The 'nine' scorer trap

With Wu Lei but with Raúl de Tomás in the market, waiting for an offer to arrive that satisfies the player and Espanyol, the sports management is looking for a center forward in the market. One of the soccer players of interest, as the agent himself recognized, is ‘Toro’ Fernández, which this season has not had much continuity at Celta. Vicente Moreno is looking for his Ante Budimir from Mallorca.

But the striker's goals do not ensure promotion, nor do the goals by Raúl de Tomás, who finally only scored four in the championship, confirmed salvation. Espanyol's problems were collective, and the Madrilenian, despite starting with a record success, finally was diluted in the sterile Espanyol until he surrendered light years from his start.

Of the last four teams that were promoted directly, none of them stood out for having a leading scorer, such as Cristhian Stuani at Girona. This season, the top scorer for Cádiz was Álex Fernández, midfielder and old acquaintance of Espanyol, where he played the 2013-14 season. He barely scored 13 goals, one more than Okazaki, a Japanese from Huesca, champion of the category.

The 2018-19 season, the numbers were similar. Osasuna rose as champion with Roberto Torres scoring 13, while Antonio Puertas del Granada scored only 10. In the 2017-18 campaign, the 'nines' were decisive. Raúl de Tomás scored 24 goals for Rayo Vallecano and Melero scored 17 for Huesca.

In the other four seasons that Espanyol played in Second, in 62-63 their top scorer Jose Paredes scored eight goals, for the 17 Cayetano Ré in 69-70, the 12 of Gabino Rodriguez in the 89-90-91 and the 13 of the Bulgarian Velko Iotov in the 1993-94 season.