Manolo Gaspar is the man of fashion in Malaga. From the most absolute austerity and dealing with countless critical situations, the Blue and White sports director and his team have shaped a project that is exciting. Malaga, finally, looks to the future with hope.
The phrase that has marked the path of Malaga in recent months contained two objectives: save the institution and save the category. In what state of execution are both objectives?
The part that touches me the most is saving the category and I think we are on the way. The team gives me confidence because of what it shows. I know that bad times are going to come, but I know that when they come, the team is going to fight and show its face and that is important to achieve that goal. To get to more I do not know, we will see. In the other objective, saving the entity, which is even more important than saving the category, José María is doing quite well and is taking the steps that must be taken. Difficult times are coming, but we are on the right track in both respects.
How do you make a team with 2.1 million euros?
Doing a previous job for a long time. I also have to say that the Malaga brand helps a lot. And then making bobbin lace. Of the 3.6 million euros that we have as a salary limit, the limit for the inscribable sports team is 2.1 and with that the first team is made. Well, making a lot of calls, eating a lot of ‘no’ and happy because it is very difficult but it has been achieved.
What is the 'no' that has hurt you the most?
There have been several, but I prefer not to say the names because they are in other teams and maybe tomorrow they will come to Malaga and they will not fall on their feet. And I do not like that.
You can imagine that seeing the team and how things are going, now many more agents and players call you than before.
You can see how much Malaga has gained in credibility. You see a very good group, a healthy group, and the players also look for that a lot, to find themselves in a group that you know is going to fight and that is united. All of that and the receivership's work in making us credible and transparent means that things have changed a lot from last year's winter market with Richard Shaheen to the current situation. Iván Calero has been injured and I had more than 20 calls. That says something.
Among those calls is one of those who said “no” regretting their decision?
Those who said no in their day are sorry, I'm completely sure. But football is like that, decisions are made and that's it. I die with those I have and I am delighted that they have come.
Life without Al Thani is much better.
For me if. Definitely. José María Muñoz does not get involved in sports decisions at all. It guides me in the economic and contractual conditions and with that I move. Working with that peace of mind and being you, for good and for bad, the architect of what happens, for agility at work is important. Now I can sign a player in one day if I want to. Before it was impossible.
How was that attempt to want to place Balotelli?
It was through Richard (Shaheen). They were orders from Mr. Al Thani and that died at the minute, just looking at my face he noticed that we were talking about something impossible for Malaga. I don't believe in that management model, but that's how Málaga has been for ten seasons.
What balance do you make after having completed one year at the helm of sports management?
With my balance, I am happy after seeing how everything was and the tools we had to make a team. I am happy and proud of what we have achieved.
And how do you rate this first stage of competition made by the team?
At the beginning of summer we didn't think we were going to be in this situation. Seeing that, I am happy. At certain times we could have given a bit more and be in a slightly better situation. We are taking the path that must be taken, without euphoria and showing that we can be there. Today we are in a comfortable zone on our own merits.
The quarry always comes to the rescue.
That is the result of the very good work of the people who are managing the quarry. We have coaches who are doing a very good job. They train the player before looking at the results. I transmitted that to Duda and the coaches, more than the results it is important that the players are trained to compete and to give Malaga performance. In that we have several quite good generations that come from below. You have to take care of them and give them their place and their time. There are many of those players who understand that Malaga is the best place for them today. And that helps us to better manage the time in the evolution of these players.
If not for that sale of Antoñín, possibly now you would not be giving this interview.
Totally convinced. There were two possibilities, Keidi Bare and Antoñín. Once the winter market was closed there was no more option, only the one that came from Granada due to a long-term injury. If it had not been sold to Antoñín, the first defaults would have arrived a month and surely we would not have been doing this interview today.
Did you expect homegrown players like Ramón or Ismael to settle in this way in such a short period of time?
Times were different for me. We have always trusted them, but it is true that there comes a time when the players take the final step and surprise. There are players who have taken that step and in the case of Ramón it is incredible. From one year to the next, he has acquired a maturity and a knowing how to be on the field that perhaps we did not expect to happen so soon. He has advanced the times of all of us.
Apart from the renewal by matches, the club has tried to improve his contract.
I wanted to do it and we could not reach an agreement. He already has his contract. The contracts can be modified during their validity and we will see what happens. At the moment he has until 2024 signed with us and we are very happy.
Can some aspects of your work be established in any way similar to Monchi's work?
Both I and those who work with me try to analyze and learn from all the sports directors we know. From Fran Garagarza we try to take things, from Monchi, from Emilio Vega… We are taking things that we like and that we believe can do better in a sports direction. If sports directors do not take things from Monchi's method and way of working, which is successful, they do not want to evolve.
Is Manolo Gaspar a supporter of the “sell to grow” philosophy?
There is always a time when you have to sell to grow. If you don't have capital inside, you have to sell. In addition, there is always a time when the player begins to devalue, sportingly and economically. There is always a time when you have to sell and if you sell well, it helps you grow.
Has Málaga left behind that stage in which it was obliged to sell at almost any price to survive?
Hope so. The illusion I had was that a day would come when the judicial administrator told me “Manolo, if it is not for the price of the clause, no one will leave.” And he has already told me: if it is not for the clause, nobody comes out here. There may come a time when we may have to backtrack and have to sell, but no one is leaving today other than for its clause. That's something I like because in this market we have had to sell to players like Iván Jaime or Mula and it bothered me a lot when they left. I was very clear that the best thing for them was to be here and I keep thinking about it. We were forced to make those sales and they came in a miraculous way. It bothered me a lot the day that José María Muñoz told me “Manolo, first we save the entity and then we save the category.” I had to eat it, saying it wrong and soon. But it was the best for the club and it had to be accepted. There are a thousand players in the market who can replace one or the other. I am not afraid of anyone leaving because we are prepared to find a replacement, but the club has to have assets and taking assets from us by obligation is always a bad sale. Today we are already on the road and I don't think Malaga has to sell to anyone.
Now it is his turn to replace Iván Calero.
The team has to be well compensated and for it to be we need another right back. We will try to find a profile similar to Calero and to put that piece. When we have more chips, we will try to reinforce other types of positions that can serve. By making a right back we are still compensated and having two players per position, which with 18 professional chips is what to look for.
Alexander González is ready.
He's on the list, we've been following him for a long time. Malaga already wanted to incorporate him a long time ago when there was the possibility that Roberto Rosales would leave.
Besides the right-back, does Malaga need to reinforce any other position?
Especially the right back because in the others there are very versatile players who can do it. If we had more chips, we would put one player per line to support them at specific times and make the competition grow. I think we are doing well. To have 18 chips we have a compensated, versatile and acceptable staff.
Are you optimistic about the possibility that LaLiga will allow you to have any more tokens outside of those 18?
I am not optimistic. I'd rather not be. The sanction is quite clear and deserved, although all the drastic decisions that have been taken, make two ERE, put the accounts in order … I think that should have a prize. And I would love it to be reflected with the confidence of LaLiga in allowing us to have at least one more card. What can we do to a professional youth squad. Something… So that Pellicer has more flexibility and more options in the line-ups. Picking up the calculator every time you have to make a change… The Pellicer thing has incredible merit. I think the prize of having one more chip is deserved, but I am not optimistic.
If you were allowed just one more chip, where would the priority be?
Perhaps above because we see that there are several injuries in that area. It would be important to have one more player in attack.
The Cristo González thing could not be done, they maintained their follow-up and he has finally signed for Mirandés.
The Mirandés is doing the job very well, it is ahead of the markets. If we had 19 chips, Christ was here with us. It has not been. For us the priority was a band and we were clear that it was Joaquín Muñoz. We are glad we covered that token with him.
It is evolving.
Joaquín has a lot of football and is very involved. He is a charming footballer who in the end breaks your matches, which in the Second Division become very flat. And having this profile of a player who faces, is vertical, steps on the area and breaks the games gives a lot.
Against Logroñés the team was one hour at the limit, with only seven professionals on the field.
We have it all thought out. Even if there is an expulsion, let Josemi (the delegate) jump onto the pitch and play the cockroach (laughs). Pellicer has everything in mind and Josemi is very attentive about those things. Many times you have to play to the limit and last year on occasion we also played with four from the reserve team. In the end you have no choice when you have no options. Now with the five changes we can look for a quick solution, but if four or five injuries of players with a professional record come together with this murderous calendar, Málaga in a game will surely play with the player's goalkeeper. Before losing a game due to improper alignment, if you have it with a positive result, then maybe you have to play with a player goalkeeper. Goalkeepers know that at some point it can happen to them. When the time comes, if they are final minutes, with their interference they can help.
How did you manage to convince players like Yanis or Chavarría?
The Malaga brand calls a lot. Yanis was one of the first and the simplest. First, because Almería helped us from minute one and second because we had it so clear with the player because we followed him from Second B. When I called him and in the way I spoke to him, from minute one he accepted everything with a great desire. And he had a huge obsession to play for Malaga. Perhaps that of Yanis was the easiest because the rest already had a career and had been important players in their teams. I saw how hungry Yanis was and he told me: “This player has to come here yes or yes, even if he has to go find him in the Basque Country or wherever.” There I had a lot of help from Almería and a predisposition from the player, who was obsessed with coming to Málaga.
Is it a chimera that Málaga can pay the million euros that its purchase option costs?
Today it is impossible. We had to ask for a loan to be well at the treasury level. But we do not know what will happen to the club from January and where it will go. The only thing we can do is give him a lot of love so that, if Almería wants to give it up, we are their first option. We want the players who are here to want to return and to be able to put pressure wherever they go to return to Malaga. We don't know what will happen. We are delighted with his performance and he being here. If we can make the purchase option, we will have to evaluate if that million we can spend on one player or make five signings.
With Jozabed there is a mandatory purchase option in the event of an upgrade of 500,000 euros.
Yes. He is a player who has a First Division level. If we move up, he is a player who will always enter our squad. We had no doubts and the sports management understood that we needed quality players who, at a given moment, would give us that leap at certain times and in key games. The Second Division has also grown and we need players with that profile. He is a player who fits into many different systems and gives us that extra quality. For me that mandatory option, with that price and with this player, is a gift.
You have to be patient with him.
Pellicer has a form of player where you have to squeeze and this player, who puts everything on the field, maybe it's not that kind of games, of that profile, to squeeze with so many legs. I'm sure that throughout the season he will give us many things and as time goes by, Jozabed will be there and he will give us a lot.
And Chavarría?
I see Chavarría as a fucking mother (laughs). It gives us a lot in and out of the dressing room. In the field he is a hustler who, due to the way we play we need this profile. He is a born winner and I see him very involved and very happy. He is another player who did not want to hear offers because, logically, what Malaga gave him was surpassed by any team in the category and even in France he had things. He is another player who has bet on coming to Malaga. She has a somewhat special family situation and was looking for a place like this. And there we were. We already tried it in the First Division in the time of Mario Husillos. But it was impossible because they asked us a lot of money.
Have you talked to him to continue?
You have an option in case of promotion, with a contract already agreed. But when the time comes and we see how the club is financially, we will talk. I want to wait for the moment to launch the best possible offer to a major player.
It is costing Orlando Sá more.
With Orlando we were looking for the benchmark forward profile. We made an important raid of reference players who could come to Malaga at those prices and we realized that there was little to choose from. So Orlando is a player who has nothing to prove because he has shown everything and the only one he had was how he would come out of his injury and that inactivity. Little by little he picks up the pace. For us, the fact of having a player with that profile that improves the youth players and helps them is very important. In the match against Logroñés he did a phenomenal job. He stayed and combed many balls, touched many balls and made significant efforts with one less player. We are delighted with him and with his way of being in the dressing room, how he helps and makes the rest grow. When we have to use it as against Logroñés and it gives us the performance, then we are already very happy. I am very happy for him because he bet to come here and help and he is fully complying.
Some time ago you said that you would consider it a success to hit half the signings.
Doing so many operations you have a high percentage of failure. I think that it has been quite successful and that many players still have a lot to say. At the end we will put the note. So far I think the success rate is high.
Have you received offers for homegrown players?
To date, none.
They are not at all happy with the VAR.
The VAR thing is to look at it, especially us. Each one looks at his own. The others I don't know, but I don't think Málaga can be happy with many of the decisions. We will try to work to make it easier for the VAR, the VOR room and that they have to enter less.
Has Malaga complained?
Malaga has not complained. Maybe it's club policy or whatever. You don't even have to complain. The errors are obvious. Surely it is not intentional, of that I am totally convinced. But the mistakes are serious and they are hurting us a lot.
Let's talk about your work team.
We are few, but we have been working together for a long time, we know each other perfectly and we know well where we move. Many times I don't even have to check a player because what they are telling me is what there is. We work a lot as a team. I believe that my management model is democratic and they have all the information. There are three people in the room with Capote, technical secretary, who is the one who filters what to see, not see, where to go and who makes the final filter. He does everything, as a scout, as a sports director … And then two people watching football. To this day, Málaga does not have the capacity it had, for example with Arnau, where there were seven scouts in the room and one external scout for each area of Spain. That unfortunately is over and we have what we have. But as the market, unfortunately also for Málaga is smaller, we know where we have to go and we are not wasting time. Those of the scouts for Spain were eliminated. Counting Capote, there are three people in the Cave watching soccer and me. There are also Martín Viberti and Javier Henares, who are passionate about ‘scouting’.
And taking stock of 2020, what has been the best and the worst of this year?
The best has been the internal health of the club, the good atmosphere that is transferred to the players. That we are on the way to save the sports club and institutionally. And the worst thing is everything that we drag from the past that makes us not grow taking the steps we should. All those rucksacks of trouble that we drag around. We are growing little by little and we are on the right track. We have to take very short steps because big steps lead to problems. The union that exists between the institutions, fans, the press and the club is something that I have not experienced for a long time and I think that is the key to the success of this Málaga.
Fortunately, they are getting rid of the Covid.
We had some cases at the beginning of the pandemic, but now it is respecting us. I have appealed to the locker room in private. We cannot lose any cash after the return from the holidays and I hope so. I hope that the first tests that are made on the return are all negative because we need all the available players. We have a fairly responsible wardrobe and with a good head to avoid this kind of thing. If what happened to teams like Granada or Alcorcón happens to us, we are going to have great difficulties.
Good luck and have a happy holiday season.
Thank you and equally.
