

At centre-back, Iker Monreal can play across multiple positions across the backline. He’s a player to watch in the preseason too. No centre-back in the Primera RFEF (min. 1,000 minutes) has won more duels per 90 (8.73) than the 20-year-old. He is 12th in progressive passes per 90 (9.9).

Jon de Luis, a left-footed centre-back, is out of contract in the summer and looks to be behind Monreal in terms of physical development but looks like one of the more promising players on the team. He progress the ball (passes+runs) 12.78 times per game, which is 3rd in the division and looks confident and composed on the ball. He has been linked with a move away with his contract expiring but if Terzic wants more of a ball-dominant CB, De Luis probably should be the choice.

Ibai Sanz (22) is another player who has impressed with 10 goals in 33 games. He is more of a typical number nine than Guruzeta and more technically competent than Sannadi. He is more similar to Lozano than anyone else at the club but his most natural next step given what we know about Athletic Club is to test the waters in the Segunda. With Sannadi and Guruzeta ahead of him, a loan deal makes the most sense.

The arrival of Edin Terzic

It feels somewhat of a surprise that Athletic’s managerial succession plan hasn’t led them to Andoni Iraola or Iñigo Pérez. Perhaps Iraola’s standing is a little too high at the moment, but both seemed to tick the boxes of identity and personality, and were logical options to pick up from Valverde. Of course, it’s likely that they were both managers of interest, but making either happen was a different matter.

Certainly, Edin Terzic doesn’t strike you as a clear front runner and first option. For a club with Athletic’s tradition, the choice does seem light on connection. Although that’s not to say that they never hire foreign managers, he’ll be the first individual whose first language isn’t Spanish to manage them this century — and over the past decade, pretty much all of their hires have either been managers with Basque connections or signed after impressing domestically with other Spanish clubs.

At the risk of projecting, it’s hard not to assume that the choice of Terzic feels influenced by the hiring (and success) of Pellegrino Matarazzo over at their rivals, Real Sociedad. La Real turn their season around and win the Copa del Rey with a highly German-influenced manager with a Bundesliga background, and then Athletic, at a low ebb, just happen to hire Edin Terzic; only the second German coach in the club’s history and first non-native Spanish speaker since the previous century.

Anyway, enough of the assumptions. Terzic is heading to Bilbao to re-ignite their football, and like Matarazzo, the wider connection will blossom if he achieves the former.

The high point for Terzic’s Borussia Dortmund side was undoubtedly reaching the Champions League final in 2024, after knocking out Luis Enrique’s PSG side — who were soon to become the best team in the world — in the semi-finals.

That final version of his Dortmund team was relatively pragmatic, and characterised by direct attacking with less elaboration. Of teams who made the knockout stages in the 2023-24 edition, they were among the quickest attacking sides in open play, and were below average for the length of their sequences of play (in seconds).

Below, we can see Manchester City at one end of the spectrum and Dortmund at the other:

How about the high press? One of the signature areas of the game throughout the Ernesto Valverde era.

Of teams who made it out of the group stage in the 2023-24 Champions League, Dortmund were one of the least active when it came to racking up recoveries high in opposition territory, averaging just under seven per game.

However, they did turn almost 20 percent of those into shots at goal, which was only bettered by RB Leipzig and eventual winners Real Madrid.

That was Terzic’s approach in a nutshell: stay compact out of possession, be opportunistic to squeeze up, and look to channel fast attacks on the occasions they do manage to turn the ball over — especially through speed off the flanks (Nico Williams ought to like that).

As we can see in the zones of control graphic below, Dortmund were a pretty reactive side during their run to the final. Coming up against strong opposition is a strong variable there, but Terzic clearly prepared his side to be competitive on more pragmatic terms. Their average possession (45.4%) was their second-lowest in a Champions League campaign on record.

Dortmund settled on that coiled spring defensive approach: sitting tight and then preparing to fly once turnovers occurred, when the opposition were displaced.

As for the system itself, it seems unlikely Athletic are heading for much change there. Managers, of course, adapt to the squad they’re working with, but those systems Terzic has already leaned on are clearly the most comfortable for what he’ll find at Athletic.

The 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 has been a staple under Valverde, and they were Terzic’s most-used in both his Bundesliga seasons in charge, as well as in their Champions League final run. Indeed, take a look at that Dortmund starting XI from the Wembley final and there are plenty of similarities to the system and profile of players — at least to occupy the roles (Julian Brandt and Oihan Sancet are clearly different players, but similarly comfortable drifting between no.8 and no.10).

Speed off the wings, especially through Nico Williams, clear no.10 profiles in Oihan Sancet (and Peio Canales, we hope), various centre forward options, plus energetic midfielders in the middle in Jauregizar, Gerenabarrena, Rego, Ruiz de Galarreta etc. It doesn’t take a lot of straining to picture a similarly aligned Athletic XI, and there’s plenty of Valverde-led muscle memory that will support it.

The good news for an incoming manager is that, along with the changes he can influence, it’s hard to imagine Athletic getting equally poor seasons from the likes of Nico Williams and Oihan Sancet next time round — not explicitly in terms of performance, but with their fitness being such a conditioning factor on it.

A fit and firing Nico Williams — more than anyone — is just the type of player that can get the Terzic era off the ground, a la Gonçalo for Pellegrino Matarazzo at Real Sociedad.

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It was more than tempting to think that Gonçalo Guedes’ best days were behind him. Since leaving Valencia in 2022, he had spent two largely anonymous seasons at Wolves, had an injury-hit loan at Benfica, and another loan at Villarreal that offered little-to-no signs of the real Guedes. The fact that the latter was under Marcelino – one of the managers for whom had shown his best version previously – made it especially underwhelming with regards to his career rival.

And then came Pellegrino Matarazzo; the manager that seemingly all of us didn’t know we needed.

After a fairly uneventful first half of the season at Real Sociedad, where Guedes began in a substitute role and then came in as a starter at the point where Sergio Francisco’s tenure was hitting the rocks, the arrival of Matarazzo served as an electric jolt for his career.

Almost instantly, the Portuguese was back; scoring, assisting, running the legs off defenders, as if it were 2019 again. Guedes has 11 goal involvements in 15 games under the American coach. And in LaLiga, Lamine Yamal (9) is the only player with more non-penalty goal involvements than Guedes (8) in 2026.

What’s behind the resurrection?

The obvious context is that Pellegrino Matarazzo has made Real Sociedad incredibly competitive again. But more importantly, incredibly competitive in his image. La Real are shredding teams with a combination of fast, vertical attacks, swarming after the ball out of possession, and getting disciplined defensive work from all 10 outfielders when that initial pressure doesn’t produce a turnover. Are they overperforming? No doubt. Are they getting excellent performance levels from individuals? Also, no doubt. Guedes is benefiting from his team context, but not before playing a big part in making it possible himself.

For a wide player of his profile, one who’s producing goals and assists, it’s interesting to note that he’s dribbling and carrying the ball as infrequently as he has in his career. Under Matarazzo, Guedes is barely beating players off the dribble at all, averaging just 0.24 completed per 90 in LaLiga (from 1.7 attempts). Nor is he generating shots or key passes following runs with the ball, with his per 90 averages again less than one (0.6).

What he is doing is wreaking havoc with his movements, in a team who are generating way more opportunities to run and attack at speed.

Since the start of the year — which covers Matarazzo’s tenure — Real Sociedad have scored the most fast break goals in LaLiga (5), and the joint-most across Europe’s big five leagues (level with Bayer Leverkusen and Hamburg). Guedes himself has either scored (1) or assisted (2) three of those five.

Along with more opportunities to hit in transition and attack compromised defensive shapes, where Guedes is one of LaLiga’s most dangerous, we have seen a generally more active version when it comes to making himself available with off-ball runs. Not content just to receive passes to feet, but looking to punish at every possible opportunity.

Whether used from the left or right side, Guedes has also been granted license to attack the opponent’s back line from wherever he sees fit. Sometimes it’s with runs across the pitch (where full backs are reluctant to follow), other times it’s a quick give-and-go, where he has excelled with short and sharp interventions in play. Guedes isn’t hanging out wide and waiting for the ball to arrive, before gradually backing down defenders; he’s cropping up all across the width of the pitch, playing with few touches, and then darting off before the opposition have time to get to grips with him.

With how he’s performed this year, there’s also the feeling that Guedes is now right at the sweet spot of understanding how to move without the ball through acquired experience, without having left his athletic prime. The momentary blend of smart and electrically quick that won’t last for long.

(In a game where he scored two goals anyway, was there a better ignored movement in LaLiga than this this weekend? Good luck covering that, full backs.)

Although we don’t have tracking data available to confirm it, there’s also no questioning the fact that the 29-year-old is simply running harder and more intensely than we’ve seen for some time. There’s a renewed intention behind what he does.

Matarazzo’s buzz words – speed, transition – are the same ones we associate with Guedes at his best and, along with crafting a specific style of team play, he’s also clearly convinced the winger to play with much more aggression. You can see it in his movements in attack, but especially with the way he’s running the other way to help his full back. His efforts against Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey semi-finals were emphatic, in that sense.

The good news for Matarazzo is that this hasn’t just been a momentary spike. Likely reinforced by the team’s success, the collective intensity and commitment to their style — which relies hugely on energy — has stayed consistent across the board. Substitutes and rotation players who come in have an elevated minimum intensity that they have to hit if they’re to advance their case for minutes, especially when those players that are producing the most (like Guedes) are playing with this level of hunger.

In Guedes’ case, there’s nothing to do but keep his foot on the accelerator. The 2026 version of Real Sociedad is an increasingly established machine which engineers situations where he shines, and now is the time to extract all that he can from it.

That’s not to say his current level of goal production is bound to continue. Naturally, it will come back to earth. His six goals under Matarazzo have been scored from 2.1 xG, including two unstoppable strikes from range.

But if there’s one thing Guedes has always been, it’s a tremendous striker of the ball. In the era of xG, file him under players that you’re happy to let take on shots from range, even accounting for the maths behind it. The Portuguese is a match-winning type of talent that Real Sociedad had to wait to become a depressed asset before they could hope to attract (and then revive) him.

Guedes won’t keep deciding matches. But a Guedes who will believe he can, playing with this level of determination, is someone who can keep fuelling the turnaround of a season that looked to be going nowhere fast at the turn of the year.

It will be some time before we can say whether Ademola Lookman was worth his signing. But in the present, where Diego Simeone’s prerogative is to be as competitive as possible as soon as possible, we can already conclude that that ceiling of competition has been prodded up by his arrival.

(Is the adaptation period in the room with us now?)

Editor’s note: A rotated Atlético side were beaten 3-0 by Rayo at the weekend, in another limp display typified by the more fringe players struggling (it was already 2-0 by the time Lookman got the final half hour). Simeone’s side have veered wildly from outstanding to dismal in recent weeks, but two of the wins by 4+ goals have been in two of Lookman’s three starts.

There will be endless interpretations of why Lookman has looked instantly impactful for Atlético, but none of them seem more adequate than the fact that he is… a very good footballer. At the welcome risk of underthink, he has been featured in his preferred areas (wide forward who drifts between the wing and left-leaning central spaces), often has an overlapping wing back on his left shoulder, and has more generous starting points in attacking transitions than the winger on the opposite side — a la Vinícius Júnior — due to Atlético’s off-ball shape in deeper areas (Thanks, Giuliano.)

Plus, watch out if they can get the best version of Álex Baena — one of the premier through ball artists in Europe — going on that same side of the pitch, as we saw in flashes versus Betis at the start of the month.

Suffice to say, it hasn’t taken any real innovation from Simeone to engage Lookman because it just hasn’t been required. No stylistic, non-tinkering shame in that. “He’s a big boy, already 28 years old…” said Simeone after his debut. “He has different [attributes] to the players we have and he will make us better.”

Lookman has scored and assisted in two of his first three starts for Atlético. No LaLiga player across has done so more than twice in 2026 — and, of course, Lookman didn’t debut for them until February 5th.

Unsurprisingly, all four of those have been notched in the course of quick, direct attacks. The first came from a sharp transition from deep in his own half at Betis, the second an assist on a two-man attack with Griezmann, the third a late arrival to finish at the back post, and the fourth a tidy lay-off against a Barcelona side scrambling back towards their box and leaving the edge open.

Lookman is a sure thing in transition and whenever he has big spaces to attack. We knew that before he arrived in Madrid. He can carry the ball long distances at speed, he’s quick, shoots well off both feet, and he moves under control with an appreciation for developing attacks. His assist for Antoine Griezmann on his debut was a prime example of his sophistication when handing the latter; the way he throws in his stepovers as if to convince the defender he’s in dribble and shoot mode, after having slowed enough to bring Griezmann’s run into play (and probably known all along that’s where he was heading).

The early goal production speaks for itself. But from his first half of football in an Atlético shirt, Lookman’s impact on general play has been about as coherent as Simeone could have hoped for. And crucially, coherent without being predictable.

Though known primarily as a dangerous ball carrier, he has proved sharp in making runs beyond the defence (out to in, in these cases):

And when not running in behind… note his patience here to hold off going beyond the last line, knowing a pass to feet will bring Álvarez into play:

Lookman has created varied advantages for the team with and without the ball, connected well with teammates, and displayed a good balance between the more individual pursuits a winger must undertake with knowing when to keep the ball moving. In a team where the existing wingers were liable to be dynamic to a fault — a little too hasty to accelerate at every opportunity — the Nigerian’s measured style of dribbling has been especially felt in this new context.

Indeed, when Simeone described him as a “one-v-one specialist” after his debut, he likely wasn’t just talking about dribbling past defenders.

Longer term followers of Atlético and Spanish football will remember the best days of Yannick Carrasco — a natural wide player who became a wing back of sorts, who was a bit of a maverick, and someone who will have tested Simeone’s patience at times. But what he had was an ability to threaten as a ball carrier and bring his team along with him; that regulated style of dribbling which allows teammates to provide support and take up complimentary positions, and the necessary slowing down in the final third that helps precision of attack. He was quick when it was eventually time to go, but deliberately slow beforehand. Lookman has that too.

It helps that the Nigerian has been one of the biggest ball-carrying goal threats in Europe across recent seasons.

Or rather, it is a fundamental part in his variety of dribbling. Opponents fear losing a step one-v-one and giving up space to shoot or find a teammate, and Lookman willingly accepts any reticence to engage, walking them down or freezing them into that initial doubt. When you have that ability to beat defenders in a variety of ways — be it through acceleration or trickery — slowing down in those initial stages becomes a weapon at the team level, allowing players to position themselves for crosses and more time to recruit numbers.

In the below example, note the differing scenes in the penalty area from when Lookman first gets on the ball and by the time he makes his cross. Where an early delivery would have found a crowded box, his longer dribble gives his teammates an eternity to decide and time their movements, making for a harder cover for the defensive side. And when Lookman finally crosses, those runs into the six-yard box open up plenty of space (relative to penalty area space) for a player moving the other way.

As opposed to Atlético’s right side, where more of their play relies on speed of runs and repeatable give-and-goes, Lookman’s arrival on the other side improves their ability to attack without the need for speed. When he drifts out to the left side, that backing down style of dribbling — plus his ability to beat his man — ought to allow them to be more effective when feeding passes or crosses into the penalty area. Giuliano Simeone, of course, needs no invite to attack the back post from the right.

Atlético, too, are a team who like to attack the box with numbers to try and finish off much of their wide play.

Up to now, they have been one of the most right side-heavy teams in LaLiga this season, with 41 percent of their touches in the attacking half happening there up until the start of this month. Lookman’s threat from left-leaning positions should help them alter that balance; although, the alternative of leaving more space for him to isolate wide on the left would be no small consolation too.

The best versions of Simeone’s team this season have tended to happen in games where they’ve attacked at speed and played at a high tempo. While rarely dominating the ball, they are active when it comes to attacking the opponent’s back line, as evidenced by the fact that only PSG (69) have made more defensive line-breaking passes than Atlético (67) in the Champions League this season.

Ademola Lookman has plenty of use in that style, especially when Atlético can launch fast attacks from deeper areas (see their recent Copa del Rey games). But he’s also a wide forward who can work openings off the dribble without the permanent need to be successful with his first off-ball run or dribble attempt, usually when there’s immediate space to work with. Slowing down or figuring an alternate way to break the opponent down — or merely make the right decision to give the ball up and keep the play moving — is something they struggle with on the opposite flank if they can’t punch through in behind early in moves.

As Simeone’s side search for more variety of attack in games missing those speed-optimised conditions, the Nigerian’s ability to be productive at different tempos and make the opposition think more should become a necessary solution.

Whether he’s a starting left winger or a left-leaning striker, Atlético will need his craft with the ball in coming months — and especially that flicker of Carrasco.

A new addition to our coverage this season, Charting LaLiga will be a fixture after every matchday.

The premise is simple. Every week, we’ll churn out some points of interest from around the league in a (hopefully) digestible, easy-to-read manner. And of course, there will be a data element behind much of it.

Charting LaLiga will be a space for all types of insights, no matter the breadth of the topic or which team or player is under the spotlight. Sometimes they’ll be on the big themes everyone is aware of; other times they’ll be minuscule details that wouldn’t warrant an article of their own (but have a small place here).

All posts will typically be made up of anywhere between 3-6 sections, and you can expect these to land by Tuesday (following the usual Monday night fixture).

Any feedback, do let us know on here or X!

Five star Fermín shreds Valencia

“As I said, with the [transfer] window closed, I’m really happy with the situation. Now we can concentrate on the football,” said Hansi Flick, shortly after Barcelona’s 6-0 demolition of Valencia.

After such a positive collective display, that went for the whole team. But a large part of that was inevitably related to Fermín López — the player most at risk of a late departure — who was subject of a bid from Chelsea during the window. Fortunately for Flick, that one passed by as a mere scare.

It’s tempting now to say that, with the window shut and his immediate future cleared up, the 22-year-old’s performance on Sunday night was notably high. However, the reality is that this is who Fermín has been for quite some time already. The fact that he doesn’t start every game shouldn’t cloud that, when he’s sent out on the pitch by Flick, he rarely passes by without event.

Indeed, he has been one of the most influential attacking players in the league in 2025. Since the turn of the year, no midfielder in LaLiga has a better minutes per goal involvement ratio (1.15 per 90 — 0.71 goals and 0.44 assists).

Sunday night at Estadi Johan Cruyff was more of the same. Fermín opened the scoring in the 29th minute, then added a third to truly take the game away from Valencia just before the hour mark. His impact on the game was much more profound than just being the one to put the ball in the back of the net, though.

A constant throughout the game — and a big reason why Barça were so freely able to open up avenues of attack — was through Fermín’s play in between the opposition’s defence and midfield. Even with Valencia switching to a back five to match up numbers-wise, the youngster’s subtlety and variety of movement proved all too much for a defence that needed to be at their concentrated best, if they were ever to stand a chance.

Fermín’s second goal arrived in just that scenario. First, he drops deep and gauges whether Copete (LCB) is going to follow him or drop off. When the defender obliges, he runs him the other way and drags him deep, before beating him back to a comfy spot between the lines. The icing on the cake is, of course, a clean strike off his weaker foot, which is a clear advantage of his when compared to Dani Olmo (as his main competition).

Shortly after, Fermín breaks loose in between the lines again — this time on the other side of the pitch, moving off César Tárrega (RCB) instead of Copete (LCB).

Instead of running deep and then coming back to find the space, this time Fermín takes up his starting spot with Tárrega and feigns as if he’s merely going to maintain his position and wait for the ball to circulate around.

But when Marc Casadó (#17) drops into his own half, Fermín sees his chance and darts in front of Mouctar Diakhaby (CCB) — already occupied by Ferran Torres — to find the pass through the middle of Valencia’s midfield. Even with Valencia not being outnumbered at the back, those timed movements to find central space often left them looking like they were.

It’s been a long enough period now to say that this is simply what Fermín gives an attack as good as Barcelona’s already is.

He’s direct, moves with equal amounts of craft and hustle, and brings a variety of technical attributes that further the team’s aims of attacking with rhythm and aggression. And, increasingly, he is showing he can produce the defining last action — be it a strike or an assist — that will take him ever closer to becoming a first line option in Barcelona’s attacking machine.

Hansi Flick was desperate to keep him at the club — and if we ever needed a reminder why (we didn’t), well Sunday night sure provided us with one.

JK

Sevilla present Elche with a new look

The 2-2 draw between Sevilla and Elche on Friday night was a pretty fair result. The game was short on action in both boxes, the four goals all arrived in pretty random fashion, and there were just 12 shots were attempted between the two sides; the fewest in a LaLiga game so far this season.

As is the case when facing an Eder Sarabia, much of the game tends to happen between the boxes. Elche look to build advantages from the back every time down, using short passes, making their goalkeeper an extra outfielder, and using subtle positional adjustments to figure their way around the opposition. If you don’t actively hurry them up, they’ll take their sweet time in doing that.

It was no different on Friday night. Except for the fact that, unlike in their first three games, their opposition presented a pretty full on man-to-man approach from the first minute. Sevilla switched to a 5-2-3 without possession and sent one of their CBs — usually Marcão to begin — all the way in to latch onto the spare Elche midfielder.

The message was clear: we'd prefer you to play over the top.

Elche probably knew it was coming. Sevilla had done similar away at Girona in week two. But they still struggled to address it, and were guided into game-low figures across the four opening matchdays for 10+ pass sequences (6) and average sequence time (7.1 seconds). They were forced into playing longer and quicker, without gaining much advantage against Sevilla’s obvious risks at the back.

Sevilla, meanwhile, forced 15 high turnovers in the match — the second most by a team in a game this season (only behind Real Madrid’s 16 at Real Oviedo). And although they didn’t manage to turn any of them into goals, there was an evidently unsettling effect that didn’t allow Elche to tee up their usual easing into matches; linking short passes, frustrating the home crowd, punishing undisciplined jumps. Sevilla turned those short pass options into trickier ones and lived with anything that bypassed midfield.

And even when Elche did manage to connect those passes from back to front, finding a rhythm of play once the ball came down often evaded them. Sevilla stayed attached to markers — note Marcão on Ali Houary below — and collapsed around those short passes.

As one would expect, it’s not to say it was all clean on the home side’s part. Dangers arose when one of the centre backs didn’t arrive to the spare midfielder in time, as we saw in the example with Azpilicueta below. (Elche’s front two generally do a good job of occupying three centre backs, providing that hesitation even for Sevilla’s approach)

To be clear, there’s no win-win defensive approach when playing Elche. Sit off them and they’ll keep the ball for an eternity and sink you deep (as they did against Levante). Press them high and aggressively and eventually they’ll play through. Their team is full of technicians. But watching them at Sevilla, there’s an element of forcing uncomfortability that feels like it will quickly become necessary when facing them.

Elche want to play short and slowly wrangle their way through and around you while keeping the game under their spell — they don’t want to punch from back to front all that often, even if the opportunities are there for it to be viable. Nor are they a particularly quick team in the front part of the pitch.

Again, a draw was a fair result with neither side ever really looking worthy of a win. But it was an instructive game on how teams will go about approaching Elche across the season, with those coming after having the benefit of assessing what’s worked and what hasn’t until now. Though the scoreline on Friday said two goals scored, the visitors only had two shots in open play over 102 minutes of game time.

Sevilla were the most aggressive so far — and most successful. Look out for teams taking inspiration from Matías Almeyda in coming weeks and months.

JK

Beñat Prados is a sensitive loss for Athletic

It’s been a bad few days for Athletic Club. Losing at home to Alavés on Saturday, and then receiving the news on Monday morning that Beñat Prados has suffered an ACL injury, wasn’t exactly in line with their otherwise positive three wins from three to kick off the campaign.

Inevitably, the news about Prados is unwelcome. Losing a first team contributor always is. But it’s unwelcome in a variety of annoying, disruptive ways for Athletic — a team who won’t just leap into the market and sign a replacement (and would have to wait months to do so anyway).

Firstly, there was plenty of reason to expect a jump from Prados this season on an individual level. With consecutive 2,000+ minute seasons in the bag, the 24-year-old has played a good amount of football in a side who have been pretty consistent with their idea, style of play, and surrounding personnel. By this point, Prados is well versed in what it takes to be a midfielder in Valverde’s side. He excels on the out-of-possession side, especially.

If that could have been accompanied by continued growth in possession — even if it were only subtle — Athletic would have a starting option for now and the long haul to pair with Mikel Jauregizar (who already ticks both of those boxes).

To be clear: Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta remains a tremendous player and partner for Jauregizar, but the club will no doubt be thinking about his successor — or successors — already. One only need look at the careful management of his minutes last term, which will no doubt continue in this one too.

Beyond the hypotheticals, what we know in the present is that the absence of Prados really hits Athletic’s midfield rotation hard. Ruiz de Galarreta and Jauregizar — one of the great engine room pairs in LaLiga — are now going to have to play more. And if that’s not the case, then next in line is Mikel Vesga — an experienced player valued by Valverde, but one who chips away at Athletic’s front foot, energetic identity due to a lack of athleticism. Even in short cameos this term, he has looked a step slow and struggled on the intensity front.

In other words, added fatigue will not be conducive to Athletic doing what they do best (nor will leaning on Vesga more). Playing with a high rhythm, stealing the ball, and attacking in quick bursts that favour volume over precision is what has underpinned the rise of Valverde’s Athletic. “We’re a team that has to squeeze the opponent, and make it so that they can’t play or [at least] try to make them play less,” as he said after their recent win at Betis.

The other option for Athletic is to promote Alejandro Rego, who is yet to play a half of football at senior level. And of course, that’s not exactly a problem for a club in their position — blooding youngsters is what they’re aiming to do.

The thing is, now simply isn’t a great time to be experimenting. Athletic are just commencing a season where they’ll fight to be among the best four sides in LaLiga — Ernesto Valverde stresses it is still their priority — while having to perform in the Champions League and their dear Copa del Rey. With such a clear line of ascendancy in recent years, Valverde and Athletic are primed to compete now.

Athletic opted for a four of Jauregizar, Ruiz de Galarreta, Prados and Vesga to cover the two deeper midfield roles in 2025-26, which still made plenty of sense just a matter of days ago. Now, however, the necessary compensations that will have to be made in Prados’s long term absence look like a hazard against continued performance.

Los Leones needed Prados the player — but they also needed him to protect their front line duo of Ruiz de Galarreta in Jauregizar, in what promises to be a long season.

JK

Bordalás the Resourceful

The musical chairs at Getafe at the close of the transfer window must have had José Bordalás sweating.

Christantus Uche, his man-mountain of a centre-forward, was courted by several clubs. He seemed set for Wolves before backing out, intent on staying put. Then Crystal Palace came in with an offer neither Uche nor Getafe could refuse. He was sold, and Bordalás was left ruing the loss.

“The circumstances at the club,” as Bordalás calls them, are an ongoing theme at Getafe — the lack of cash, the inability to reinforce the squad, the constant scraping by. He mentions it often in press conferences. Yet somehow, they’ve taken nine points from their first 12, with wins over Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Real Oviedo.

There’s no depth to speak of, but Bordalás is proving himself one of the most resourceful coaches in the league. Getafe have used just 19 players so far — only Osasuna have used fewer. And in all four matches, he’s kept the same midfield, and the only change up front has been swapping Borja Mayoral for Uche.

His vision is crystal clear. A fifth of their passes have been hit long (21%) — a league-high mark — and they revel in being the direct antiheroes of the divison, before backing it up with an ultra-aggressive defence where everybody defends. It may rile plenty of people, but it can also be exactly what some players need to reach their best level.

Often caricatured as the anti-football man, Bordalás has a knack for improving players. In each of the last three seasons, Getafe have sold someone for over €10 million — the latest being Uche, reportedly for €20 million.

There are others who could soon follow that path. Davinchi, just 17 and signed from the Primera RFEF, has already earned meaningful minutes. And Mario Martín looks the part too, showing bright moments with the ball to compliment his usual defensive graft. There’s over-exuberance in his challenges, sure, but that will be harnessed (and might even be encouraged at his new club). All the while, he’s getting valuable minutes in a competitive team.

Don’t be fooled by the bright start. Once injuries, fatigue, and midweek fixtures hit, Getafe will likely be dragged further towards the relegation fight. But with Bordalás, they won’t go quietly and we are sure to see a couple of players excel in their roles under him.

RD

Villarreal’s second striker is first class

Villarreal’s summer overhaul was sweeping. Returning to the Champions League, they clearly decided they needed more depth and variety. Ten new players arrived, while key pieces of Marcelino’s old guard such as Álex Baena and Yéremy Pino were sold.

One player who stayed, and who has stepped into a bigger role, is Nicolas Pépé — Marcelino’s wild card in a team built to endure, but which can adapt to largely whatever the opponent throws at them.

The re-signing of Taj Buchanan has been crucial, especially with Gerard Moreno and Ayoze Pérez out injured and Etta Eyong sold. It allows Pépé to play as a second striker in Marcelino’s 4-4-2, without sacrificing much on the right wing. Buchanan doesn’t have Pepé’s ball-carrying or goal threat, but that’s the point: he plays safer, takes fewer risks, and gives Marcelino a bit more peace of mind in shoring up the right side of the team in a more balanced way.

Indeed, it also helps mask Pépé’s erratic defensive effort. With Buchanan and Santiago Mouriño locking down the right, Pépé can hover higher up the pitch — ready to strike on the counter, where he’s proven lethal. Although it’s far from the only avenue where he’s showing his threat.

Despite defeat for his side away to Atlético Madrid, he was Villarreal’s most dangerous piece on the board. From his second-striker berth, he dropped between the lines while Buchanan opened up the width, forcing Atlético’s defence to collapse in on him. And he repeatedly pulled Lenglet out of the back line, destabilising their shape out of fear of letting Pépé receive in the gap.

Although largely known throughout his career as a touchline winger who likes to cut inside, the Ivorian has been spectacular so far when receiving passes in central areas and on the half-turn, before accelerating towards defenders and committing them — as Lenglet inevitably feared at the weekend.

There was good reason for it. Through the opening four rounds, Pépé ranks in the top five wingers for both completed dribbles (2.5) and long progressive carries (6.7) per 90. He is a player who opponents can’t afford to let receive and turn, even if it comes at the expense of hauling a defender out and opening gaps behind.

As for the actual creation, he has averaged 0.99 combined xG and xA per 90 across his 270 minutes. Of players to have played as many — the equivalent of three full matches — only Kylian Mbappé has a higher current average (1.12).

If he can continue somewhere in the vicinity of his current form over the long term, the 30-year-old stands to produce a season that many had assumed was probably no longer in his future.

Every Champions League contender has its difference makers — Mbappé, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, Julián Álvarez. Those players who can crack open a game that looks destined to be decided by small details. And although there are other attacking candidates at Villarreal who’ll inevitably make their own claim throughout the season, it’s starting to look like the Yellow Submarine have one of those too.

RD

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A new addition to our coverage this season, Charting LaLiga will be a fixture after every matchday.

The premise is simple. Every week, we’ll churn out some points of interest from around the league in a (hopefully) digestible, easy-to-read manner. And of course, there will be a data element behind much of it.

Charting LaLiga will be a space for all types of insights, no matter the breadth of the topic or which team or player is under the spotlight. Sometimes they’ll be on the big themes everyone is aware of; other times they’ll be minuscule details that wouldn’t warrant an article of their own (but have a small place here).

All posts will typically be made up of anywhere between 3-6 sections, and you can expect these to land by Tuesday (following the usual Monday night fixture).

Any feedback, do let us know on here or X!

Barcelona’s big chance problem

Nobody who watched Barcelona regularly last season could conclude that Iñigo Martínez was a beneficial summer sale — at least from the view of sustaining team performance. Maybe it helped the club in financial terms and with managing registration issues, but there was little to no case for it on the playing front or for Hansi Flick’s peace of mind.

As it happens, Barcelona have since conceded more big chances than every other team in LaLiga (12 in three games); and a startling 11 more than rivals Real Madrid.

It’d be opportunistic of us to put all that on the absence of Iñigo. What it seemingly has done in the short term, however, is reduce Barcelona’s margin for error in a team that have decided a high-risk, high reward style of defending is their way and aren’t executing it well as a collective so far.

Indeed, even the mere fact of swapping out a player who played regularly at centre back last term — splitting up the Iñigo-Cubarsí duo — for at least one different player ought to be considered a hazard at this stage. The 34-year-old was the most senior member of the backline, clearest leadership presence, had 46 games worth of exposure to the offside trap-heavy style, and not to mention, was one of the best ball players from LCB in Europe last term (thus reducing giveaways and helping the team to spend more time attacking).

And here’s what Iñigo himself recently had to say about being part of a back line that defends the way it does. Evidently, even the most prepared and conditioned player to prop up the defensive line and live with the offside trap found it difficult.

“It’s true that when I was getting back after the games I couldn’t even sleep, given the tension that I had inside me… the stress it generates, having to be constantly aware of the opponent, and not only the opponent but the ball and the line…

“There were hours of work but it’s more about being alert and talking a lot. The back line has to be talking a lot, constantly…"

Go through this season’s tape, meanwhile, and there’s a variety of ways in which Barcelona have conspired to leak big chances behind their defensive line. There are various Lamine Yamal giveaways setting up transitions, long diagonals over the heads of full backs to bypass the initial press, overlapping runs from full backs starting in their own half, and quite evidently, a general decrease in the pop of their pressing coming out of pre-season that isn’t helping matters.

There are also ones that we’re seeing more than once, as early into the season as we are. A one-two on the flanks between a full back and winger, where either the defensive line isn’t high enough to play offside or the back four aren’t all moving in the same direction.

There’s certainly work to be done with their forward and midfield lines as far as pressing goes, but there’s still the sense that Flick’s side are more vulnerable when it is time to defend in their particular way. The type you’d expect when there’s a lack of familiarity between certain partnerships and players with less real time experience of defending in such a dynamic and unique manner.

And then there are instances when it has felt like Barça are simply gambling on the presence of the flag, rather than actively earning one.

Take this set piece against Levante — and specifically the role of captain Ronaldo Araújo, who ought to be taking the lead — for example:

Barça set their line, clearly with an offside call in their thoughts, yet make no actual movement to try increase their chances of bringing it into play. As the ball is coming in, Araújo is nowhere near being in position to either mark a Levante player and is instead busy appealing for an offside as Adrian de la Fuente tries to pick out the bottom corner.

Followers of the Flick era will know there were plenty of hair-raising moments last season too. Barça’s style of defending will never bring that number down to zero. But there’s only a certain amount of defence-opening lapses that this team will be able to absorb and still remain in the hunt for multiple trophies.

Expect it to improve in coming weeks and months with the chance to review the footage and make corrections — although not without some initial pain in the short term. Iñigo Martínez isn’t coming back.

JK

Haissem Hassan doesn’t want to be a sub anymore

“Put me on bench! Eh you, put me on the bench”! screamed Haissem Hassan in the direction of the Oviedo dugout, part celebrating his team’s opener against Real Sociedad and part letting off some steam.

Probably not advisable when your manager is the steely faced Serbian Veljko Paunović. But maybe after you had picked the ball up, ran the best part of 70 yards unopposed, then cut back a pass for a teammate to open the scoring in a game where your team had created nothing for 39 minutes, you too would feel similarly emboldened to defend your starting case.

To be fair to Paunović, it’s not that difficult to figure out why Hassan hasn’t been in the XI for the last two games. He’s a weak individual defender who is prone to lapses of attention, lacks appreciation of team-specific defending, and he’s not huge on running without the ball. In Oviedo’s first month back at the top level, Hassan doesn’t aid their priority of being a strong collective first and foremost.

On the other hand, Hassan significantly increases Oviedo’s chances of being able to get ahead in matches and then defend, as well as simply score a goal… as we saw on Saturday.

If the 23-year-old chips away at their defensive solidity, then we also have to acknowledge that he’s an enormous simplifier for the team’s attacking play.

As far as ball progression and take-on ability go, the distance between Hassan and the rest of his teammates is significant. In his 59 minutes on the pitch against Real Sociedad, he completed as many take-ons as all other Oviedo players combined (3), while Vinícius Júnior was the only winger on MD3 who had a higher total carry progress than him (224 metres upfield).

In fact, across the three matchdays so far, Hassan has accounted for a higher percentage of his team’s total carry progress than any other player (28%).

Whether they find him in transition or simply move the ball wide into the Frenchman against a set defence, Hassan has already shown he can be an individual advantage creator at this level.

That’s important in a promoted side where there’s always a doubt about final third quality, as well as allowing you to generate openings without having to take notable risks with your team shape and committing lots of numbers to attack; something that a promoted manager is inevitably hesitant to do.

Without anyone else intervening, Hassan can regularly haul Oviedo up the pitch with long carries and driving runs that back defenders down.

As we can see in the clip below, the ex-Villarreal man also has a great relationship with full back Nacho Vidal. Both players know how to play off and compliment each other’s movements, whether it’s Hassan wide and Vidal inside or vice versa.

The one guy who doesn’t need telling all of this, it should be said, is Veljko Paunović. If Oviedo want to score a goal, he knows better than anyone that a right side with Haissem Hassan increases their chances of doing so (especially if Vidal is there too).

The question he’ll be weighing up is whether Oviedo are a better football team with his high attacking impact and questionable defensive input, or whether the pros of the former are yet to override the latter.

JK

Transition problems ruin an improved Girona

Girona’s collapsing project showed signs of abating against Sevilla at the weekend, with an improved performance from Míchel’s side. The problem was, even being arguably the better side on the day, they still conspired to lose 2-0 against a Sevilla side that are far from convincing in their own way.

For the Catalans, it was again that dreaded word: transitions. Both of Sevilla’s goals came from attacks starting in their own half and had just two passes from start to finish, while both came against the run of play.

Speaking after the game, midfielder Iván Martín told LaLiga TV:

“We’re always going to have errors with the ball because we try to play and take control… [but] we’re putting a lot of emphasis on not letting transitions develop.

We have to make fouls and we haven’t — myself being the first with the first goal they scored. We need to correct that in any way we can because it’s the biggest error that’s hurting us.

“Our problem is still transitions. As much as we have players back there among the defence, and even with numerical superiority, they’re doing damage.”

As Iván Martín noted, Girona are always going to be prone to giveaways that force them to run backwards to some extent. It’s a natural consequence of playing high up the pitch: when the opponent recovers the ball, they have more immediate space to work with — provided they can put the first pass or two together.

For Míchel’s side, though, stopping those little fires before they turn into full blown infernos continues to be a problem.

In the opener against Sevilla, we can see a few of those lingering issues. Primarily, a lack of intensity to stop the move at the earliest point (including taking a foul), with Iván Martín not latching onto the touchline quick enough. And we can also see the lack of reaction and mobility from Axel Witsel, who ought to be thinking as a defensive shield in this side.

With his eyes fixed on the ball, he lets Rubén Vargas slip away into then what becomes a two-v-two problem at the back against a pair of quick Sevilla attackers.

Since their miraculous top four finish a few seasons ago, Girona’s asset-stripped squad has simply left them a much inferior version of what they once were — albeit without a change in Míchel’s main idea. Increasingly, they feel like a team optimised for building the game through the thirds (at the deficit of defensive specialists) who are more often suffering the cons of that than profiting from the pros.

The 2023-24 version had the quality to build the game, push the opposition back, and then keep them pinned there, meaning that even with generally non-specialist defenders, transitions didn’t plague them all that much. They attacked for longer and gave teams less juice to run the other way.

This one, unfortunately, is struggling to achieve any of the three aspects.

Through the first three matchdays of the new campaign, Girona have conceded the most fast breaks (10), shots from fast breaks (8) and conceded the most open play goals featuring three or fewer passes (7).

With a decreased ability to put teams on the back foot and keep them there, Girona’s defensive frailties come to the fore quick and often. And their toolkit for stopping those fast attacks — tactical fouls, more dedicated protection of the back four, stronger defensive profiles in the team — continues to look light. It’s instructive that they have already made 14 changes to the starting XI this term, with Míchel clearly hunting for solutions on the personnel front.

The more optimistic projection is that the goals should start to arrive more for Girona than what they have so far, which should help them battle their deficit. They were unlucky not to score against Sevilla. But while they remain short on that front, transitions will retain the potential to be a killer.

JK

Julián Álvarez and Atlético look unsure of themselves

Diego Simeone’s new-look Atlético Madrid has looked like exactly what it is through three games: a team in the middle of a reset. The performances have been uneven, and the patience that usually cushions this kind of process is already running thin. Zero wins from three games after a big summer outlay tends to zap patience pretty quickly.

Julián Alvarez, for one, has looked increasingly lost in the last couple of games. In the last two against Elche and Alavés, he has managed a single shot on target and has spent more time in deeper positions than anywhere near goal. The adjustment isn’t hard to trace: Alexander Sørloth’s introduction has shunted Alvarez aside and deeper. The swap has left the attack looking blunter and the players more frustrated.

There are a number of reasons why Atlético have struggled to impose themselves on any of their three opponents so far. Singling out one issue is both wrong and incomplete. However, Atlético’s build-up and ability to move the ball from front to back certainly isn’t helping matters. Outside of David Hancko’s impressive troubleshooting, they look tense and unsure of how to move the ball even under modest pressure.

And when they opt into going long, the pattern in recent games has been familiar: Jan Oblak goes over the top, Sørloth fails to connect, and possession is swiftly handed back to the opposition. What follows then are large gaps to try apply pressure and the sort of transitional defending problems that have tripped up Simeone’s teams before.

Below is an example of a goal kick where Atlético have 7v6 on the outfielder front, and are set up to play. Antonio Blanco (in the centre circle) is already retreating and if you include Oblak himself, you have more than enough for a considered build-up through a stretched out Alavés.

Instead, Oblak goes long, Sørloth misses the header, and Atlético are left trying to recover a loose ball with large distances between players.

With confidence clearly wavering and perhaps some lack of clarity on what Atlético are aiming to do, below is another example in open play where Oblak is going long when it seems fair to assume his team are in good condition to be playing short and building the game that way.

Barrios is pointing to the free left hand side, but it’s too late. Oblak has made up his mind.

As for the front two, the partnership of Alvarez and Sørloth generally feels awkward. Sørloth is being used as a fixed-point target man no. 9, which sends Álvarez away from the last line and into a more drifting in between role. Nor is there any semblance of synergy between them when occasional ‘front two’ moments appear: against Alavés, they exchanged just two passes.

When Antoine Griezmann came on as a left interior and Matteo Ruggeri offered more thrust on the flank than Hancko had previously, Álvarez looked liberated and more dangerous than he had — at least until he was subbed off, exhausted from chasing second balls and trying to conjure up the kind of magic players like the little Argentinean can occasionally do.

The good news is that the pieces to tweak tactics may not be far away. Nico González, the deadline day arrival, profiles as either a second striker or a winger, which should reposition Álvarez back into his centre forward role and the exit of Sørloth who continues to underwhelm as a starter. Álex Baena’s return will be crucial, too; even in a mere 68 minutes against Espanyol, we saw him connecting nicely with Álvarez in what were — not coincidentally — their best minutes of the season by far.

Baena created two chances for Álvarez in that cameo versus Espanyol, which is just one fewer than the rest of his Atlético teammates combined across three matches this season (3).

After the break, Atlético face Villarreal and then Liverpool at Anfield where the impulse to exercise caution is predictably high. We know how Diego Simeone often responds to adversity. But the version of this team that exists now — rigid, lacking connection, and short on attacking chemistry — neither looks sustainable for a team who are already facing the necessity of results, on top of stylistic consideration.

RD

Rodrigo Mendoza is hard to define

Things are going well for Rodrigo Mendoza. A new contract at Elche, his first LaLiga goal against Levante last time out, a Spain under-21 call-up, and then an invitation to train with the senior side shortly after. Enough in seven days to fill an entire C.V. His star is most definitely on the rise.

We know that Mendoza is a fantastic talent; something which he’s continuing to prove now he’s stepped up to the big time. The reality, however, is that we’re not all that sure of what he’s going to be. After 923 minutes in the Segunda last season and three starts in the top-flight this year, there’s still a hugely open book on what his best role might be, where he’s most effective, and where he’ll eventually land for the brunt of a career that looks increasingly well primed.

For now, the comparison that we like most is a young Pedri at Las Palmas (before being put on the path to becoming a world class, box-to-box master interior).

The flashes of vision and control in tight spaces, the ability to turn into pressure and find an exit route, his drifting into areas to make himself an option — and even the difficulty in defining his best role because of his wide array of skills.

In the last two seasons, he’s split time starting from a wide position and as a central attacking midfielder, as well as playing in deeper roles.

As we’ve seen in the opening weeks of the season, Elche offers the youngster an excellent place to develop on the job too. From the vision of coach Eder Sarabia, their position-heavy style of football has set them up with a strong early platform — they’re playing the game on their terms for long spells and allowing the likes of Mendoza to be influential in interpreting space, rather than hunkered behind the ball or having to deal with direct balls from the back.

Elche rank fourth for average sequence time so far (12.4 seconds); only behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Celta Vigo. They’re patient and ultra positional, with their way of playing putting a big emphasis on subtlety of movements to pick up on weaker spots in the opposition shape.

The 3-5-2 they’ve opened the season with is beneficial for Mendoza’s specific talents too. With a front two of Rafa Mir and Álvaro Rodríguez occupying up to three centre backs at a time, he is is typically the one to take advantage of any spaces that open up behind the opposition midfielders.

Against Atlético Madrid and particularly Levante — two teams who drop into a back five — Elche and Mendoza profited hugely from that space in between the lines. Mir and Rodríguez switched between occupying outside CBs and running into the channels, while the youngster picked up on the gaps (usually when the middle CB was reticent to step out).

Sometimes those gaps didn’t appear, and Mendoza’s response was to move sideways and to drag markers like Oriol Rey out of position, before combining on the sides. With two centre forwards in the box, any inroads he can make there are obviously beneficial. And indeed, one of those moves did lead directly to a goal that would have stood without an illegal nudge from Rafa Mir.

The numbers are also illustrative of both Mendoza’s role and his productivity. He received 11 progressive passes on MD1 against Betis; the joint-most by a player in a single game across the first three rounds. Similarly, no midfielder has received more in open play (19) overall so far. And you can throw in a healthy return of seven completed take-ons, four open play chances created, four fouls won and a goal on his stat line too.

The specifics of his position and long-term usage may still be unsettled, but that will be of concern to precisely nobody at this stage. It’s bound to make itself evident along the way. And in the meantime, the structure around him is already tilting to give him ample room to figure it out.

Sarabia eased him into the fold last season with just under 1,000 minutes, and now — even on the big stage — isn’t worried about giving him the keys the kingdom as a featured player.

RD

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A new addition to our coverage this season, Charting LaLiga will be a fixture after every matchday.

The premise is simple. Every week, we’ll churn out some points of interest from around the league in a (hopefully) digestible, easy-to-read manner. And of course, there will be a data element behind much of it.

Charting LaLiga will be a space for all types of insights, no matter the breadth of the topic or which team or player is under the spotlight. Sometimes they’ll be on the big themes everyone is aware of; other times they’ll be minuscule details that wouldn’t warrant an article of their own (but have a small place here).

All posts will typically be made up of anywhere between 3-6 sections, and you can expect these to land by Tuesday (following the usual Monday night fixture).

Any feedback, do let us know on here or X!

⚠️ Here comes Sergi Altimira

Remember back in 2023 when Ramón Planes signed Sergi Altimira for Getafe, left that position to take up the same one with Real Betis, and then signed Altimira again for his new club in the same summer? Maybe not, but you’ll understand the takeaway.

Ramón Planes was a big fan of the then 21-year-old midfielder.

The ex-Barcelona Sporting Director didn’t stay long at Betis either, but he did leave a handful of interesting recruits before moving again. One of those — Johnny Cardoso — has already been spun for a roughly 20 million euro profit, and in his place it’ll now be over to Altimira to help pick up some of that midfield slack.

The good part about that is that Altimira can already do much of what Cardoso did. Maybe not to the level of the American, but not a long way behind either.

Like Cardoso, the 23-year-old is an excellent recuperador. Reading the development of play to be able to intercept, being rangey enough to cover ground and pick up loose balls, and with an improving physicality at the top level, Altimira looks primed to become one of the better midfielders in LaLiga on that front.

He’s already good — and already grown a lot. Playing at a high rhythm and going box-to-box for 90 minutes is coming easier to him too.

In the opening weeks, we’ve seen the importance of that on the defensive side, but also in how he can weaponise it for Betis in an attacking sense. Against Alavés, Altimira’s interventions to cut attacks short were frequently followed up by smart passes to tee up transitions going the other way. There was a maturity to his defensive contribution, followed up by intelligent decisions, that wasn’t quite there 12 months ago.

And in a team with searing speed and ball carriers in Rodrigo Riquelme, Ez Abde, Aitor Ruibal, and potentially Antony — as well as mobile no. 9s — that’s a big thing.

Betis don’t need him to become a midfield general who runs the game in possession. Johnny Cardoso never was and look where he ended up. But if Altimira can sustain this level of performance as a midfield anchor, capable of providing balance and sprinkling enough smart use of the ball, that fee Ramón Planes paid for him back in 2023 will start to look very modest.

JK

🛡️ Real Madrid keep Courtois quiet while they search for fluidity

The beginning of the Xabi Alonso project hasn’t exactly been spellbinding. But should we have demanded it to be? When the team’s biggest problem throughout last season was a lack of collective balance, the answer is probably no.

What they have been so far is dependable.

Through the opening two matchdays, Real Madrid are the only side in LaLiga who haven’t conceded an Opta-defined big chance. Indeed, they rank first among all teams for xG conceded (0.87) and shots on target faced (3), while they have only suffered one shot from an opposition fast break through two matches.

What they achieved against both Osasuna and Real Oviedo was largely what they needed to: defend by avoiding the issue, whilst they go about wearing down the opposition into either lapses of concentration or defensive breakdowns that would eventually tell.

It was again clear to see Real Madrid’s insistence on being connected, keeping short distances between players, and moving the ball with an eye on being in good position to recover it quickly after turnovers. Through the two matches, they’ve recovered the ball in open play an average of 49 metres from their own goal; the highest in the league, as well as considerably higher than their average last term (41.7).

“When we’re able to get those distances where we’re much closer to each other, when both we have the ball and when we lose it…” Alonso mentioned post-game, before drifting into another line of thought that didn’t really finish the sentence.

We know what you meant, Xabi.

At least to begin, Real Madrid have played with a renewed collective emphasis. The proximity of players promotes sharing of the ball and quicker circulation, while they’re frequently crowding their opponent out after turnovers — both through numbers around the ball and the fact that they’re fresh to jump into high-intensity short efforts of recovery.

Long, scrambling runs back towards their own goal have been scarce.

The next step is, of course, how to further sharpen their attacking game without losing that platform. Their four goals so far have been scored from moves containing two or fewer passes (including a penalty), which aren’t exactly tied in to the territorial dominance we’ve previously mentioned. Half of them came late on versus an Oviedo side taking more risks and leaving themselves exposed to quicker attacks.

Perhaps it’ll come simply through improving sensaciones or more playing time for specific players in the new system. Or if Kylian Mbappé continues to be this good, then it might make sense to keep the emphasis firmly on conceding so little in terms of territory and work for Thibaut Courtois.

Either way, it’s perfectly logical for Alonso and Real Madrid to begin on this path. Their passage through the first two weeks has been largely without problem, and affords the new man time to start building out from a safer space, with no early drama.

Whether Real Madrid soon become an attacking juggernaut who you simultaneously can’t lay a glove on, or the Madridistas decide they simply don’t like control all that much and re-open a philosophical debate, only time will tell.

JK

🧠 Jon Gorrotxategi puts his own spin on sub cameos

It didn’t take long for Jon Gorrotxategi to make the Reale Arena oooh and aaah.

Readers of La Pausa will know we’ve been driving the campaign for him to replace Martín Zubimendi for quite some time now. So to see him finally on the pitch in LaLiga, and playing as well as he did, pleased us greatly. He made the third most passes in the game (22) after coming on, along with five possession recoveries and three tackles/interceptions.

Even if it was just a mere glimpse and not at all determining in whether he is the heir apparent to Martín Zubimendi (there’s work to be done yet), here’s a brief look at his second half cameo and how his intelligence helped La Real begin to show a different version of themselves.

The clip below feels like a good starting point, as well as an encapsulation of what we can expect from him with the ball:

Let’s take a look what happened there.

Real Sociedad recover the ball deep and the crowd roars to attack an out-of-shape Espanyol quickly — i.e release the ball forward. Remember, they’d just scored to make it 2-1. Adrenaline was up. An early ball into space for Kubo wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world, and Espanyol had been hard to play through when they could get into their deeper defensive shape with men behind the ball.

However, he looks up and turns back. Some of the crowd like it; others don’t. Gorrotxategi’s decision avoids the risk of losing possession with a riskier pass, and sets them back up around the halfway line in their shape.

Then, initially feigning interest in getting the ball back, he soon sneaks into a small window over on the right side, making himself available and kickstarting a new attack. After a give-and-go with Kubo on the move, La Real quickly recapture their dynamism, swing the ball across to Marín, and find themselves one pass away from a big chance.

Et voilà.

Indeed, this is largely the argument for Gorrotxategi. Even if we hadn’t seen him in LaLiga before the weekend, we know that his game is about measuring tempo, knowing when to slow down and speed up, and then showing real quality in getting attacks out of the starting blocks when he does decide to go. He is crafty in finding space to spark something — and agile enough to escape pressure when the heat arrives.

“The feeling is that he gave us a bit more order, and that he’s going to be a very important player for us,” said Sergio Francisco post-game, before adding he was convinced of the latter.

In a team we want to be less readable and easier to prepare for this term, Gorrotxategi can go a long way to helping that.

JK

💡 Flick flips the switch

It would be hard to find two sides with more contrasting approaches than Levante and Barcelona on Saturday night. Julián Calero’s men sat in a compact 5-4-1, frustrating, taking away all the valuable space and leaving their opponents with the deeper stuff they didn’t want. And along with that, they were ready to sprung into fast attacks at every opportunity.

It was nothing Barcelona hadn’t seen before, but it did give Hansi Flick a serious headache in its execution.

Levante were caught offside six times (and probably another half dozen times where advantage was played), but that was to be expected. It was an inevitable part of counter-attacking where they often only had a couple of seconds to make a decision, with Barça’s backline rapidly squeezing towards them. If you could play offside in the opposition’s half, Flick might push it even further…

After an arduous first half, Barcelona broke through early in the second with a pair of quick goals, which would eventually put them in position to grab a late winner. After the match, Ferran Torres admitted: “[Flick] gave us some tactical points because we weren’t very well positioned in the first half.”

The main issue before the break was Raphinha, tasked with playing Dani Olmo’s role, was too often dropping deep towards the ball instead of stretching Levante’s back five. The only moments when Lamine Yamal could receive in space came when Eric García managed to attack on the inside of Manu Sánchez, creating gaps for Barcelona to exploit.

On the left, Casadó was the only player trying to do that job, but as someone who rarely arrives in the box, his movements often left Marcus Rashford with little option but to recycle the ball against a disciplined block. He really wanted to drop his shoulder and take someone on but with the extra defender ready to double-team him, it was futile.

The second half brought adjustments. Raphinha shifted left, drifting into more central pockets and into the left half-space while Balde held width. On the right, Olmo — an instinctive space interpreter — took up the role between the lines.

“In the first half, Rashford showed us how good he is,” Flick later said, even though the forward was hooked at the break. Rashford did threaten, reaching the byline a couple of times, but Barcelona were too static on his flank.

After half time, their play carried more variety and intent, finally stretching Levante’s deep block and moving them around in ways they hadn’t managed earlier.

RD

🦁 Boyomo is ready for the big time

It’s only been two games, but Alessio Lisci’s fingerprints are already all over this Osasuna side — on both the collective and the individuals within it. They opened the season with a narrow defeat to Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, before bouncing back with a convincing but slender victory over Valencia on Matchday 2.

Much of that is down to smart recruitment from sporting director Braulio Vázquez, who has quietly assembled players tailored to Lisci’s style. Valentin Rosier, signed on a free, immediately showcased his value: he shut down Vinícius Jr. at the Bernabéu and then proved himself a genuine two-way threat against Valencia in and out of possession, with an assist for Ante Budimir and constantly putting pressure on Valencia’s left-hand side.

Another new face, Víctor Muñoz, arrived from Real Madrid and has injected real verticality into Osasuna’s attack. He came off the bench against Madrid but earned a start in the following game. What he lacks in finesse, he more than compensates for with sheer pace and directness, giving them much of what they had in spurts from Bryan Zaragoza last term.

Perhaps the standout player, however, has been someone who was already at the club. Enzo Boyomo is a defender we admired back in his Albacete days, and he’s been immense across Osasuna’s opening 180 minutes. The 23-year-old, now starting as the right centre-back in Lisci’s back five, is attracting interest from clubs such as Juventus and keeping him beyond the transfer window will be no small task.

In Lisci’s system, a lot is asked of him in covering for Rosier on the right side, with centre backs being competent in the channels a big demand from the Italian. Osasuna’s new boss puts a massive premium on one-to-one match-ups all across the field, meaning wide centre backs like Boyomo often have to step out and hang with wingers and attacking midfielders without much of a safety net.

Boyomo, however, is proving he can more than hold his own covering at full-back.

Side note: Osasuna won 60 percent of their duels against Valencia at the weekend; their highest success rate in a LaLiga home match since October 2021 (also 60% v Granada). Welcome to Lisci Land.

Indeed, the Cameroonian’s recovery speed and physicality allow Osasuna to take more risks both in and out of possession. Normally, the weakness of a 5-3-2 is the lack of natural cover on the wings, but Boyomo is a reliable player to be able to help neutralise that: he steps out aggressively to shut down space in front, yet has the pace to recover and cut out balls in behind — as shown in the image below.

He might not be around for much longer at Osasuna if a bigger European side come calling, but he has been a pleasure to watch in the first two games of Lisci’s reign at least.

His presence — or lack of, depending on how things develop — would certainly mark a different ceiling for the new project.

RD

Anything else you liked or thought was worth mentioning on MD1? We, of course, can’t hit on everything and inevitably leave some bits on the table… let us know on here or X!

A new addition to our coverage this season, Charting LaLiga will be a fixture after every matchday.

The premise is simple. Every week, we’ll churn out some points of interest from around the league in a (hopefully) digestible, easy-to-read manner. And of course, there will be a data element behind much of it.

Charting LaLiga will be a space for all types of insights, no matter the breadth of the topic or which team or player is under the spotlight. Sometimes they’ll be on the big themes everyone is aware of; other times they’ll be minuscule details that wouldn’t warrant an article of their own (but have a small place here).

All posts will typically be made up of anywhere between 3-6 sections, and you can expect these to land on a Tuesday (following the usual Monday night fixture).

Any feedback, do let us know on here or X!

Yeremy Pino steps into Baena’s shoes

Alberto Moleiro may be Villarreal’s long term bet to ‘replace’ Álex Baena — at least in stylistic terms — but it was Yeremy Pino who picked up the immediate reins, beginning on Friday night.

Although he had got some practice runs in pre-season, the ‘Baena role’ represents a pretty marked shift for Pino. It takes him from being a largely touchline winger into central areas a lot more, given Sergi Cardona’s prominence in wide areas and the difference between left-right midfield roles in this side (left tucks in, right stretches the play wide).

Pino did alternate inside-out duties with Cardona throughout Friday night’s game, but we’ve probably never seen the Canarian quite so active from a central role in LaLiga. Indeed, in what was his 133rd top-flight game, Pino’s 75 touches and 48 completed passes were both his most in a single LaLiga match to date.

(That was conditioned in part by Oviedo going down to 10 men, although the pattern of play was pretty clear.)

Of course, playing in the ‘Baena role’ is a different thing to being Álex Baena. Pino inevitably lacks some craft with his touches and doesn’t have anything like the sort of vision that his predecessor does, but there were still plenty of things to like about his display and individual take on the position.

Perhaps the biggest plus point was his movement. Pino did a great job of bothering the opposition backline and playing with Oviedo markers, making the most of his natural winger mentality. In the example below, note how he attracts Kwasi Sibo towards the ball, before spinning out and attacking the space left behind.

Although Aaron Éscandell got out in time to sweep up the ball from Juan Foyth, Pino’s runs were an immediate source of pain for Oviedo.

Here was another just over 90 seconds into the game — again, throwing the visitors into a state of confusion as to how best to position themselves against a ball over the top (again, from Juan Foyth).

Where Sibo loses sight of Villarreal’s #21, right-sided centre back Oier Luengo hesitates on whether to follow the run of Eyong or shift across and tend to Pino’s dart between the gap. On both occasions, Villarreal were able to bypass midfield and immediately get the opponent’s backline under pressure.

There’s no doubt Pino will need some more exposure in the position to become an effective passer and mover of the ball himself — movements without it won’t always be the first port of call — but there’s no doubt he can be effective as he is. The 22-year-old is dynamic, has a good appreciation for the game around him, and always pours a huge amount of energy into his work (with and without the ball).

Although Alberto Moleiro did look bright when he came on in the second half, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Marcelino bed him in slowly and leave Pino in position for some time yet. As alluded to in the previous paragraph, one big advantage that Pino does have for now, on top of his natural longevity in the team, is his defensive work. When it comes to guarding the left side of their 4-4-2 and getting pressure on opposition full backs, he’s a much more reliable player out-of-possession than Moleiro currently is

That’ll count for a lot in Marcelino’s view as far as ‘Baena role’ minutes go — at least until the ex-Las Palmas man can demonstrably change his mind.

JK

Let it fly, Lamine

Over an hour of Barcelona’s opener against Mallorca was a game of 10 outfielders versus eight. With that, we didn’t get to learn much about either side in terms of their 2025-26 outlook.

But we will talk about Lamine Yamal.

Nine shots (one goal), three chances created, and six completed take-ons tells you there was little mercy from the 18-year-old. Indeed, the only other player on record to replicate that in the opening game of a LaLiga season is Lionel Messi (v Real Betis in 2016-17). It was — even in odd circumstances — sheer attacking volume that very few players can match.

“He did it against a nine-man Mallorca side!” we hear you scream. And true, that’s a fact.

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However, even if Mallorca did suffer two red cards, Yamal didn’t want for individual attention in the game. Little came easy. Unless it was a long switch of play to work a momentary one-v-one with Johan Mojica, Mallorca still kept plenty of attention on him. Even down to nine men, Jagoba Arrasate’s tight 4-4-0 kept at least two bodies on the left flank, looking to cover both the dart to the touchline and the cut back inside onto his strong foot.

Yamal still, largely, got where he wanted to go. With sporadic runs taking Mojica to the touchline just to keep him guessing — including with his first touch of the season just over two minutes in — the Barça’s man’s eventual shot map turned out to be an instructive one.

Nine shots, all with his left foot, all affording him the same angle. Only once has he had more attempts in a LaLiga game and more attempts following a carry (he had five on Saturday), while his eight shots from outside the box were a game-high in league action.

From watching him at Son Moix and in pre-season, it seems pretty clear that Yamal is going to be hunting his own a lot more this term. Becoming a prolific goalscorer is the next step in his evolution, as well as the thing that can catapult him into a more unanimous position as one of — if not the — best player in the wold.

And the thing is, you get the sense that he knows it is entirely possible.

Why wouldn’t he? He’s already produced goals in big moments, he’s not afraid of responsibility, and his dribbling ability is a guarantee. That talent can repeatedly take him where he wants to go. He doesn’t have to rely on others to engage him in the match or constantly find his runs. With the way Barcelona set up — usually isolating Yamal on the right — the dribble, drop of the shoulder, and angled shot on his left is going to be accessible to him almost every game.

The trick is a more experienced, smarter version of Yamal will know how to get there more often. Take the full back to the touchline twice in a row, throw in some fakes, keep them guessing… but with a renewed intention that, when the opportunity arrives to get onto his left foot, Yamal is going to be hunting goals in a different way.

Throw in the fact of a possible Robert Lewandowski decline, a potentially unrepeatable season from Raphinha on the production front, and the fact that Yamal — now 18 — has a full season behind him in which he was one of the biggest attacking threat in the world, and the desire for more decisive performance in front of goal is easily understood.

Nine goals in LaLiga last season is not the plan this time round.

JK

Getafe put the clamps on Celta Vigo

Uh oh, José Bordalás is back.

Once again dealing with a less-than-ideal squad situation, he was able to extract another masterplan of resistance and get a big win on the road. And against an opponent in Celta Vigo who we know are skilled, well coached, and able to create chances better than most.

Celta ranked seventh for both total xG and from open play in home matches last season; essentially the ‘best of the rest’ behind the top six sides we know of. Here, however, they slumped to just 0.73 xG and created just one ‘big chance’ according to Opta’s definition, despite having 69% of the ball.

For Getafe, it was a mixture of 5-3-2 and 5-4-1 shapes that set it all up. The back five allowed them to match up with Celta’s typical line of five, and the tight central midfield three made it very difficult for the home side to find their chief playmakers inside. Iago Aspas made just 43 touches in a high possession game; his lowest total in a 90-minute outing in the Giráldez era.

And just look at the emphasis Getafe put on him and that central trio:

The initial idea was to crowd them out. Crucially, though, there was much to be said about the preparedness of the defenders in anticipating balls over the top or down the sides. As we can see here, the visitors did a fine job of being close enough to get immediate man-to-man pressure on receivers, while being vigilant of Celta looking for runners (and bypassing the Getafe cluster).

Giráldez’s side rarely found their rhythm and struggled to displace Getafe’s centre backs, which thus meant opting into wide attacks more than they’d like. But without their usual speed of passing, the problem they then found was Getafe collapsing onto the side and presenting them with another big obstacle.

“We found it more difficult than usual to circulate [the ball] and generate superiorities,” the Celta boss would say after.

Maybe a Celta team in week five or six would have found quicker and smoother avenues through and around, but on week one, they rapidly became frustrated — not only by Getafe’s crowding of their favourite areas to play but by the permanent aggression too. Pass attempts into the middle were regularly met with snapping challenges and contact.

As the early weeks of the season progress, it’ll be interesting to see how other teams approach the challenge of facing Celta; especially with respect to the main central attackers and potentially following Getafe’s lead.

JK

Thiago Almada helped make Atlético make sense

It was all going so well for Atlético. They were bright, moving the ball well, controlling the flow of chances — and then they took Thiago Almada and Álex Baena off, and were no longer any of those things.

Within 20 minutes, they conceded twice to fall behind. One from a free kick where Giacomo Raspadori simply switched off at the back post (although a questionable call to have him marking Miguel Rubio in the first place) and then one from an unnecessary Pablo Barrios giveaway, not closing down a cross, and Pere Milla scoring a header he probably converts once out of 100 attempts.

Before throwing away the game in frustrating fashion, the emergence of Thiago Almada had really looked to be curing an achilles heel of Atlético’s in real time; that being how to move the ball effectively through the thirds and give life to their play without simply falling in to side-to-side action.

Almada was active — and most importantly, available. Given freedom to move from his left-side midfield position, the youngster picked up a lot of passes in deeper areas, showed security on the ball, and got Atlético moving with a real appreciation for building spells of play. Instead of waiting in a determined zone to get on the ball, the Argentinean took pressure off those behind him and went looking for it, helping to knock down that first barrier of possession.

Up until his substitution, only Robin Le Normand (64) had made more passes in the game than Almada (58), and only 11 of those 58 passes were back towards one of Atlético’s two centre backs.

Of course, the 24-year-old wasn’t the sole reason for Atlético’s fluent football — the trio of Almada, Baena and Álvarez were sharp and unpredictable to read, Hancko offered strong distribution from left centre back, and Ruggeri’s wing back role was effective, in what looked an especially strong left side. Almada was, however, the origin for many of their productive spells of play, even if other players made similarly strong contributions along the way closer to goal.

When later asked about the decision to bring the likes of Almada and Baena off, Simeone admitted it had been a “learning experience” for him. In other words, that probably won’t happen again.

JK

Míchel needs to get creative

It is hard to think of a worse 45 minutes than Bojan Miovski’s start to the season on Friday night, as Rayo Vallecano downed Girona 3-1 at Montilivi. Okay, we see you Paulo Gazzaniga, but we’re talking outfield players and something as an ongoing concern.

We tweeted this during the game on Friday night:

On rewatch, it got even worse. He only touched the ball four times in 45 minutes; the fewest of any player to play at least a half of football on MD1, while two of Miovski’s touches were kick-offs from Rayo’s opening two goals.

He wasn’t on the field by the time of the third kick-off, with Míchel sacrificing him after Gazzaniga’s sending off.

With a couple of weeks to prepare for a game and then to go out and have such little influence is concerning. Miovski has been linked with a move away, but if he is going to leave then why start him? If they have watched him and think he is magically going to become a focal point in attack, that’s even more concerning.

Since Miovski joined last summer, he has played 921 minutes and averaged 19.8 touches per 90; the lowest among all Girona players to have played at least 500 minutes in that time. He has also averaged just 0.4 shots on target per 90, compared to Cristhian Stuani’s 1.61 per 90.

He has scored just two goals in that time. Two.

Having said that, Girona have a goalscoring problem in general. Stuani is the only player to have scored more than five in the last 12 months, yet their signings to date don’t suggest they think they have a problem. They have signed defender Vitor Reis from Manchester City on loan and picked up Axel Witsel, another centre-back. Of the most offensive-minded options, right wing back Hugo Rincón and Thomas Lemar — who scored nine goals in seven seasons at Atlético Madrid — aren’t exactly going to drive a scoring sea change.

This Girona side is going to look a lot different by Christmas time. We had high hopes for their turnaround this term, but despite the fact that Rayo are one of the better out-of-possession sides in the league, this was still pretty poor for Míchel’s men.

RD

Anything else you liked or thought was worth mentioning on MD1? We, of course, can’t hit on everything and inevitably leave some bits on the table… let us know on here or X!

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As our readers will know, we like to make use of numbers and data here at La Pausa. And so with our usual prediction ideas swirling ahead of the season, we thought we’d put some together with specific stats in mind and frame our predictions and feelings that way (instead of just general musings).

10 stats, five selections each… we’ll kick off with Jamie.

1. Pedri becomes the first Barça midfielder to make 10+ assists in a LaLiga season since Cesc Fàbregas in 2013-14

It’s somewhat of a running joke in Barcelona circles that Pedri is being sold short on his assist tally. Teammates whiffing shots, not taking shots when they should… you know how it works. And the thing is, the data fully backs it up.

By the measure of expected assists, Pedri was officially the third-best creator from open play in LaLiga last season (8.2). However, the Canarian was a matter of decimals behind Álex Baena (8.8), meaning Lamine Yamal (11.4) was the only player with any real daylight ahead of him on that one.

Our eyes and the numbers both confirm Pedri was one of top creative players last term (while doing a whole load of other great stuff).

His total of five assists wouldn’t tell you that quite as much. As per Opta’s numbers, and including set pieces, Pedri left a grand total of four assists on the table when considering the quality of chances he created (9 xA). That was the biggest ‘sold short’ case of any player from Spain’s big three sides.

Eventually, Pedri will get his rewards on the assists board. Barcelona dominate territory, create an overwhelming amount of chances, and the midfielder is an essential cog in that machine. The production from the 22-year-old really is all there – he just needs a little more luck and help from his teammates to earn him a more material recognition as the creative genius he is.

2. Jon Martín to win the most aerial duels of any defender

This is, admittedly, a little speculative for a player born in 2006 with six LaLiga starts to his name. Before he even contests a header, it fundamentally relies on him being a fixture in their starting XI this season; something we can’t be absolutely sure of just yet.

With that said, we do like his chances. And if that’s the case, Jon Martín’s early showings at senior level have given us a pretty good indicator that he’s an aerial phenomenon.

Combining the data from LaLiga and the U19 EUROs last term, Martín won 80% of his aerial duels on almost 100 contested (78/97). That’s not a case of him pumping up his numbers against fellow teenagers, either. In LaLiga alone, he won 53 of 64 that he contested, leaving a similarly dominant 83% success rate – albeit on a smaller sample size.

If Sergio Francisco does elect him to partner Igor Zubeldia throughout the season, Real Sociedad will surely be thinking about his threat from set pieces, too. This being a team desperately looking for more attacking resources after a dismal season in front of goal last time out.

Martín has, quite remarkably, won all eight aerial duels he’s contested in the opposition’s penalty area in LaLiga, and 12/14 overall considering his own penalty area.

Set piece coaches, beware.

3. Newly-promoted Levante to rank in the top 10 for clean sheets

A new face on LaLiga’s managerial scene, followers of the league will pretty quickly be able to figure out what Julián Calero is all about. He is an obsessive for equilibrio, being competitive, and above all, being hard to beat.

Now in the top tier and facing the prospect of a big talent deficit between his side and the rest, we can only expect him to double down on all of that. Any and all success that Levante have this season will thus, inevitably, be built on their defensive performance.

That talent deficit might ultimately be too big for any coaching performance to overcome, but Calero certainly knows how to build a strong defensive unit. He will give them every chance to be hard to beat. This is, after all, the guy who led a Burgos team to 12 consecutive clean sheets in Segunda – one of Europe’s most unpredictable leagues – between May and October 2022.

Despite using a four in every game of their promotion campaign last term, we expect Levante to come out with a back five system this term. With that we know what their priority will be, given that they’re not a possession-focused team and will likely be pushed back by higher class opposition most weeks. They’ll spend a lot of time in a deeper block, compressing space over actively seeking to squeeze up and get away from their own goal.

When go-time comes, Calero will have his team prepared to suffer as a collective and put a premium on defending their box well. And although they will inevitably give up lots of shots, they’ll live with that as long as they can limit big chances.

I, for one, believe in Calero’s capacity to achieve that and make Levante a tougher nut to crack than the quality of their squad suggests.

4. Álex Baena breaks Atletico Madrid’s single-season record for chances created

No pressure then, Alejandro.

If anything, this is really just saying that I’m a big believer in Baena’s ability. I think he’s going to be a really valuable player for Atlético and was surprised that there wasn’t more interest from other big clubs around Europe in signing him.

Anyway, as far as the record goes, the number to beat is 94 – achieved by Simão in 2008-09.

(To be clear, the records date back to 2006-07. Nothing exists before then).

We only got a brief snapshot of him as an Atlético player in pre-season, but the signs were good. Baena had plenty of positional freedom in games against Porto and Newcastle, roaming around in between the lines and even dropping deep for short, dump-off passes from centre backs just so he could get on the ball and start surveying the scene.

If they’re not aware already, Atlético will quickly realise that the more touches for Baena, the better — even if they’re not on the doorstep of the penalty area.

With Antoine Griezmann’s influence naturally dwindling, and with Rodrigo De Paul departed for Inter Miami, the opportunity is immediately there for the 24-year-old to become prominent and start directing the team’s most threatening distribution.

He’ll get some help from the likes of Thiago Almada on that front, but I don’t think it’ll be long before Baena becomes the creative hub of the team in a big way.

5. Mallorca goalkeeper Leo Román to make the most saves

Mallorca were, until recently, one of the LaLiga sides with a good problem in their goalkeeping position. They had two players who were good enough to start for them and one who wouldn’t play, meaning Leo Román had to sit and watch Dominik Greif for most of the season, even when everyone knew he was potentially a very valuable player.

Jagoba Arrasate and co are now hoping to verify that this season. With Greif seemingly set to depart for Lyon, the gloves will soon belong to Leo Román. And although it represents somewhat of a risk to say farewell to that they knew was a steady goalkeeper, their new man holds a level of potential that the club were clearly just too intrigued by. Three years younger than Greif, Leo Román is the guy most smart clubs would back in the same position.

When he did get the chance to play at the back end of last season, the 25-year-old reminded us who had seen him play for Real Oviedo on loan what he is all about. Román is the classic ‘cat’ goalkeeping archetype, blessed with unbelievable reflexes and speed to latch onto shots coming his way. A little undersized perhaps, at least in comparison with Greif, but for what he lacks in penalty area presence he makes up for with his shot-stopping.

Román only played seven times in LaLiga last season, and yet he still accounted for half of the instances of a goalkeeper making 10+ saves in a match (2/4), along with Joan García. Indeed, his 12 saves against Barcelona were the outright most in a single game, where he prevented roughly two goals based on the xG of shots on target faced (one from 2.9 xGoT).

That’s half time. Over to Robbie…

6. Yáser Asprilla puts up >12 goal involvements for Girona (goals & assists)

We have already highlighted him as a breakout player this season over at The Analyst. He only scored three goals all season and now we're predicting him to score 10+… yes.

Here's the thinking: Bryan Gil is gone and he was possibly the one hogging the most minutes that might now be filled by Asprilla.

Míchel has played with a 4-2-3-1 in preseason and Asprilla is the central attacking midfielder with license to create, crash the box and take as many shots as his heart desires.

They scored 44 goals last season with Cristhian Stuani netting 11 of those. Second on that list were Yángel Herrera and Abel Ruiz with four each. This team is crying out for another goalscorer and someone to take up the role of creative maestro, with Miguel Gutiérrez set for Napoli. Yáser Asprilla is ready.

7. Osasuna win more duels than any other team

Welcome to Alessio Lisci-land. Mirandés topped the charts in most duel metrics in the Spanish Segunda División last season. They had the most duels, duels won, aerial duels and aerial duels won.

Meanwhile, Lisci is inheriting a team with the player who won the most duels last season in Lucas Torró (276) and the player with the eighth-most in Ante Budimir (201). In fact, Torró and Budimir were also first and second in the aerial charts too.

This is simply a match made in duel heaven. Expect Osasuna to lean heavily into Lisci's 5-3-2 approach where they are king. They will face stiff competition from Getafe, who won the most duels and aerial duels last season, but Lisci’s success will come down in large part to how competitive Osasuna can be in the types of 1-v-1 heavy games they’re looking to tee up. Expect a lot of them next season.

8. Etta Eyong finishes with 10+ league goals

I had to be talked down from 15 on this one.

Okay, so we need to take a brief detour back in time before we get to the future and what we expect Etta Eyong to do next season.

Thierno Barry finished last season with 11 and the season before Nicolas Jackson finished with 14. But Jackson had never been prolific before, only scoring five in 25 games for Villarreal B before he made the jump up to senior. And neither was Barry. His highest total was 14 back in 2022-23 while playing in Belgium's second division.

Eyong finished with 19 goals for Villarreal B last season, although this time round it will come with the caveat that he needs to earn his minutes. The good news, if he is picked to stick around in the first team, is that the excellent Ayoze Pérez and Gerard Moreno are both injury-prone and could cede minutes to him.

With Álex Baena (7) and Barry (8) now gone, having chipped in 15 open-play goals between them last term, there's a massive opportunity for Eyong to help fill that gap.

9. Elche finish the season with more build-up attacks than anyone outside of Real Madrid and Barcelona

This is a particularly bold one, but Eder Sarabia is a bold coach. You might be thinking he'll arrive into LaLiga in his first managerial role in the top flight and just try to fly under the radar and survive. That doesn't sound very much like Eder Sarabia.

He will likely double down on his strategy of ultimate control of the game. Speaking last season, Julián Calero of fellow promoted side Levante, had this to say:

"I don't think there is a manager in LaLiga or Segunda or any of the top-flights in Europe with as much influence on his team's style of play [than Sarabia].”

Elche finished last season with 140 build-up attacks, 53 more than Calero’s Levante, who went on to secure the title. Meanwhile, they had 670 open play sequences of 10+ passes, over 200 more than the team with the next most, in Deportivo de La Coruña (465).

Outside of Barcelona (183) and Real Madrid (171) who we naturally expect to top the charts — especially now Xabi Alonso is around — their biggest competitors might well be Celta Vigo. They ranked third last season (127) and with another pre-season in the bag under the impressive Claudio Giráldez, expect them to be even more refined in 2025-26.

10. Álvaro Vallés finishes in the top three GKs for passes and xGOT prevented

We really believe in Álvaro Vallés. After sitting out last season, he is finally right where he belongs at Real Betis. They also signed Pau López this summer, but Valles should be the starter or become the starter if he isn't already.

The year before last, he finished with the second-best xGoT prevented total (6.55), behind only Giorgi Mamardashvili in LaLiga. And along with his ability on the ball, which was on full display against Como, his shot-stopping is still of the highest level. He's only 28 and should be, in theory, entering his prime as a goalkeeper.

Agree? Disagree? Shouts of your own? Let us know on here or X…

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Admittedly, the term ‘breakout’ can seem a little ambiguous. Deciphering who has or hasn’t yet ‘broken out’ would result in different answers depending on who you ask. But it’s (still) pre-season and it’s time for a bit of fun before the real stuff sweeps us away.

In general, we’ll be sticking to players on the younger end of the spectrum who your average LaLiga fan might not yet be aware of, or has only briefly heard of and/or seen.

The goal is to try and hit on the players who’ll appear into some sort of prominence this season — whether it’s through sheer force of ability that can no longer be denied or through finding the right opportunities, having considered the context of their situation.

That, of course, rules out a number of players with talent that exceeds some who will make the list. Take Dro Fernández, for example. It’s impossible not to like what we’ve seen in pre-season and we’d love to see him playing meaningful minutes for Barcelona in 2025-26, but is it likely? Even with Hansi Flick’s exceptional work on the youth front, Dro has Dani Olmo and Fermín López ahead of him in the no. 10 queue, as well as other alternatives like Raphinha starting centrally or Gavi beefing up the midfield three.

(Some will no doubt contest that, but hopefully you get the point.)

The only hard-and-fast rule of our final list is that players can only be selected if they have made fewer than 10 starts in LaLiga. We’re not going to give ourselves any tap-ins.

And so, over to the list. In no particular order…

🔴 Stanis Idumbo (20) — Sevilla, Winger

Sevilla hasn’t been an easy place to make your way in recent years. Organisational instability and coaching changes have built up, and it’s seemed as if they couldn’t quite decide on the way forward, flipping radically between styles of coaches they’ve opted for.

The latest of those, Matías Almeyda, does seem to have taken a shine to Stanis Idumbo, though. The Belgian has seen plenty of protagonism throughout pre-season, forming a dynamic three behind the striker (along with Ruben Vargas and Dodi Lukebakio) that looks like it’ll last into the new season. Indeed, it almost certainly seems like the best and most dangerous attacking look that Almeyda will be able to get going with.

Playing from the left of that trio, Idumbo has been nothing short of vibrant. Imprecise at times, granted, but offering real optimism as to his potential contribution in the short term. He’s quick and shifty on the ball, and most importantly, get through his work with a nice sense of balance. He can flow nicely into his next action or decision while moving at speed, avoiding the look of a winger who takes off with intention and then gets flustered at what comes next.

There’s no doubt about what he can do with the ball. Stand him wide, feed him a pass, and he can go to work in breaking defences down – be it through an individual dribble or bouncing give-and-go passes off teammates. If he can develop a dependable contribution in running behind and moving effectively without the ball at his feet, Idumbo can be a real player at this level.

(Annoyingly, it appears he has picked up a minor injury on the cusp of the season and will be unavailable for the opener… he had a lot of momentum coming out of the friendly games, and we’ll be anticipating his return.)

🔵 Jon Martín (19) — Real Sociedad, CB

The partnership of Robin Le Normand-Igor Zubeldia – one of LaLiga’s best in its day -- looked as if it might put the brakes on Jon Martín’s anticipated arrival in the first team. However, with Le Normand’s departure to Atlético Madrid, followed by just the one-season loan for his ‘replacement’ Nayef Aguerd, it has left the youngster in a suddenly strong position to make his move.

(Real Sociedad have brought in Duje Ćaleta-Car as an experienced right-sided option, but with all due respect, the Croatian is a lower calibre of player than he’s previously been battling for minutes against.)

For the 19-year-old, it’s always felt like a matter of when, rather than if, he would rise to become a first team player. Between his ability, physical presence, and the fact he plays for one of LaLiga’s most academy-driven clubs, the pathway we always expected for him now looks pretty close to being solidified. And there’s a good case to be made he’s now a part of their best possible centre back duo, even without considering the likes of pathways and development.

Although it’s only one facet of the game, Martín is already the most dominant aerial player that Real Sociedad have. In fact, he might even be one of the most dominant in Spain. Accounting for his appearances in LaLiga and at the U19 EUROs last season, he sustained an 80% aerial duel success rate through 97 contested (78/97) – a quite staggering return.

Martín is a force in the air, a strong competitor on the ground, and dependable enough with his distribution. Refining all those attributes and becoming the senior centre back that La Real believe he can become will only happen with real time experience. Now looks like a good time to commit to that.

⚪ Gonzalo García (21) — Real Madrid, Winger/CF

Alright, this is probably the easiest one. After his showing at the Club World Cup, not many will need much help in placing the name Gonzalo García. But he is a newbie without any LaLiga starts to his name, and thus, eligible for our arbitrary list.

It’s absolutely no surprise that the 21-year-old look set to be part of Xabi Alonso’s plans this season. He’s versatile in attack, plays with permanent intensity, and most definitely has that something in the penalty area. It’s a no-brainer to have him part of the squad. At worst, García will guarantee Real Madrid a jolt of vitality off the bench and be able to run the legs off tired defences.

The question is how far he’ll be able to take his opportunity, given he’s surrounded by high-profile attackers being paid a lot of money, who will likely play independent of form. But if Real Madrid continue to flounder in their collective defensive efforts and Xabi Alonso feels he has no other option than to address it significantly, then García becomes an attractive option for a team who need balance.

At this stage, García’s big selling point is his running power in and out of possession. It sounds like an awfully simplistic way to put things and one that sells his ability short, but he is a workhorse attacker in a land where the other attackers very much aren’t. If it’s that that earns him opportunities — where he can then uncover the rest of his game in the process — he would most certainly take it.

The fact is Real Madrid’s biggest active problem is that their collective defending is well short of Europe’s best teams. And it’s not simply a matter of ill-timed, lethargic pressing. They don’t do the basics of maintaining a shape very well, leading to a cascading effect of gaps being opened and players behind the frontline having to scramble around in rotation. Xabi Alonso knows that can’t continue to be the case if his project is to take flight — and that Gonzalo García is an emergency lever to pull, in the event that Plan A becomes untenable.

And if Plan A does work? Perfect. Real Madrid have a high-octane attack who can finally stop being played through, and a whirlwind young canterano to bring off the bench and fill in the kinder parts of your schedule.

🟡 Etta Eyong (21) — Villarreal, CF

Give yourselves a pat on the back, Villarreal. After selling Thierno Barry to the Premier League riches after just one season at the club — a reality they no doubt had in mind the day they signed him — they haven’t even had to return to the market (yet) to find what looks like a worthy replacement.

Etta Eyong is a Cameroonian forward who arrived at the club a year ago, initially joining up with the B team after being plucked from Cádiz on the cheap. He’s a year younger than Thierno Barry, offers much of what he did as a referential striker who can threaten in behind, and has netted in three of his five pre-season outings so far.

He’s got the blessing of Barry, too.

It’s too early to deduce whether Villarreal might have a better player on their hands — we can’t even be sure of Barry’s potential yet, nevermind Eyong’s — but we do have a pretty good feeling that they have a genuine first team player on their hands.

Along with some classic ‘right place, right time’ goals in pre-season, the 21-year-old’s overall game as a player leading the line has been promising. His back-to-goal game has looked particularly strong, owing to a formidable blend of strength and understanding of how to use his body up against defenders. Indeed, even against physical, senior centre backs, Eyong has looked like an uncomfortable cover who can contest for most things in his vicinity.

The Cameroonian doesn’t have the same build as the lankier Barry — he’s a shade under 6ft and much stockier — but he’s a very well-set forward who can already impact the game in physical terms. And with all the final third talent around him at Villarreal, there’s certainly a place for a striker who occupies defenders, can hold up play, and threaten with his movement.

If his scoring touch can follow him out of pre-season, the Yellow Submarine might well just have another lucrative asset on their hands.

🔵 Jon Gorrotxategi (22) — Real Sociedad, CM

Readers of La Pausa will know we’re big fans of Jon Gorrotxategi. As far back as December, we were already tipping him to play a key role in Real Sociedad’s succession plan for Martín Zubimendi (although he is a frustrating injury doubt for the opener, even if he has ultimately made his case).

We’ve already said a lot about him, so this ought to do the trick if you want to know more:

🟡 Pau Navarro (20) — Villarreal, CB/RB

With a contract extension pencilled in until 2030, Villarreal clearly seem to think highly of Pau Navarro and have plans for his first team longevity. And with four starts to his name in the final month of last term, it’s logical to think that was his introduction with sights set on more to come in 2025-26.

An option to play at both centre back and right back, Navarro looks and plays like someone with much more experience than he has. He’s sturdily built and has no obvious look of a rookie, while he plays with a real sense of composure for his age. Indeed, any traces of rashness have been very hard to detect so far, with his appreciation for what’s happening around him already at a good level.

“He’s an extraordinary kid, [both] mentally in his level of intelligence and his fabulous concentration,” Marcelino said of him last season.

While he can play in both stock defensive positions, as well as contribute in a defensive midfield role if needed, Navarro is especially well suited to the role of ‘third centre back’ that we see all across European football at present — the player who starts at full back but tucks inside at some point during a team’s possession. It’s a role that Marcelino and Villarreal also use a lot, allowing their opposite full back on the left to play much higher.

Navarro has performed well on both sides of the ball from there. In possession, he’s looked like a dependable decision-maker with a good sense of how to build the game from the back. Without it, he’s rarely looked like a natural centre back being asked to defend as a full back, showing he can hold up well in that different style of defending.

It seems like the 20-year-old will have some strong competition for that particular role this season in the form of Santiago Mouriño, but depth and rotation will be a key theme of Villarreal’s season on their return to the Champions League. Expect Navarro to show his utility across the backline when inevitably called upon.

🔴 Joel Roca (20) — Girona, Winger

Even if they were always due for some sort of decline in 2024-25, Girona’s season was a real disappointment. Not only through the reality of their results and eventual finish, but for the fact they lost every bit of the attacking electricity that had defined them a season earlier, suddenly looking slow, predictable, and lacking in conviction.

One player who might be able to contribute to the collective effort in changing that is Joel Roca. The 20-year-old spent last season at the Mirandés loan factory, and like most who pass through, came out of the other side in better nick than he went in. Even if he wasn’t a starting XI fixture, Roca showed he was a player able to influence games and do it from a wing or second striker role.

He’s quick, dribbles with good control, and has the type of annoying low centre of gravity that full backs don’t like. Although it’d be a surprise to see him become a day one starter at Girona, his performances in pre-season and Míchel’s penchant for vertical attackers — especially after last season — should see him involved.

🔵 Davinchi (17) — Getafe, LB

When it comes to scouting Spain’s lower leagues, Getafe are one of the best around. Come opening day, they might well have three players lifted from below the second tier in their starting XI to face Celta Vigo, in the form of Christantus Uche, Coba da Costa, and the newest name, Davinchi (excellently named, at that).

While we expect the former two to do so, it’d be pretty remarkable to see Davinchi get the nod. He’d be the only 17-year-old this century to start a LaLiga match this century.

Except, there’s a pretty fair chance he might.

With Diego Rico forced to cover at centre back in pre-season, the left back spot opened up nicely for young Davinchi. That was a slice of luck, but his performances over a healthy amount of minutes had nothing to do with luck. The teenager looked competitive in his duels, sufficiently athletic despite the growth that awaits him, and under control with the ball at his feet.

Davinchi also showed a good understanding with his left-sided winger (usually Coba da Costa), making movements to help both him and Getafe further attacks on the sides — be it overlaps, underlaps or merely knowing when to stay out of the way and let his winger make the most of one-v-one situations.

Another aspect is that a Getafe team who scored just 34 times in 38 league games last term will need all the attacking productivity they can get this time round. If they can recruit a bit more help from full back — even if it’s through a teenage rookie — they’d be wise to give it legs.

⚫ Pablo López (19) — Valencia, Winger

With investment typically lacking at Mestalla, there is always space for players to emerge out of the academy and show their utility. Layer on the track record of talent coming out of there and it can be a perfect storm if you’re a youngster looking for an opportunity.

One candidate who could make the most of that reality is 19-year-old Pablo López, who can play either on the wing or as a mediapunta inside. He is just the type of player who coaches tend to look to as well; someone who can make things happen in attack in isolated moments and provide ‘instant offense’, to borrow a term from Basketball, with his electric ball-carrying ability.

The teenager lacks plenty of formation in how to be a talent who also fits in a team context and knows where to be without the ball, but he’s at the head of the list of talent waiting for those opportunities. With a contract in place until 2027 and Valencia already having turned down loan offers for him, expect some substitute cameos that get Mestalla off its feet in the interim.

🔵 Javi Rueda (23) — Celta Vigo, RB

In a squad already littered with players promoted out of the B team, we can expect even more on the way for Celta Vigo this season. They will be back in Europe in 2025-26 and that means more bodies required if they’re to remain competitive and sustain their calendar.

If they’re concerned about maintaining their intensity across the campaign, one player who can certainly contribute to that is Javi Rueda — a man who spent last term on loan at Albacete. The 23-year-old is an energetic option for the full back/wing back spot, and plays with a natural feistiness whether he’s defending or dragging wingers back to their own goal.

A potentially crucial part of the puzzle is that he’s distinct to Celta’s current stable of full backs and wing backs. Óscar Mingueza is an excellent creator with vision to impact the game in the final third and Sergio Carreira is a safe bet with his distribution and reliability of decision-making, although neither are especially noted for their physicality or defensive gifts. Rueda, meanwhile, offers them a more physical defender who can also attack at speed and provide more threat as a runner.

Although he can’t count on the technical quality of the former two, Rueda still does a solid job of covering the basics. He moves well without the ball and knows how to play off surrounding attackers, getting himself into advanced positions with chances to cross or cut back. Celta want to be vertical in the final third and Rueda can achieve that in a different way to his ‘defensive’ peers.

🟢 Álvaro Rodríguez (21) — Elche, CF

The former Real Madrid striker isn’t exactly a secret to LaLiga fans. Many will remember his towering header against Atlético Madrid at the Bernabéu in February 2023, back when there was some impetus behind him as a long-term prospect for the club.

That didn’t happen (no shame in that), while his loan move to Getafe last season didn’t go as well as anyone was hoping it might. The 21-year-old looked like a good fit for Bordalás’s direct style of football, but couldn’t hold down a starting spot for a variety of reasons; many of which we can’t know from afar.

However, we’re not giving up hope. The Uruguayan has special attributes for a centre forward — he’s lanky, mobile, and packs a freakish leap when attacking crosses. Even if we’ve not seen it in any meaningful way at senior level, it’s no surprise that Elche were still enticed by the opportunity to work with those tools.

Eder Sarabia’s side aren’t coming up to LaLiga just to scrap and hope they stay alive by any means, either. They want to control the game with the ball and condition their opponents into playing their game (within reason). In that sense, Elche need their new striker to be their Erling Haaland — not in scoring tons of goals and rag dolling defenders around, but in knowing that the penalty area is his domain and making the most of his presence there, even if it can be frustrating watching his team pass around him.

🔴 Peio Canales (20) — Athletic, CM

There’s still a chance that Peio Canales will end up leaving on loan for the season, and it wouldn’t be a heinous decision on Athletic’s part. With the number of Segunda clubs probably ringing them they might just do it to stop the sound of the phone. However, I do have a sneaky feeling that Ernesto Valverde might just have seen enough to wave it off and keep the youngster in-house.

The 20-year-old is an ultra-technical midfielder who’ll probably make his way into the first team setup playing as a no.10, but eventually work his way into a role as an interior who can contribute in the final third. His signature moves are quick feet to duck in and out of tight spaces and excellent ball-striking, whether it’s through distribution or shooting on goal. Indeed, the directness of his play with the ball will no doubt be to Ernesto Valverde’s liking, what with Athletic being a pretty no-frills attacking side.

I’ll leave it there for the time being, given the possibility of him heading out on loan. Even if that does happen, though, be sure to remember this guy’s name. He’ll be back.

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The reign of Imanol Alguacil is over — and on balance, it was a mighty good one. Even if his final campaign turned out to be a pretty tough watch, there’s no denying that he’s left a high bar for the man who will now resume the story: Sergio Francisco.

While some will look at the appointment of Real Sociedad’s new manager as underwhelming — mainly in that they’ve promoted internally instead of going after a ‘bigger (proven) fish’ — it’s not a surprising decision if you’ve been following the club’s trajectory and messaging over the years.

At a club who work towards more than half of their first team squad being made up by players from their Zubieta academy, it makes plenty of sense to hire the man who’s been most involved in the day-to-day there over a long period.

In fact, while it’s logical to think Sergio Francisco is an inferior manager to Imanol Alguacil at this stage, remember that he too was an internal promotion and unknown to most at the time. As noted by the club’s President Jokin Aperribay, if we were to compare the merits of the likes of Alguacil, Jagoba Arrasate and Sergio Francisco — three men who’ve risen to the top job in the modern era — then it’d actually be the latter who has produced the most convincing case as far as coaching talent goes.

It’s fair to question whether Europe in itself, or restoring the team to the non-2025 levels of the Alguacil era, should continue to be expected though. The recent comments made by Take Kubo on their pre-season tour of Japan might have seemed like those of a player thinking about his future, but they contained plenty of truth about where the club is at now, compared to where it has been.

“When I came here I was surrounded by David Silva, Mikel Merino, [Martín] Zubimendi, Brais [Méndez], all those types… and I didn’t have to take that type of responsibility… [Alexander] Isak was here and then left,” said Kubo. “People say that it’s a cycle, but I think with a club that, according to the President who always told me that every season he was aspiring to win LaLiga… well I think to win LaLiga you need something extra.”

La Real’s new regime will have all the intention of continuing to be among the six or seven best teams in LaLiga, but there’s a whole lot of process that’s going to be important too. There’s no obvious restoring of what previously worked and player turnover, as Kubo mentions, will necessitate change to move forward.

▶️ What should we expect from the new man?

Well, Sergio Francisco is the only current LaLiga manager who has never overseen a match within the top two divisions of Spanish football. There’s not an overwhelming amount of certainty as to what he is or isn’t at this stage — we’re going to learn plenty about him as we go.

As for what we can say now, we know that the new manager isn’t going to come in with majorly pre-conceived ideas and create a radically different approach. There has still been plenty of football played in pre-season that looks like what we had seen for years under Alguacil, such as the trademark ‘up-back-through’ between their defence and midfield in a 4-3-3.

Real Sociedad shift the ball around their defence, before one of their interiors times a quick run back towards the ball and plays a first-time pass to the pivote, thus allowing him to face the play unmarked. It was a staple pattern of play under Alguacil (and clearly isn’t going anywhere).

Although Sergio Francisco has used the main systems of the Alguacil era during pre-season — 4-3-3 and the 4-4-2 rombo — we do have a pretty good sense that Real Sociedad are going to be less fixed in those this year. The new manager used a variety of systems in his work with the B team, and won’t hesitate to make alterations there if needed. “I think he wants us to be comfortable in different systems so that, depending on the opponent, we can surprise [them] more,” was one particular read by Sergio Gomez, speaking to MARCA.

Expect there to be more pragmatism in a global sense, too. Real Sociedad’s modus operandi in the previous regime was all about their intense off-ball approach, recovering the ball high and being dominant in their duels. And make no mistake, we’ll see plenty of aggression from this team as well, who will still load up plenty of man-to-man marking all over the pitch in moments. However, we are likely to see more intentionally varied approaches in 2025-26.

“There will be days where we have 60% possession and others where we allow [the opposition] possession to play a different way,” Sergio said last month.

We’ll have to wait and see on the extent of that, as La Real will still have plenty of intention (and quality) to control games themselves. And on that note, look for them to play quicker when building possession this season — Sergio has referenced his desire to be more vertical than they were last term, which can be translated as simply playing forward more readily (without massive structural changes).

Indeed, that brings us on to the next stop… precisely what Real Sociedad are going to do about the collapse in attacking productivity they suffered last term.

🎲 What is the big change we’d like to see?

This is an easy one (and already spoiled). It is, however, much easier to ask for than it is to implement for a manager; the guy who has to consider the knock-on effects and overall balance of the team at every moment.

As Rafa Benítez once said: "If you cover your head, your feet are cold; if you cover your feet, your head is cold.”

With that said, Real Sociedad just felt too predictable on the attacking front last season. They scored 31 non-penalty goals in 38 league games, and it was their worst campaign of the Alguacil era for non-penalty xG (39.97). There is, of course, some sort of finishing underperformance also at play there, but the feel of their attack was pretty arduous for most of the campaign and emblematic of a cycle coming to its end.

For some idea of their struggles last term, here’s a breakdown of their goal contributions from open play in LaLiga (featuring some pretty instructive and startling points):

🔻Their full backs directly contributed to just two open play goals in league competition (from a combined 6,200 minutes played)

🔻Only two non-strikers scored more than two open play goals in LaLiga (Take Kubo and Brais Méndez)

🔻Their leader for open play goals & assists was Mikel Oyarzabal with eight — only Getafe (Christantus Uche, 7) and Girona (Cristhian Stuani, 7) had leaders with fewer

The solution? If they want to score more goals, it seems unavoidable that Real Sociedad are just going to have to be willing to take more risks to generate opportunities — whether it’s positionally or bringing a different mindset. La Real are probably going to have to uncover their feet more than they did, and there’s a fair case to be made that it’s the best thing they can do.

Being quicker in circulating the ball and finding their wingers earlier seems like an immediate way they can claw back some ground. In pre-season, we’ve seen faster passing from the back and more bodies attacking the box when La Real have been able to accelerate up the pitch. And certainly, Sergio Francisco certainly seems to be looking for more aggression in attack in those moments.

“Recovering goals is an absolute priority,” he said in a recent interview, before adding that the idea is to create the conditions where multiple players can be chipping in 8-10 goals, instead of one player accounting for the majority of the team’s haul.

For that, La Real are going to have to be harder to read and more aggressive in looking for goal as a collective.

🧠 How to make sense of the post-Zubimendi midfield?

A week out from the season, Real Sociedad are still yet to go to the transfer market to sign an obvious Zubimendi ‘replacement’. We don’t know whether anything will happen on that front, so for the time being, all we can do is analyse the current picture.

Speaking on their options last month, Sergio Francisco said: “[Jon Gorrotxategi] has played a lot with me and we don’t have any secrets. I see him with the personality to be important and with the ability to play for La Real. He can perfectly be a starter, but just like Urko [González de Zárate] or [Beñat] Turrientes — that’s something we have to choose.”

For the moment, the strongest sense have as far as individuals go is that Gorrotxategi is best positioned to take up that deeper role. He was outstanding at Mirandés last season, has worked extensively with Sergio Francisco before, and has shown plenty of his selling points in pre-season.

It wouldn’t exactly be a stunning development if they did opt to start, say, Urko González de Zarate as the pivote come opening day. He performed well on loan at Espanyol last term and has the advantage in LaLiga experience. But most indicators do point towards Gorrotxategi being the preferred deep midfielder for the moment.

If that is indeed the case, the question is then: does he play as the lone pivote, or do Real Sociedad need extra support?

La Real could use a clearer 4-2-3-1 to reinforce that area (a system SF has used previously and in pre-season), or simply modify the roles in the 4-3-3 to let Brais Méndez play higher and offset that with the other interior being more attentive in deeper areas.

If we had to make our best guess now, a 4-3-3 with Gorrotxategi as the pivote and Pablo Marín-Brais Méndez as interiors will be the initial idea. If it’s not the case in the opener, what with it being away to Valencia at an intimidating Mestalla and a place where you might prefer an extra body in midfield, it at least looks their best bet back at the Reale Arena.

(The caveat being that Luka Sučić is very likely their best and most valuable central midfielder, and should eventually be a starter once they’ve kicked off the pre-season rust and context that goes with it. Similarly, getting Orri Óskarsson into the XI will no doubt be something they’ll look for as the new season progresses.)

🌠 Which new youngsters do we need to about?

Zubieta is one of the most productive academies in Spanish football, and the decision to give Sergio Francisco in the top job gives us a pretty clear direction of travel as far as its prominence in the new regime will go.

La Real will make use of their academy — and similarly, Sergio Francisco’s ability to guide them through and create new first team players will be a big aspect of how he’s assessed in his new role. Not everything will be about pure results.

Here are the names we expect to be part of that in the short term (who weren’t involved in LaLiga last year):

Jon Gorrotxategi (Central midfielder, 22)

See above… and here for a more detailed individual analysis.

Iñaki Rupérez (Right back, 22)

One of the big winners of pre-season, Iñaki Rupérez looks set to stick around in the first team picture. We know that from his performances and the fact that Hamari Traoré will soon be allowed to leave, which will make Jon Aramburu the starting option and push Rupérez up the depth chart.

The 22-year-old is a different prospect to the feisty defensive stopper that is Aramburu, standing out more for his contribution in attack than defence. He’s sufficiently athletic to get up and down the wing at speed, and he packs plenty of quality with his final ball — be it a pass or cross.

In the event La Real end up using plenty of the 4-4-2 rombo this season — which necessitates full backs who stretch the play — Rupérez’s attacking tools could become especially useful.

Mikel Goti (Attacking midfielder, 23)

Signed from Athletic Club in 2023, Mikel Goti is an attacking midfielder with plenty of poise and an eye for goal. Watch him play and he looks like something from a different era, such is his lanky, gliding style.

He’s also at the point where he is outgrowing the B team and is starting to position himself for first team minutes, but might find himself caught in between. In short, Real Sociedad’s midfield options are abundant, and he’s a specialist no. 10 who’s unlikely to find minutes as an interior. Getting the real time experience he’d need to try and make that adaptation will be hard too.

It’d be a truly welcome surprise if he does manage to carve out a place for himself as a contributor — he certainly has the talent that projects for this level — but you wouldn’t bet on it from here.

Jon Karrikaburu (Striker, 22)

Real Sociedad’s priority as far as the striker position goes has to be Orri Óskarsson. Quite simply, he’s better, more valuable and younger than Jon Karrikaburu. However, it feels like there’s still a role to be played by the 22-year-old given the arrival of Sergio Francisco, a coach he’s worked with previously.

Karrikaburu’s development hasn’t quite been as ascendent as it once looked like it was going to be, but he’s a solid centre forward who brings plenty of hustle, occupation of centre backs, and smart hold-up play. Whether he comes on for short sub cameos or helps lighten the load on Mikel Oyarzabal, he’s someone that La Real can look to for dependable minutes in leading the line.

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Jesús Areso had just put the finishing touches on a fine individual season, while Óscar De Marcos was putting the finishing touches on a fine individual career.

In retiring from professional football at the end of the 2024-25 season, De Marcos’s exit would open up a convenient spot for Areso; one of few standout players in LaLiga who wasn’t currently playing for Athletic but eligible to meet their club policy, should they wish to sign him.

To the surprise of almost nobody, they did. It was a transfer you could see coming from many miles away. And so Areso returns ‘home’, back to a place he played in his youth but where he never managed to make the definitive leap to the first team. It sounds like a nice story as far as personal redemption goes, but in the context of Athletic Club, it’s all a fairly normal part of their life cycle. Players arrive, develop, either make the grade or leave, but their names aren’t forgotten.

At Athletic — perhaps to an extent you won’t find anywhere else in world football — the door really is never closed. When your club policy willingly reduces the scope of individuals that can play for you, it pays to be less definitive even with those you plan to discard in the short term. You never know when you might need them.

Areso left the club just before his 22nd birthday and now returns aged 26, following three seasons at Osasuna and one on loan at Burgos in the second tier. In Athletic’s case, you could even say things have gone to plan. Though they play their part in player development, they know when the potential route back for that individual might only be able to occur once they’ve left, found a new environment and secured opportunities that didn’t exist to shape the rest of that ‘development’.

Think the likes of Gorka Guruzeta or Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta — who played for an astonishing seven different clubs in between his spells — as recent examples of those who not only returned after leaving without much fanfare, but became essential pieces in one of the best teams they’ve had this century.

All in all, the equation for Athletic is pretty simple. There comes a point when a player who’s gone away finally piques their interest, and when it’s combined with dynamics like a positional opening or market opportunity, the story resumes.

That’s precisely the case with their latest recruit, too.

🚅 Athletic’s freight train adds another gear

Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic are a swarming football team. They squeeze you, limit your space to play, and punch hard if you cough up the ball. Over the last few seasons, it’s a scene we’ve seen repeated over and over again: opposition teams (mostly at San Mames) unable to find any air and succumbing to wave after wave of short, punchy attacks. They’ve made more high turnovers (1,059) than every other team in LaLiga since Valverde’s return in 2022.

At their best, Athletic are a nightmare cocktail of hard-running and direct football, capable of spooking even the highest quality of opposition.

The same description could be used in some ways for Jesús Areso. He’s a flyer of a full back who gobbles up open ground, and a player you can rely on to go end-to-end at full clip for 90 minutes. Without needing to be perfectly precise with the ball all the time, you can already picture how the stock version of Areso’s game is going to put even more thrust behind Athletic’s downhill style of play. Indeed, the most basic fact of all is that they’ve traded out a 36-year-old at the end of his career for a 26-year-old who spent all of last season galloping up and down pitches in LaLiga with just about as much gusto as anyone in the country.

Put Yuri Berchiche and Nico Williams on one side; Jesús Areso and Iñaki Williams on the other, and you have a wing setup that is going to apply masses of forward pressure, even on their bad days.

One of the advantages of bringing Areso back at this stage of his career is that he clearly knows what his strengths are and where his advantages lie, without overcomplicating things. For the 26-year-old, that typically means running hard with and without the ball (see graphic above).

It might sound basic, but it’s plenty effective. As we saw last season, Areso feeds on a steady diet of bursting runs — with and without the ball — to aid quick forward moves and apply pressure on the penalty area. Those become especially dangerous in moments after the opposition have turned possession over, where his driving style can rapidly make the most of displaced teams and find its way into advantageous areas. And whether they end in a considered cross or a mere flash across the box, it will all serve as welcome attacking volume for an Athletic team who value momentum and waves of pressure.

The clip below from last week’s friendly at PSV is a prime example of Areso’s attacking game. In his time away from Athletic, he’s gone about refining this steady series of moves to spark attacking openings from the wing, usually revolving around give-and-go combinations and overlapping runs beyond/underneath his winger.

The annoying part for opponents is how hard Areso commits to those efforts. Not only moving after the pass, but launching into full-on sprints even if only to garner some attention, ought to be a hugely valuable asset for Athletic next season. It’s precisely the type of thing opposition wingers don’t want to have to deal with (and they probably won’t get away with clear shirt pulls like the above in the regular season.)

Areso’s attacking game isn’t reinventing full back play any time soon, but he knows how to get the most out of it. Nor is it a slight to categorise his impact as more physical than it is technical. Much like Athletic themselves, his productivity in attack is built on insistence and repetition of attacks, rather than waiting for the perfect moment to commit.

The full back’s game achieves that too — or at least, it did in spades for Osasuna last season. Areso was was one of only four full backs in LaLiga last season with 20+ open play chances created, 20+ open play successful crosses and 20+ completed dribbles (along with Miguel Gutiérrez, Pablo Maffeo and Johan Mojica).

When a full back like that comes up on the market for a team in Athletic’s situation, it’s a deal you simply have to make.

❓Shift in role and how Athletic shape up

Compare the roles of Jesús Areso and Óscar De Marcos last season and it’s pretty clear that one was more offensive than the other. Like many modern day full backs, Areso often looked like an orthodox winger in his positioning — and he did also play a notable amount of games as a wing back in a 3-5-2 system in the second half of the campaign.

Will Athletic adapt for Areso, or will he have to adapt to his new side? The answer is probably a mixture of both.

It’s possible that Athletic opt for continuity of role, given that De Marcos — despite his age — was a fantastic athlete in his own right. Less explosive than his replacement, but a marathon man nonetheless. And Areso has the ability to still join attacks with later runs from deep, as he showed with Osasuna last season. Covering ground at speed is no problem for him.

We could, however, see a more aggressive use for Athletic’s right back next season. Namely, through a higher starting position. With the rise of back fours turning into back threes in possession these days, it’d be no surprise if Valverde looked to Areso as his main source of width on the right, and compensated by holding Yuri deeper on the other side when Areso is high and wide.

While not a permanent scene throughout matches — Areso isn’t always going to be high and wide — it would allow Iñaki Williams to attack the defensive line from inside (a key strength of his) and give him a dynamic full back partner to combine with. It would limit him receiving passes in isolation on the wing, which isn’t ideal for him at this stage of his career, while his intelligence and run-making is arguably at its peak.

As for the other Williams, the possibility of Athletic having a dangerous outlet on the right who plays high and wide can only be good news. Being able to stretch the pitch on both sides with two players who can sustain threat in the attacking third in distinct ways means better spacing of the pitch. Opponents have to be better in how they’re shifting across, where metres can make all the difference. And in Nico’s case, it’s likely to be his side where teams make more of an effort to crowd him out and limit space.

If that results in easier switches of play and more room for Areso to operate in on the right side — and he can show he’s a threat to be respected too — that improves the conditions for both of them.

As far as balancing the team goes, should Areso earn a particularly advance role, the formula looks pretty well achievable for Athletic. Their starting central midfielders are two of the best counter-pressers in LaLiga, while the right side of their back line is held up by possibly the best recovery defender in the country, in the form of Dani Vivian. If Ernesto Valverde could pick any centre back in LaLiga to play behind an ambitious full back, he might well pick Vivian.

Further to that, it’s logical to think Yuri Berchiche could be used as more of a third centre back next season. Although he’s a well-rounded full back, Valverde will no doubt be considering the fact that the 35-year-old is going to be under plenty of demand in a season where Champions League football is coming onto their calendar. Can they still use him as a full back flyer given that fact, as well as the arrival of a player in Areso who’s almost a decade younger?

It’s not as if that slight change of role for Yuri would be a dramatic one — we saw him do so in spells and certain games last season, as well as in early pre-season action this time round. Indeed, when you have Nico Williams in front of you, sometimes the best thing you can do is give him the ball and stay deep out of the way (so as not to encourage a winger back into the vicinity).

In summary, the signing of Jesús Areso is one that Athletic will have made with plenty of faith in what he can give them in attack. Though he’s no doubt got the ability to be a strong two-way defender, the real excitement will come through what he can provide to a team who can already overwhelm teams with their direct, physical style of play — even before the arrival of one of LaLiga’s most potent wing marauders.

In a season where Athletic face a significant challenge to stay in the top four race while competing in the Champions League and Copa del Rey, the adaptation and impact of Areso could be a significant factor in that pursuit. Adding a new dimension to an attack that has managed to retain Nico Williams would be a tremendous development for all concerned.

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