Indias: “Even if you have money, this is not choosing and signing, it's difficult”

Txema Indias he sounds concerned on the other end of the phone. The defeat against Girona hurt a whole Leganes that, however, is already thinking about the future wanting to recover the lost step. Reasons for trust there are. The pepineros have shielded their squad from a truffled team with players with extensive experience in the category and also in the First Division. It has not been easy

Although the coffers of Butarque They are in good health, the Leganés sports director admits that signing certain players is only possible due to the illusion of promotion to the elite and through formulas that guarantee that, if not, the player can maintain contracts in many high cases. That is why the club repeats with up to seven assignments. Among them, that of Miguel de la Fuente, incorporation that has provoked the threat of going to the courts of the Valladolid. “Each club defends its own. Sometimes you can trade between clubs, but sometimes you can't. It is done. But there is no reason to be angry ”, he comments about it.

How has the market been for Leganés?

We had to quickly change the chip, the mentality. Everything has been very fast: descend and start thinking about Second. We have tried to bring players who knew the Second Division perfectly. In that sense, in a high percentage we have achieved it.

Hectic market …

Yes, there have been many movements and quite a few additions, really. We are happy with all of them. And I take advantage of the fact that the new faces are always highlighted, we are happy with those who have arrived and the players who have stayed with us from last year.

In total there have been 48 movements between highs, low, players from the past year who do not follow. They are many.

I read it in AS and was amazed. I didn't keep track. They are many. It is true that in some cases we have loaned players who have returned, but the market has been long, perhaps not in duration, but in activity.

The squad is long: 28 players and three from the subsidiary who train regularly with Martí, aren't there too many?

Yes, yes, it is clear that it is. In a normal situation having such a template is an exaggeration. We have valued many factors. The fundamental one, the pandemic. Unfortunately we already have a positive case for COVID-19, and if one day there were two or three, you would run out of them for two or three days. In addition, we have internationals and in Second the competition does not stop due to FIFA windows. Our goal is, in short, to have a competitive eleven every day and five good changes.

Martí is going to have to make bobbin lace with every eleven.

It can be, in quotes, a problem for the coach, because he has to manage it, but he will know how to do it. Players will understand it too.

Insurance? It is not just a long squad, but with a lot of rooster, with high quality players.

Everyone wants to have that role, it is logical. But in October we will not have five games condensed in three weeks. Also, in two and a half months we have another transfer market open. There we will evaluate each case. But I agree that it is the manager's turn to do the management there. Most positions are very balanced with high-level players.

The Leganés resorts again to the strategy of the transfers. It has seven in total. Why?

It is not a strategy. People may not understand it or do not have to know. It seems that Leganés has money and does not want to spend it. That is not like that. Many of those loans come from the First Division with First Division contracts. Of them, many, if we move up, would be bought next year.

But if you don't get promoted, it might be difficult to retain them …

That's. Leganés can face those high salaries this first season. You can't say to a player who comes from First Class with a First Class contract, “Come on, I buy you, but we are going to pay you less.” It is simply because of that. Not because we don't want to spend money or we can't. In fact, when possible, we have bought. In recent years, the trend has also been to have many players owned.

But this year it was difficult.

Let's see, it is a situation that neither the club could accept, and I would almost say that neither the players. A player who has a contract in the First for three seasons is not going to come to Leganés for several years. This first campaign yes, with that illusion that, if we move up, he will have a contract with Lega in First. But if not, it won't. He will not risk losing a First-class contract by coming to Leganés in Second.

Everyone wins. You and the players.

That's. The player risks going down a category step to ascend and Leganés now saves an investment that he could make if he promoted to First.

That investment with the mandatory purchase options would be around 8-9 million, right?

It can be quietly those figures. We are not going to be arrogant, but if we move up, they are signings that we can assume. Hopefully we have to pay.

Has there been a very complicated transfer? For example, Perea had it done with Fuenlabrada …

They are all difficult. There have been signings that surprise you, because you think they are going to be extended and in two days you close it. Others, however, you think are easy and do not close them because other teams appear … To tell you a name would be to deceive you. Everything is complex. This is not picking a player and signing him the next day.

Ok, let's rephrase the question. What has been the most surprising signing? Pardo perhaps?

You all know that Rubén has always been a name that we have had in all the windows. In January 2017 he left Real and went to Betis. There we were trying a lot. His response to Leganés was always polite. Perhaps for being so insistent in First we have achieved it in Second.

So yes, they hallucinated with signing Pardo.

The first day of the transfer market we certainly did not have it as a possibility on the table because we saw it almost impossible. But time passes and things happen. At Girondins there was a change of coach and sports director. They have also had many economic losses. All this helped us to sign Pardo the year we saw him least possible, although it would have been unfeasible if he had not minded joining the project in Segunda.

And Kevin Bua, how did they sign him? Most of us were caught offside …

Kevin is the exception in the market because it is true that he does not know the Second. And he is also Swiss, but in truth his integration will be easy because he is also Spanish, his family is Spanish …

And he played against Getafe last season.

We follow players from all over the world, and when one of them plays against a Spanish team, we try to see them on the spot. In Getafe – Basel we made reports of all the Basel players, and although Bua was expelled, it was not bad at all. We did some research, we saw that it was from a Spanish family and we wrote it down as an option.

Striking option because it comes from playing Europa League …

Yes, he is another one of the players that at first you think you cannot sign, because he came from playing the Europa League, he came from winning at Eintracht Frankfurt only three months ago… But circumstances helped us to sign him.

As in the case of Sabin. If Depor had remained administratively, would it have had to return to Coruña?

He would have stayed at the Depor, yes … On a personal level Sabin is spectacular. He gives everything in training and his behavior is spectacular. We are happy that he has returned, although when he left in January, it was agreed that in case of permanence, he would have to continue in Coruña.

He is one of the returnees, who in this squad, between signings and transfers, there are many … Is it coincidence?

Let's see, what about Sabin, as I said, it has been circumstances. Santos did not have a good experience here, nor did we manage to get the performance we expected, but it happened that despite that bad memory, we did not hesitate to get together. We trust him. In Coppenhague he has played the Europa League. He has experience and has not minded returning.

Like Rober Ibáñez, did Leganés have pending accounts with him after his injury?

Yes, maybe yes. We are all a bit with the bad taste in our mouths that, when we thought it was going to explode here, the crusade was broken against Osasuna and said goodbye to the season and Leganés. In Osasuna now he was not completely comfortable and it seemed like a great option.

You know the Segunda market very well. Also the French market where some signings have come from … Has your opinion had more weight than in previous markets?

Nerd. And it's not that I want to remove responsibility. The signings are a matter of the sports management at the hand of the coach. There have been players that we liked a lot and in which the coach's hand has been key, such as Gaku, who already trained him at Tenerife. You have to listen to him and go hand in hand with him.

But it does give the feeling that this template has part of its signature.

I insist: it is everyone's job. I do not remove or put responsibility. Among all of us who work at Leganés we try to make the best squad possible.

The sports management has been restructured after the departure of Juanjo Lorenzo. Now they have the presence of Pablo Rodríguez.

Pablo was already with us for two years. He was distant from the first team. He worked in Butarque, following international matches. Now, with the departure of Juanjo, Felipe (Moreno Pavón) and I remain, along with Pablo, who helps us. This year's market, moreover, is not the same. I am not saying that less staff is needed. The more eyes we have, the less we will make mistakes, but it is true that we have reduced the market almost to players from Spain. That is why we have not expanded the team any more …

Could people like Kravets or Recio come back?

Yes, in both situations there are options. They are our players. Recio has gone to Primera and Vasyl decided to go to Poland to see if he is lucky there. Here, it is true, we have not been able to get the performance we expected. Hopefully there he grows up and his return is positive.

Has Miguel de la Fuente been filed with the subsidiary to avoid a possible LaLiga veto after the Valladolid complaint?

Nerd. If we had wanted and had vacancies, there would have been no problem to sign him for the first team. But with the U23s it is not the first time that we have followed a similar plan. Have we ever had something of a pique with a representative, because it seems that having a number beyond 25 devalues ​​the player, but it is not true. Look at the cases of Óscar and En Nesyri …

So Miguel's was only a matter of having more space in the professional files …

That's. With the under-23s with so much potential, it gives you the advantage that you can count on them as players in the first team, but administratively they register with the subsidiary to free you a professional card. We usually do it this way to be ready for the last day of the market, in case an opportunity arises, to have professional chips. In this situation it has not been the case, but it is the reason for this strategy. It has nothing weirder …

Has the summer been unpleasant with Valladolid?

(Silence). No, I wouldn't call it that. I think in the end it's more Valladolid's thing towards us than the other way around. I have a good relationship with Miguel Ángel (Gómez, Valladolid sports director). Each club defends its own. Sometimes you can do inter-club operations, but other times you can't. It is done. I will not be angry if I cannot do an operation with a club. Each one looks for his own. For my part, I have nothing against Valladolid. I wish you have a good season.

All this pique was born in 2018, with the attempt to sign Cuéllar from Valladolid. Do you also think so?

I don't know… At that moment the ones who could have gotten angry were us, and yet it wasn't like that. The people, the clubs, if they do everything within the law and common sense, we cannot get angry about things like that. It can bother you, of course. Sometimes there are movements that you say: “But how can they do this to us?” I mean all the clubs, not Valladolid. But what do you say, what do you do? For example, what do I do with the Braithwaite case and Barcelona?

Tell me …

Has the player been robbed? Well, they didn't steal it from us, because they did everything within the law. Can I say about Barcelona that ethically they hurt us, that they could have done it differently, that they could have been reinforced earlier in the winter market …? Well yes, you can say many things, but they acted within the law. And if you do so, there is little you can protest.

Antoñito, formerly of Valladolid, didn't you sign for Leganés because of the conflict they had opened over the Miguel case?

It's more of a question for Valladolid. He was one of the right-backs we had in mind. Like Sergi Palencia. There were several names that we liked. We have been able to close one, which was Sergi. Antoñito could not be done. Nothing happens. There is no need to get angry about these things. Antoñito was from Valladolid and they are free to decide what to do with their player.

Has there been a complaint from Valladolid on the Miguel issue?

Nerd. Not much less. Miguel has come in a situation that, it is true, is not normal, because he had to take to the RFEF and LaLiga, but both have given us the go-ahead. Both have processed the file. If in the future Valladolid wants to claim, it is respectable. As it will be respectable for Leganés to defend themselves.

Have there been any offers for Cuéllar this summer?

The players who have remained are players with background in First. It is normal for other clubs to notice them. Fortunately, our financial health is good and the project is interesting. That may have been important for them to stay. The normal thing, however, is that clubs have been interested in those players who stayed, like Pichu.

But has someone addressed Leganés?

Nerd.

And with Silva?

By Jonathan yes. In Primera they know him and they know everything he can give. He is an appealing player and in a very complicated position like the left back. Before it was said that forwards always found equipment. I would add that also the left sides. It is true that there may have been interests, but there has been no way out …

Did Getafe present an offer?

Yes, it is one of the teams that was interested in him.

Has any other player who has continued asked you to listen to offers for him from Primera?

We all want to be in First. There are always players and clubs that, not in a formal way, ask you. The players know it and so do their representatives. But these situations have not gone any further, perhaps because the economic situation is not good.

Some of these players end their contract in 2021. Is the renewal going to start now to avoid cases like Cuéllar and Valladolid?

We come from a tremendous maelstrom. I'm not saying that renovations are not important, but this is starting. During the season we will make evaluations for the following seasons.

I suspect that they will value it …

We are very happy with the three who are in this situation, which are Bustinza, Tarín and Cuéllar. All three have grown a lot here. They are three key players. We will take them into account.