Musical chairs at Espanyol before the start of La Liga

BarcelonaOn July 14, Espanyol announced that Rastar had reached an agreement with Velocity Sport Limited (VSL) to sell the club to him for €130 million. Two weeks later, the shareholders of the Chinese conglomerate accepted the change of hands at a shareholders' meeting, which includes a 16.45% stake in VSL, which controls the Espanyol club and English club Burnley, both teams under the umbrella of the business holding company led by Alan Pace.

But for now, VSL is not yet the majority shareholder of Espanyol because it is waiting for the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to give the green light to the purchase and sale transaction, and Mao Ye, Espanyol's CEO and Chen Yansheng's right-hand man at Barcelona, remains the main public face of the club. This means that the Chinese executive will preside over the RCDE Stadium box this Sunday for Espanyol's La Liga debut against Atlético de Madrid (9:30 p.m., Movistar+). As happened in the Copa Catalunya final, Alan Pace will sit a few rows further back. ARA has learned that he will be attending the Blue and Whites' first official match of the season.

These are days of impasse at the Cornellà offices, from where the CSD's resolution is expected to arrive soon. Once these bureaucratic issues, common in a transaction of this magnitude, are resolved, Pace will take over the reins of the club and will be able to give a press conference to introduce himself to the public and, if necessary, call a shareholders' meeting to appoint a board of directors and a new president to represent the new shareholders. He will also be able to preside over the stadium's grandstand.

A closer owner

In any case, since the agreement with Rastar was announced, VSL, through its team and extensive consultants, has been studying the club in detail to understand its idiosyncrasies and optimize its operations at all levels as soon as possible. For his part, Alan Pace traveled to Barcelona for a few days. a city that has him in love, for being involved in the day-to-day running of the club, still run by the Chinese conglomerate. "It's his way of working. When he bought Burnley, he went to live in England with his family," says an old acquaintance of Espanyol's new owner, who speaks fluent Spanish and addressed Espanyol fans for the first time, via social media, in Catalan. In this sense, he will be a much more approachable owner than Chen Yansheng, who hasn't set foot in Catalonia since August 2022.

The American businessman has already met with the captains—he told Manolo González that he would be closely monitoring the team and would often ask him about their playing system—and has met several times with Mao Ye and sporting director Fran Garagarza, who drove him to the Copa Catalunya final. There, in Sabadell, he made his first public appearance as Espanyol's new owner, accompanied by Bradley Spiby, Pace's confidant and a professional in sports finance who will play a significant role in the club's restructuring. He also watched the Espanyol team's final preseason match live at Newcastle. The following day, Mao and Garagarza went to Turf Moor for the Burnley-Lazio match and sat in the box... presided over by Pace.

Halted in the transfer market

While we wait to see if VSL's plans at Espanyol affect the current football management structure, it is guaranteed that Garagarza will lead the summer transfer window, which closes in two weeks. He is the one who renewed Manolo González's contract and the one who signed Terrats, Hugo Pérez (on loan to Huesca), Marcos Fernández, and Dmitrovic. Kike García, Miguel Rubio, Salinas, Roberto and Tyrhys Dolan, the only incorporation made after July 14. "There are positions that we clearly need to strengthen, but there are things that do not depend on us. We have competition and an economic situation that is not easy," justified Fran Garagarza last week, conditioned by the fair play, who wants to sign between three and four players. A central midfielder and another central defender are priorities, to replace Urko González and Kumbulla.

If the CSD gives the green light in the coming days, the club will not deviate from its objectives and planned schedule, nor will Alan Pace be able to drastically modify the salary cap—only the entry of a major sponsor would allow that—of an Espanyol that days before its debut in La Liga.