A better Espanyol in the short term

There is no doubt that Espanyol today is better than the one that was promoted to First four months ago in Zaragoza. Vicente Moreno's squad has hardly lost personnel and has won five players that increase competitiveness of a group that has gained quality and experience, although a priori it may seem overcrowded from midfield forward, with players who they are barely glimpsed prominence from here on.

But if there are two words that define the blue and white market, they are short-termism and austerity. Let's start with the second term. The data is transparent. Espanyol has only invested one million euros in Sergi Gómez and the 4.5 million that he had to pay for the three players with a purchase option last June. Nany Dimata cost 2.2, Álvaro Vadillo 1.8 and Miguel Llambrich, 500,000. The rest of the players land free or on loan.

Where there is no austerity is in wages. With a margin due to the loan from LaLiga, the perico team has taken the opportunity to bring in players with a salary of around two million euros and who came from top-level teams, like Aleix Vidal, who resigned with Sevilla, or Yangel Herrera, from Manchester City.

Loaned and higher average age

Austerity, also a hallmark of the summer market of 2020 where the blue and white team only invested 2.5 million in signing Óscar Gil and Keidi Bare, is joined by short-termism. Of the five players signed, three of them arrive on loan. Manu Morlanes and Herrera without a purchase option, so they will only stay for one course. Loren Morón with a high voluntary option. Sergi Gómez signed three years with another optional and is 29 years old. The center-back is the only player who can have a longer run in the entity.

Aleix Vidal (32) signs a short contract for two years. The average age has risen more than two and a half years after the market closed compared to the previous year. Despite this, Espanyol continues to have young bets such as Óscar Gil, Javi Puado, Nico Melamed and Adrià Pedrosa Mainly, right now, the players with the most future and with a theoretical better market. The Espanyol of this course must be saved. Now he lives in short-termism.