To date, Javi López and Víctor Sánchez were the only footballers who had experienced the dismissal of Mauricio Pochettino and Ramon Planes in November 2012, one of the most delicate moments in history perica at the RCDE Stadium. Espanyol came from holding an embarrassing Shareholders' Meeting in which Joan Collet was elected president, and the team was bottom with no symptoms of life.
The two captains were the first-team footballers with the longest consecutive seasons. Also of the few who did not arrive in the time of Chen Yansheng. Now, only two footballers resist, of which one of them could also go out in the remainder of the market. Is about Dídac Vilà and David López, who debuted before Chen but returned with the Chinese owner.
Dídac debuted in the 2008-09 campaign. He was one of the first homegrown players that Pochettino promoted. It made its debut at the Camp Nou in a Cup match. It had to wait for the 2009-10 academic year to have continuity in the First Division, in the opening year of the RCDE Stadium, but in 2011 it was already transferred to Milan for four million. He returned on loan the following year and it was at Chen's time that the sports management decided to rescue him from AEK in Athens in 2017-18. Recently renovated, it will continue whatever the course happens in Second.
The case of David López is similar. Raised in Sant Adrià, in the 2013-14 campaign Óscar Perarnau, at that time technical secretary, urged the president, Joan Collet, to pay 250,000 euros to Huesca to get it back. He only played that course. His great performance took him to Naples for 5.3 million, but after two years, in Chen's first year, he returned for four kilos. And since then he has always been a starter.
Both now represent the only players from the pre-Chen era. A sample of the passage of time since the premiere of the new stadium, already 11 years, and since the purchase of the Chinese president, which will be five years old during the course.