Two weeks before the start of Spain, Madrid 2 clubs invest over 20 billion yen to acquire players, the only Sociedad to have no reinforcements – Socciadians travelling to the Spanish soccer team – Overseas soccer column: Daily Sports
19 clubs except Real Madrid are preparing for the preseason as they prepare for the Spanish league opening in the 2025-26 season, just two weeks away. As in previous years, many clubs have no financial stamina, and so far, only 13 reinforcements have been made topped with over 10 million euros (approximately 1.7 billion yen). Of these, 10 were Madrid's two teams, while the remaining three were Barcelona, Bilbao and Villareal.
What is the actual situation at each club? We would like to focus on the Spanish top three clubs and Japanese clubs.
■Atletico is a season of transformation
Atletico Madrid is particularly active as they show a desire to win the league championship for the first time in five seasons. Seven people who supported the team, Aspilicueta, Vitzel, Heiniud, Riquelme, Correa, de Paul and Samueu Lino, have left, and Lemar also left the team on a loan to enter a season of transformation, and as they left the team on a loan, they made a major reinforcement of approximately 150 million euros (approximately 25.5 billion yen).
So far, they have signed six players: Italian defender Ruggieri (Atalanta), Spanish defender Pubir (Almeria), Slovak defender Hansko (Feyenoord), Spanish midfielder Baena (Villareal), American midfielder Johnny Cardozo (Betis), and Argentine national team forward Tiago Armada (Botafogo). This has strengthened the left side and center back, which had been a major problem last season, as well as other positions with a thinning player base.
However, President Enrique Cerezo doesn't seem to be satisfied with this alone. “The members are solidified, but if anything happens, we will take advantage of the opportunity,” he aims to reach even greater heights, and is interested in French midfielder Enzo Mirow (Stuttgart) and Italian national team forward Giacomo Laspadoli (Napoli).
The preseason has started late due to participation in the Club World Cup, and has not yet held a single Test match, so it is in an unknown situation, but if manager Simeone can fit his new team well with the team, he will be quite interesting this season.
■Real also acquired Rodri from Manchester C.
Real Madrid, which won the major title last season without a title, has been Spain's most expensive team up to this summer.
With the success of managers Ancelotti, Modric and Lucas Vazquez leaving, the new era has entered, and the team has acquired Spanish national team defender Haissen (Bournemouth) for the highest transfer fee of the Spanish league, with the highest transfer fee of about 60 million euros (approximately 10.2 billion yen), and the team has spent approximately 170 million euros (approximately 28.9 billion yen) on England national team defender Alexander Arnold (Liverpool), U-21 Spanish national team defender Alvaro Curreras, and Argentine national team midfielder Mustantuono (Riverplate).
Furthermore, there have been reports that he is aiming to replace Kroos, who retired last summer, with Spanish national team midfielder Rodri (Manchester City) as a candidate. Meanwhile, there are rumors of a possibility that he will leave the team, such as Rodrigo, who may be unable to play under new manager Xavi Alonso, and Alaba, who has not been able to recover from his heyday performance due to a long-term leave.
The players are still on vacation due to the impact of the Club World Cup semi-finals. The preseason begins on the 4th of this month, which is almost a month later than other teams, is a concern.
■Kubo scores 1 goal and assists against Osasuna
Real Sociedad is in the opposite position of reinforcements with two Madrid clubs. Although it has been a month since the start of the transfer market this summer, it is the only team in the Spanish league that has not yet acquired a single player.
Despite the need to make up for the unwanted results from last season, which was 11th in the league despite losing key players Subimendi and Agerudo, supporters are becoming increasingly worried about the fact that they still don't have any new players.
In particular, while center back and midfielder reinforcements are essential, Brazilian defender Igor Julio (Brighton), Argentine national team defender Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth), Croatian national team defender Chareta-Tsar (Lyon), Argentine national team midfielder Esequiel Fernandez (Al Cardisia), and Portuguese national team forward Gonzalo Geddes (Wolverhampton), but none have been made concrete at this point.
New manager Sergio Francisco has undergone trial and error, changing his system and starting lineup, playing four preseason matches, including the Japan Tour, gradually improving his form, with two wins, one draw, one loss.
Kubo, who played in three of these games (two starting games), scored one goal and assisted in the most recent match against Osasuna, giving him an incredible performance that would only score the highest score in the local media. We are expected to perform better than ever as a pillar of the team.
Regarding his future, Chairman Jokin Appelivey recently said that he had no offers, but there have been reports that he is being targeted by Everton. However, he is considered to be the second candidate after Belgian national team forward Marik Foffana (Lyon), and the situation remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, due to the use of the preseason match, Odriozola, Becker, Sadique, Carlos Fernandez, Javi Lopez and Traore, who could potentially transfer to Paris FC, are considered candidates to be released.
■Chairman Barca Laporta: “Achieving the goal”
Barcelona, aiming for the second consecutive league title, remains faced with player registration issues this summer due to salary caps (limits such as transfer fees and annual player salaries, divided according to the number of years of contract). To solve this problem, they have sold young players such as Paw Victor and Pablo Torre so far.
Meanwhile, the only reinforcements were to acquire Spanish goalkeeper Joan Garcia (Espanyol) on 25 million euros (approximately 4.25 billion yen), U-21 Swedish forward Rooney Bardogzi (Copenhagen) on a loan with a buy-out option and an English forward Rashford (Manchester United). However, President Laporta expressed confidence, saying, “The goal has been achieved. We have no intention of acquiring any more players. The team is extremely well-made.”
The team is currently running an Asia tour. They maintained their strong performance last season, and have been able to beat Vissel Kobe, where they had a lack of cash on the game just before, and then defeated Seoul FC, showing a good result.
The club is currently waiting for the Spanish league to decide, as Ter Stegen, who completed a re-operation of his lower back surgery on the 29th of last month, will be able to register as a new player depending on the period of absence, but this issue is likely to be a major problem this summer.
However, Barcelona is not the only one struggling with this issue. Many clubs don't have much of a salary cap, and only 27 new players have been registered in the past month, including those promoted from the younger generations. The 10 teams other than R Madrid, A Madrid, Seville, Espanyol, Rayo Vallecano, Valencia, Villareal, Betis, Getafe and Bilbao have yet to register any new players.
■Asano Condition is fine and upward
Mallorca, which is home to Asano Takuma, has only acquired Spanish midfielder Pablo Torre (Barcelona) and Finland national team goalkeeper Lucas Bergstrom (Chelsea), and has been one of the teams that have not moved relatively easily up to this point.
It is believed that it is essential to reinforce the center back and side attackers, with Italian national team defender David Calabria (Milan) and Spanish forward Carlos Martin (A Madrid) among others being candidates.
After four preseason matches, he has achieved two wins, one draw, one loss. Asano, who suffered from repeated injuries last season, came on as a substitute in the first match, but then missed two games due to physical issues. He returned to the line in his fourth match against Parma and made his first starter this summer, showing good plays in the front line.
Looking at other teams, both nine players include Getafe, who has acquired former Spanish national team forward Juanmi (Betis) and Moroccan national team defender Abdel Abucar (Arabez), and Espanyol, who has strengthened veteran Spanish forward Kique Garcia (Arabez), who once played alongside Inui Takashi, and former Serbian national team goalkeeper Dmitrovic (Leganes), both of which are the team that currently acquires the most players in Spain. It also attracted attention as Spanish national team forward Brian Zaragoza (Bayern Munich) joined Celta on a temporary transfer.
The new season is about to begin two weeks, but there is one month left until September 1st, when the transfer market ends this summer. Each club still has plenty of opportunities to improve their strength, so we'll look forward to seeing how they will complete the team.
[Takahashi Tomoyuki](Nickan Sports.com/Soccer Column “Soccer Journey from Spain”)
