Reunion with Quique, the slide of the Chen era

Espanyol meets again this Sunday in Getafe to its most recent past, to a moment of enthusiasm and anger, which is represented by Quique Sánchez Flores. The Madrid coach was Chen Yansheng’s first big bet, the president who at that time declared that “In three years we must be in the Champions League”, and that he was involved in the shortlist of candidates for the blue and white bench in which they were also Míchel González (Quique’s predecessor in Getafe) and Paco Jémez, now without equipment.

Quique had the keys to Espanyol with Ramon Robert in the management and Ángel Gómez in the sports direction. The first campaign, with an investment of 18.4 million, tied players like David López, Diego López, Roberto Jiménez, Leo Baptistao, José Manuel Jurado or Álvaro Vázquez. Quique’s first year was hopeful. The team went from less to more and the coach achieved the record of points (56) in the RCDE Stadium period and left Espanyol eighth.

But that step that had to be taken forward was fictitious. Exceeded the salary limit imposed by LaLiga, the investment in the staff did not arrive and Quique entered a spiral of negativism expressed in his press conferences. From acknowledging in August that he was not happy, to his flirtation with Stoke City in February to “we do not give for more” after the game against Leganés. The technician was struck down.

Quique’s history at Espanyol can also be summed up in numbers. The coach is the fifth with the highest percentage of victories since 2009, with 32.30% in First Division, surpassed by David Gallego, Sergio González, Joan Francesc Ferrer Rubi and Mauricio Pochettino. After that, Quique, in several interviews, commented that “Espanyol should have more capacity to understand projects, distinguish when it is a ghost project.”

In that dressing room they found a difference between Quique from the first year and the second, whose involvement and enthusiasm was less. During their two years, they made their homegrown debuts as Marc Roca, Óscar Melendo, Marc Navarro or Aaron Martín, although in the case of the first three they went from being headlines to ostracism. Also his was the decision to dispense with Joan Jordán, who was later poorly sold by the entity, given the subsequent performance of one of the capital players in Sevilla’s midfield.