Paused man, who oozes commitment. His natural gesture is serious. His speech, prudent but ambitious, elaborated with security and firmness. Fran Garagarza presented himself as the new sports director of Espanyol amid enormous doubts about the configuration of the squad. The club fired Domingo Catoira two weeks ago. Since then, Garagarza has been “carrying out a personal internal audit” of the club, to which he arrives with “the utmost enthusiasm, passion and dedication.” “I’m excited. Coming to Espanyol in my dreams I would not have expected. I am going to transmit my illusion day by day to the entire perica family ”, he assured.
Garagarza is a man who communicates as much or more with his silences than with his words. On his first day he offered several ideas of what the club must be to achieve success, although he acknowledged that it will not be easy to recover the category. And to explain what he thought he offered a simile. “We are a yacht, but on that yacht we have to put oars. We are going to have to row, although we can go at great speed. We are going to have to row on a yacht. As long as we are not clear about that, it will be complicated, ”he explained.
The Basque coach revealed that he has not yet met with the players, although he said he had all of them from the start. “I want to have a face-to-face meeting with each of them. I have to read in the eyes what the players think and want, and empathize with each one of them. I can call them, but it is not appropriate because on Wednesday they will be trained. On Wednesday I will talk to each of them. Look them in the eye, listen to them as a club, from the importance that each one of them has to return to First Division ”.
Who he has already spoken with is Luis García, a coach that he did not choose but of whom he said he was very happy. “I am honest. I didn’t know him as a coach, only as a player. We have talked long and hard. It is a very positive surprise. I am very happy with the essence, with what we can do together, with the respect that he has shown me, with what he brings to the dressing room. He has a very defined style of play, but he is receptive to analysis and proposals, and he always speaks with the club in mind, not himself. I am very happy with Luis ”, he assured.
Regarding the model he intends to implement, Garagarza alluded to the fact that “with little, Eibar -where he spent his longest and most successful stage- has done a lot. We have to achieve, with a lot to do a lot. That is one of the reasons for this audit, to know what each one does and how they do it. We have many resources, but much needs to be done. And people management, the bigger it is, the more complicated it is,” he explained.
In addition to promotion, Mutriku’s man made it clear that “the strategic plan is essential” and advocated “leaving a legacy beyond the first team. In the quarry and in the female. Sustainability and stability, that’s what you have to achieve in the academy, in grassroots football, because it’s a chain that doesn’t stop”.
He also referred to proper names such as Pol Lozano, who returns to the club after playing on loan at Granada, or Melamed. Both contract ends on June 30. “Pol is a homegrown player who has given a very high level at Granada. The priority right now is to talk to his agent. I arrived yesterday in Barcelona. Same Melamed. Homegrown players, with feeling, with a good age, important to Luis, both parrots. From there we have to build. You have to have parakeet players in the squad. That is an important step,” he noted.
“I have no doubt that we will ascend, but with oars. Don’t be surprised that I bring oars from my land. It is essential, Eibar promoted like this ”, he concluded.
For his part, Mao Ye, CEO of the club, apologized for not appearing after almost a month since the League ended. And for this he argued that he was hurt after the descent. “Before words we needed facts. We needed self-criticism, to refocus the club’s model. We need concrete facts before explaining things. Today is the beginning of the new club model that we want, ”he assured.
“With what I can explain, it is difficult for people to believe, that is why I insist on facts. Today we present the start of a new sports project. Failure is a real fact and we have to work on that. These are the pieces that we are readjusting”, he explained, before adding that “President Chen is very hurt and only the promotion is on his mind”.
Ye considers that in addition to the VAR errors, which are unrelated to the club, “from the previous relegation we have not been self-critical or we have not learned enough. Lack of sufficiency may be part of the reason for this decline. We must focus on the errors that have occurred and remarkably correct them, ”he concluded.
