The miracle of Manolo González in the midst of precariousness

Barcelona"There is no money to be made at the moment," Manolo González admitted with a certain resignation a few days before the close of the winter transfer market. The Espanyol coach, who last season took the reins of the first team just in time to get back on track towards promotion, is looking for an even more difficult challenge this year: staying up. An objective that he will want to bring closer this Monday to the Estadio de la Cerámica (9pm, M. LaLiga TV), where the perico team hopes to maintain the momentum that it has been carrying at the start of 2025.

in the Division, with that of intercity bus driver. Little did he imagine, on those trips between Barcelona, ​​Badalona, ​​​​Santa Coloma and Montgat, that a few years later he could earn a living on a First Division bench. "I have earned my living by working and training until, at Badalona, ​​​​I was able to focus on training. Living off what you like is a privilege," he admitted a few days ago in an interview on Radio Marca.

Now he is no longer driving buses, but rather an Espanyol that in the last two months has gone from seeing salvation one point away from relegation to four points away from relegation. "Things have been moving forward with work, work and overcoming difficult moments. Since the season in Segunda, even the players who play less feel like they are part of the team and celebrate everything. They know that, if they are united and together, they can get ahead. This is the key to the season," added the Espanyol coach.

Achieving permanence would be another miracle for Manolo González, who before landing in the first team had no experience in the elite. A miracle especially if one takes into account that the white-and-blue entity is the one that has invested the least in reinforcements in the last five seasons: since the summer of 2020 it has allocated 18.3 million euros to signings, only ahead of Las Palmas (9.4 million) and Leganés (7.1). In the same period, Getafe has invested four times more, 74 million, almost the same as Girona and Celta (72). Other clubs such as Valencia (37.6), Valladolid (34.7), Osasuna (34.4) and Rayo Vallecano (32.9) almost double the Espanyol investment.

In the last five years, in fact, Espanyol has only invested more than three million euros in two players: César Montes, who only lasted half a year in the squad, and Edu Expósito, who a few weeks ago returned from a knee injury that has kept him out of the squad. If Espanyol has lost financial muscle when it comes to going to the transfer market, it is mainly due to the pandemic and poor sports management that caused two relegations to the Second Division. All of this has caused the club's economy to be quite damaged.

The fifth cheapest squad in the First Division

If the cost of all the clubs in the current league is taken into account, Espanyol has the fifth cheapest squad in the category, at 30.5 million, according to the specialist portal Transfermarkt. It doubles the investment of Alavés and Valladolid, of around 16 million, and triples that of Las Palmas and Leganés, teams that have spent one, two, three and four of the last five seasons in the Second Division, respectively. Espanyol's expenditure is lower than that of Bordalás' Getafe, which has spent 36.7 million on putting together the current squad.

In the First Division, in fact, there are 22 players who cost more than the entire Espanyol squad: nine from Real Madrid, seven from Atlético de Madrid and six from Barça. In addition, two Espanyol players who have been highly questioned in recent years, Cabrera and Calero, represent 55.7% of the total cost. The Uruguayan is a regular in the centre of defence, while the Valladolid native – author of the game – is a key player in the team's defence. of the winning goal in Mendizorrotza– He is the twentieth player in terms of minutes played. The dressing room is with Manolo González, Espanyol's driver.

Espanyol plays dead before breaking a curse