Saturday 20 August 2016 12:31, UK
The big La Liga kick-off is looming and Guillem Balague is back. From the new manager shaping Sevilla to the player tipped as a potential next Andres Iniesta, Sky Sports' Spanish football expert picks out the players to watch and the hot topics...
With a ball yet to be kicked in the newly named La Liga Santander, Spanish football has contrived to show us yet again that, while indeed, this may be the simplest of games, it is unquestionably the most complicated of businesses. Where to begin?
The owner seems to be going in one direction, and the coaching staff another. Aside from the all the intrigue and politics that would not be out of place in an arranged marriage between opposite members of the Machiavelli and Borgia families and despite lofty claims they're looking to challenge at the top end of the table, the major club from Spain's third city is in selling mode. But nobody from the club hierarchy is saying that by selling players, the target of Champions League is a pipe dream.
Just around £8.5m on just two players - Nani for £7.2m from Fenerbahce, Alvaro Medran from Real Madrid for £1.28m - has been spent, with Martin Montoya moving from Barcelona on a free transfer the only other real notable arrival.
A total of £37.3m, meanwhile, has been recouped with the departure of midfielder Andre Gomes (Barcelona), Rodrigo de Paul (Udinese), Javi Fuego (Espanyol) and Antonio Barragan (Middlesbrough).
But it is not who they have sold but, perhaps more worryingly, who they have have decided to give away that raises eyebrows; an indication that the name of the game is to get big earners off the payroll.
Valencia's main reasoning involves a 30m euro debt as regards the Financial Fair Play rules, which they have now reduced to 10m. Peter Lim has decided to recoup some money getting rid of some of his best players but is not replacing them with ones of similar quality. Imagine what the coaching staff might be thinking after getting a very orderly and talented Valencia squad to work hard all pre-season but knowing that some key players might still go.
They want to change their centre-backs; Arsenal are in conversation with them over the availability of the German international Shkodran Mustafi and they would also like Everton to maintain their interest in the Tunisian, Aymen Abdennour. They're also keen to get Brazil's Adelan Santos off their books.
Back to England has come Alvaro Negredo, on loan to new boys Middlesbrough following his £20m-plus move from Manchester City, while Algerian winger Sofiane Feghouli has moved on a free to West Ham.
Barcelona and Diego Alves have reached personal terms - Valencia and Barcelona too - but Luis Enrique is not convinced he is the ideal man to replace Claudio Bravo, who is heading to Manchester.
But where it really gets interesting is with the will-he-won't-he saga being played out over the rumoured move of their international striker, Paco Alcacer, to Barcelona.
A local lad, Alcacer is unquestionably the jewel in the Valencia crown. The official line is that Valencia don't want to sell him - except of course they do, they just don't want to be seen as the people provoking the move.
What they are trying to do therefore is tell Alcacer to announce to the fans that he wants to go, so they can shrug their shoulders, announce to the world, 'What can we do?' and then sell him for a lot of money.
The problem with that of course is that if the young Paco was a stick of rock then he would have the word 'Ches' - a nickname for Valencians - running through his entire body. He realises, however, that when Barcelona come calling it is often - but not always (see later) - difficult to refuse them, especially when your own club wants the move to happen. So he wants to go to, no matter what his entourage might be saying.
The deal was personally organised following a meeting between Valencia owner, Peter Lim, and Barcelona president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, but the outcome is not clear. In fact, the latest line is that Valencia, aware that by selling other players they might be okay with the FPP and knowing that fans have started to complain very vocally, have decided reluctantly to keep the player. For now.
Just one week before they were due to face Monaco in the qualifying round of the Champions League, Villarreal parted company with manager, Marcelino, who had taken the Submarine back to the top flight and into a fourth-place spot.
Differences of opinion between certain sections of the dressing room and the board were cited as reasons for the parting of the ways, with the coach's relationship with Mateo Musacchio flagged up as one of the main 'issues' at the club. But deep down, the very intense Marcelino, always spending short periods at other clubs, demands so much of his players that deterioration of the relationships seem inevitable.
The club not getting players to make a good impact either in the Champions League or, more realistically, in the Europa League created new tensions that have ended up with the manager out of the club that has given him more, and that he enjoyed more, than any other.
Marcelino has been replaced by former Elche boss, Fran Escriba, and his departure means there have been seven changes before the start of the campaign comprising four sackings, two resignations and one contract up.
There is very often a particularly bizarre, seemingly incomprehensible, managerial decision taken pre-season and on this occasion it occurred at Alaves. Jose Bordalas took the proud Basques from Vitoria back into the top flight as champions for the first time in 10 years and was promptly rewarded with the Spanish equivalent of his P45. The former Liverpool player and Valencia manager, Mauricio Pellegrino, is now in the hot seat.
Probably the best piece of news is that Paco Jemez and his exciting footballing philosophy will still be in the Primera Division, replacing Jose Gonzalez at Granada after his contract expired.
Back to La Liga comes former Valencia, Atletico, Getafe and Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores at Espanyol, while former Sevilla, Real Madrid, Espanyol, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona B boss Juande Ramos also returns to Spanish football after a seven-year absence with a second shot at Andalusian rivals, Malaga.
Former Eibar boss Gaizka Garitano takes over from the axed Victor Sanchez at Deportivo after a miserable three-and-a-half months at Valladolid, although perhaps the most interesting change comes with the arrival of the highly successful Chilean Jorge Sampaoli following Unai Emery's departure to Paris Saint-Germain.
Quite how Sampaoli and director of football Monchi will re-invent Sevilla this time around remains to be seen, although the coach is clearly trying to instil a completely different style of game. Less widely known, however, is how close the Europa League-winning side came to losing both the manager to the Argentina national side and Monchi to the Premier League. In the end, both decided to stay, but it was a close-run thing.
There are great differences between the three sides to have made in into the top flight this time around - Alaves, Leganes and Osasuna - and one huge similarity: they are all skint!
Last season, Aston Villa 'earned' themselves something in the region of £70m despite finishing bottom after a lamentable season. Despite an improved deal for clubs that will hopefully go some way to replacing the obscene duopoly enjoyed by the big two, that kind of figure is fantasy land for any club occupying the bottom berth of La Liga.
Alaves won the league so at least they can claim, unlike Leganes and Osasuna, that they actually do have a pot to... put in the trophy room. Their total spend is 3.2m euros on the Colombian Daniel Torres from Independiente Medellin. Everything else to date is all about loans and undisclosed signings.
That's positively profligate compared to Leganes, the new romantics entering the fray for the first time in their history. They don't seem to have spent a cent, relying instead on frees and loans.
Ditto Osasuna, back in the top flight after a two-year absence and still absolutely broke. Apart from Hull, who seem to be going through something of a crisis and to date have spent nothing, the other new boys in the Premier League, Middlesbrough and Burnley, have spent £22m-plus and around £12m respectively.
It isn't all about money and although it does frequently feature prominently in the equation, there are many players this time around that will be eager to prove themselves deserving of the hype that previously surrounded them - not least Luciano Vietto.
Schools of thought have it that the former Man City youth player will eventually fit into the ample boots of the legend that is Andres Iniesta. Time will tell - but his time could be now.
The career of Argentina's young golden boy seemed to falter following a big-money move from Villarreal to Atletico Madrid. A loan move to Sevilla, linked with an option to buy, could prove the ideal location for the talented 22-year-old to re-launch his career under the watchful eye of Sampaoli.
Leo Baptistao is another player that never quite fulfilled the promise expected of him following his move to Atletico Madrid and after a number of loan spells around La Liga. He can now take heart in the confidence shown in him by Espanyol, who have shelled out 6 million euros to bring him to Barcelona.
Villarreal's loss of Denis Suarez to Barcelona for a buy-back clause of around 3.5m euros is a blow for the Castellon club but also an opportunity for the prodigiously talented youngster to finally graduate to the very highest level.
Schools of thought have it that the former Manchester City youth player will eventually fit into the ample boots of the legend that is Andres Iniesta. Time will tell but what is certain is that his time could well be now.
Atletico Madrid have shelled out considerably more for Sevilla's Kevin Gameiro - move the decimal point one place to the right and you're there or thereabouts - but he will be no less keen to show what he can do at his new home in the Vicente Calderon.
Across the way, Real Madrid have been surprisingly quiet so far although everyone, not least the player himself, will be celebrating the return of Alvaro Morata to the Santiago Bernabeu, his spiritual home. Youngster Marco Asensio after a loan spell at Espanyol also seems to have hit the floor running and has grabbed the attention and admiration of Los Blancos boss Zinedine Zidane.
There aren't many people that can ever imagine anyone turning down the chance of joining, arguably, the two biggest clubs in Europe. But actually that's exactly what seem to be happening with Barcelona and Real Madrid at the moment.
Kevin Gameiro reportedly had the chance of joining Barcelona but actually declined because he feared that he would not get the playing time that he thought he merited.
Nolito would have joined Barcelona until they stalled because for bureaucratic reasons they were unable to splash the cash until June, despite the repeated insistence of Luis Enrique.
Vietto also turned Barcelona down probably for similar reasons to Gameiro, which leaves Alcacer as the main target.
The biggest transfer saga has been that of Paul Pogba's move from Juventus with Real Madrid claiming that the money being discussed was 'crazy' - almost as if here was an organisation that has never spent 'crazy' money in its life. The truth is that they were simply blown out of the water by what Manchester United were prepared to offer on all levels.
Talk has also been rife about Diego Costa's return to the Calderon although the deal looks dead in the water following Gameiro's move. In truth, the deal did not occur because of two main reasons.
Firstly, Chelsea new boss Antonio Conte wanted him to stay and, secondly, if Atletico were ever going to buy him back then they were going to have to pay at least what they sold him for and possibly more.
Sometimes having 'loadsamoney' helps not just when you're buying but also when you don't have to sell if you don't want to. Valencia, take note.
Read Guillem Balague's columns on skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps and put your questions to him in Twitter Q&As throughout the season.
