Chica, Lopo and Julián: a trident for the Espanyol quarry

There have been two campaigns altered by COVID-19, incomplete and that have stopped the training of young players. Also at Espanyol, a club that also chose to perform a change of grassroots coordination in June 2020, moments before relegation to Second Division and without the possibility of making an adequate local recruitment due to the cancellation of the championships. This course, if there are no more alterations, everything is following its natural cycle.

Espanyol announced this Monday the team of coaches of its quarry, already known because many of them have already started the preseason. Luis Blanco will start the Second RFEF with the challenge of upgrading this weekend at the controls of the subsidiary. Former Espanyol B player, Blanco will not be the only one with a past as a footballer at the perico club who leads a team from the base.

Javi Chica will be in the Juvenil and Julián López de Lerma and Alberto Lopo in cadets A and B respectively. If for the first it is one more campaign after more than five years as a base coach, for the second it is his return after being an assistant in the past and trying his luck as first coach at the Andorran Inter Club Escaldes this summer on his European adventure. Even in the Benjamin B joins José Zamora, which at the time also rose from the quarry to the second team.

While Espanyol B is being reinforced with players from national teams, the objective at the base is “Speed ​​up processes”, as they have commented periodically Francisco Rufete, sports director, and Luis Vicente Mateo, coordinator of grassroots football. A strategy that should bring short-term results with players who must quickly join the first team.