Spanish La Liga Season Preview 09/10 – Part 1: The Minnows

Spain’s La Liga. Best league in the world? If you are judging it on the amount of frenzied anticipation built up amongst football fans around the world, probably. In terms of creating a buzz it has been a pretty damn successful summer for Spain’s top division, with the arrival of some huge, blockbuster names and the forging of so many intriguing new storylines the league is virtually bursting at the seams. Heading into the 2009/2010 La Liga season our new columnist and Spanish football correspondent James S. analyses who to look out for in this three part series. Part 1 – The Minnows, those expected to be loitering around the bottom of the table struggling for survival:

The Minnows:

The question for Almería is how do you replace Alvaro Negredo’s 19 league goals? Arguably with him in the side they would have been included in the ‘best of the rest section’. Mexican manager Hugo Sánchez has stressed the importance that front duo Kalu Uche and new signing, the Swedish striker, Henok Goitom, hit it off as a pair. The fear is that the team will not score enough goals to improve upon or match last season’s 13 league wins, so a relegation battle is in the offing.

With only 3 days to go Sporting Gijón’s ‘El Molinón’ stadium has been classfied as unsuitable by La Liga standards. But is the team ready? Sporting have done well to hold on to Bilic, Canella and Michel thus far but manager Manolo Preciado has stressed the need for reinforcements before the start of the season. There is the worry that they will not hold onto their aforementioned key players and this season could be a real struggle. Relegation looms large.

Real Valladolid embarked upon a strenuous pre-season tour of England that could be key to their survival. They have signed Pele on loan from Porto and have former Manchester United striker Manucho in their ranks and a direct power game will be key to their survival. They have also signed Hector Font from Villarreal, Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid, Alberto Bueno from Real Madrid and Fabricio from Deportivo in a busy pre-season period and manager José Luis Mendilibar believes new signings will be key to a strong season.

Perhaps a surprise to be in the minnows section, but last season’s 17th place finish means Getafe are a team in decline. Pedro León has been brought in from Valladolid and striker Roberto Soldado underlines the ‘quality’ his wing play will bring to the team. Undefeated so far in pre-season the signs are promising and the signing of Daniel Parejo could be exciting as well as that of Ghanaian Derek Boateng. Michel replaced the ousted Victor Muñoz for the final five games of the 2008/09 campaign and hopes to take Getafe to a mid-table finish this year.

New signing Dinai says that he chose Tenerife for the manager José Luis Oltra and the climate! In that order I hope. However, few other new additions have been made and the manager is clearly relying on the team that took them to last season’s Segunda Division title. Striker ‘Nino’ has stated that Tenerife will shock a few, especially in the big stadiums. An agreement to re-sign Alejandro Alfaro from Sevilla on loan is also in place; he bagged 22 goals for D.C Tenerife last season so that is a massive boost. Tenerife could well surprise indeed.

Xerez’s manager José Ángel “Cuco” Ziganda says that the team’s La Liga debut will be ‘something historic’ and they will have to play every game like it is their first of the season. Xerez will clearly be on the end of some heavy beatings this season and survival does seem a long way off for them. Keeper Manuel Lorenzo will be relied upon heavily after his impressive season last year and captain Rubén de Pedro will have to lead the team through the inevitable low moments. Last season’s top scorer Paco Martín will need to take his chances this year and if you ask me Xerez should be every fans second team this season.

To read Parts 2 & 3 please follow these links: Part 2 – Best of the Rest, Part 3 – The Big Six.

Almeria, Getafe, La Liga 09-10 Previews, Previews, Real Valladolid, Spain, Spanish Primera Division, Sporting Gijon, Tenerife, Writers - James Sullivan, Xerez