Espanyol and the endorsement of the ten promotions: a seasoned squad

The dazzling road, more of a sprinter than a marathoner, of Spanish to First serves for footballers to add a promotion to their curriculum, a merit that, even for being LaLiga SmartBankThey will surely be able to balance the best memories when they hang up their boots. A circumstance that, in addition, is not new for many of them, because among the immutable virtues of this Espanyol in the silver category that it has already left behind was that of having experts in promotions.

The sports general director already explained in summer that one of the aspects that were sought from the new signings was to have experience in the category and even to have already lived a successful season, which would help to change the atmosphere of a squad that it came from doing the worst season in its history in First. Total, up to eight players who met this requirement landed in Cornellà-El Prat, four of them signed that same summer, seven counting those who were signed in the previous winter market.

Curiously, the one who has experienced the most promotions is the one who has contributed the least. Alvaro Vadillo He has obtained the fourth in his private account, although it is undoubtedly the one in which he has participated the least. In the 2014-15 campaign he did it with Betis, a young man who played seven games after suffering a serious injury that prevented him from participating in the first six months of the championship. Later, he would repeat success two years in a row with Huesca and Granada, where he played 21 and 40 games respectively.

Apart from Vadillo, king of promotions, Oier Olazábal He was the first player in the squad to be promoted, in the 2016-17 campaign with Levante, where he only played five games. Without a doubt, the most prolific season was 2017-18, in which, apart from Vadillo with Huesca, up to three more parakeets managed to climb to First. Fernando Calero needed to win the playoff with Valladolid, while Adrián Embarba and Raúl de Tomás they were already doing their thing at Rayo Vallecano.

The first signings of the season, Miguel Llambrich, Fran Mérida and Óscar Gil, they also add a promotion. The two wingers achieved it the previous season with Huesca and Elche, directly the former Villarreal player (29 games) and after an agonizing playoff the second (28 games). Merida, meanwhile, captained the rise of Osasuna in 18-19 in an almost perfect campaign in which he participated in 31 games.