During Girona's Christmas lunch with journalists covering the club in 2023, the club's sporting director, Quique Cárcel, had kind words for his Espanyol counterpart, Fran Garagarza, who had only been in the position for six months. The conversation stemmed from the fact that, at that time, Girona was in the Champions League places while Espanyol was in the Second Division. This meant that Catalan media attention, aside from Barcelona, was largely focused on Girona, and the club felt it should seize the opportunity to position itself and strengthen its brand. Everyone agreed, but Cárcel cautioned those present: "Garagarza is doing an excellent job, excellent. And he's a great person. I'm convinced he'll do well." And so it has: Espanyol has not only radically turned its fortunes around but is also enjoying a dream season and is the clear favorite in the derby this Friday in Cornellà (9 p.m., DAZN).

The summer at Montilivi will be a long one. More than three weeks have passed since the end of the La Liga season, and there have still been no significant moves in the red-and-white squad. The only official departures have been the loan signings of Danjuma, Arthur (the club would like him to continue, but it's a very complicated financial transaction), Oriol Romeu, and Bryan Gil, and the non-renewal of Juanpe Ramírez, the fifth departure. There's no news of any potential new faces, beyond the fact that the spotlight is on the forward line. Girona wants to shake things up, but has a problem: the amortization of last summer's signings. There's still 12 million euros to cover for the deals for Abel Ruiz and Bojan Miovski to be financially worthwhile.

After a very turbulent course, Girona is facing the summer with a lot of work in the offices. Counting arrivals, departures, returning loan players, and those ending their commitments, it's easy to see around twenty moves, a common number at Montilivi. What few suspected is that one of them will feature Cristhian Stuani. The Uruguayan, who will turn 39 in October, has a contract until 2026. But the fine print is tricky, because the club owes the player a "debt." The player himself didn't vouch for his continued service, despite assuring that his intention is none other than to stay at the club. The one who acknowledged the problem was Quique Cárcel, the sporting director, who also hopes Stuani won't leave Girona. Both parties are already negotiating an extension that would allow the Girona number 7 to return to the club.

The penalty converted by Cristhian Stuani in the Monday's duel against Espanyol allowed Girona earning a very important point for not taking any damage in the standings. This year, in which they've had to juggle three competitions at once, has been disappointing in terms of play and results. They're far from the numbers from last season, which were completely unacceptable, but also from a consistency that would be appropriate for the largest budget in their history.