La Liga Is Here: Summer of Silence to Be Broken by Familiar Fun, Faces, Genius

You hear that? Silence. For months it's been this way, almost eerie in its permanence.  

Not least because it's new. 

If La Liga is upon us, you'd barely know it based on noise, and noise is how these things are measured, or so we're told. This may be an Olympic year, but even if the Games have managed to replace "faster, higher, stronger" with "dirtier, cheatier and snarlier," football has reflected today's society to an even greater extent with its own new figurative motto: "louder, richer, fatter."

This has been a summer in which the hyperactivity of the growing behemoth that is the Premier League has eclipsed all else. Shouty, glitzy, frantic, revelling in self-promotion, guzzling cash like the world does oil, England's top division has felt almost removed from football as we've known it. 

Only a few balls have been kicked—whether that matters these days is the source of some conjecture—but already it has featured the cultural cool of #Pogback and Stormzy. The new, we-play-a-role-in-transfers thing of Adidas. The ego of Zlatan. Jose and Pep. Jose and Arsene. Jose and Jurgen. Pep worshipping. Personalities the size of planets. Juan Mata. Lots of fluro. 

Oh, and spending: £20.5 million for Andre Ayew, anyone?

Toni Kroos once cost that. 

Set against this, La Liga has almost been sitting on the mute button in comparison. In recent summers, Spain has welcomed the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Ibrahimovic, Cesc Fabregas, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Luis Suarez, Kroos, Neymar and James Rodriguez, among others. Throughout, the message has been: "We get what we want."

This time, though, it's been a little more: "We, err, already have what we want."

There is truth to that. You can't buy what you already have, and what Barcelona have is Lionel Messi, Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta, just to name a few. Real Madrid have Ronaldo, Bale, Benzema, Modric and Kroos to counter that bunch. Atletico Madrid have Antoine Griezmann. 

That's a fearsome collection. But there's been an underwhelming feeling about La Liga this summer anyway, borne out of the absence of brand spankin' new. 

Not to be deterred, La Liga's answer to the need for buzz and football's commercialisation was to change its name by removing the space in the middle. The top division has become "LaLiga," an utter nightmare for the grammatically fussy among us. The Segunda Division has been renamed "LaLiga 2" for simplicity, which was fine—until it became LaLiga 1|2|3 for sponsorship reasons. 

Only in Spain, eh?

Still, though, the title race should be compelling.

For the first time since Diego Simeone arrived at Atletico to propel us into a three-team era at the top of La Liga—ahh, breathe in that space—the three contenders have enjoyed stability in the dugout and dressing room all at the same time. 

If that doesn't sound like a big deal, it is.

Consider recent summers: In 2012, Barcelona appointed Tito Vilanova following Guardiola's exit; in 2013, Gerardo Martino had to be brought in amid Vilanova's battle with cancer, and Real Madrid hired Carlo Ancelotti after Mourinho's nasty goodbye.

In 2014, Luis Enrique arrived at the Camp Nou and brought a Suarez-led stylistic evolution with him. That process wasn't smooth initially, while back in the capital, Real Madrid were restructuring a squad to flawed principles, and Atletico, in a post-title period, were being gutted by Chelsea. 

Then came last summer. Rafa Benitez arrived to replace Ancelotti at the Bernabeu, and Atletico were entering a period of tactical experimentation that was eventually scrapped. Only Barcelona were settled. 

But now they all are. 

Barcelona head into the new campaign with their familiar core but a deeper supporting cast. With Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique already on the books, it was always going to be difficult to improve significantly, but the Catalans probably have. Though Dani Alves will be missed, Lucas Digne, Denis Suarez and Samuel Umtiti already look like shrewd acquisitions. Andre Gomes might need some extra time to justify his fee. 

The only sticky part of the summer for Barcelona has been the search for a "fourth forward" to support the MSN. The search started with Nolito during last season, but it's grown comical since. The way Sport has covered the hunt has left behind the visual of an elderly gent hurriedly scrambling for his glasses in the dark, with Barcelona's reported targets including everyone from Kevin Gameiro and Paco Alcacer to Andre-Pierre Gignac and Ayoze Perez. 

Sport even produced a special report outlining the pros and cons of the 36 players—yes, you read that correctly—Barcelona have considered. 

"It's very hard to convince players to come here with the three we have up front," sporting director Robert Fernandez bemoaned. 

Poor chap. 

Real Madrid are equally loaded for talent. Having kept hold of their stars, the lot from the Bernabeu have also welcomed back Alvaro Morata and Marco Asensio just because they can. Like Barcelona, Real are essentially maxed-out, but that hasn't stopped the local press hounding Zinedine Zidane and president Florentino Perez about big-name signings anyway—the same press that has often hammered Madrid for exactly those sort of signings. 

"Are you going to buy anyone?" Zidane has been asked relentlessly all summer. "It's difficult to improve on what we have," he has responded every time.  

So repetitive has it been, Zidane might have been wise to have a T-shirt printed with as much on it, in the same sort of tone as those you can get for when you go to Phuket Beach in Thailand: "No, I don't want a f--king massage, suit or a tuk tuk," they read. 

Zidane's got a point, though, hasn't he? In comparison to the Premier League, La Liga might have lacked noise and Hollywoodishness this summer, but the season ahead is still set for familiar fun, faces and genius. 

Down the hill at the Vicente Calderon, Atletico have been busier despite the lack of attention given to them. Kevin Gameiro and Nicolas Gaitan are wonderful additions, while Sime Vrsaljko adds depth in a position of need at right-back. 

Simeone will be around again, too, despite the touch of doubt brought about by his post-Champions League final comments. 

"I never said I would leave, I only said I need time to think—about a lot of things, amongst them, the energy and spirit which I now need to show in front of all of those lads who, for the past four-and-a-half years have been giving their lives for me," he told Espacio Reservado this week (h/t AS).  

He added: "I also have to transmit to them the competitiveness which we are going to need again—after losing two Champions League finals, and that is not easy."

Competitiveness? We reckon he'll be just fine.

Things should be fun elsewhere, too.  

Sevilla stand as an intriguing prospect following the arrival of Jorge Sampaoli to replace the departed Unai Emery. In typical Sevilla fashion, the squad overall has been immense this summer—10 have left, nine have come in—but the arrivals have a different look about them this time: more technical, more versatile, less raw power. 

Franco Vazquez already looks to be among the best of them, while much is hoped of Wissam Ben Yedder and Joaquin Correa. And who knows what we'll get from Paulo Henrique Ganso?

But it's Sampaoli who's more interesting than anyone. His team will be bold and unconventional like him. "If I'd listened to what people said, I would have stayed in Casilda and worked in a bank," he once told FIFA.com. "But that's what rebelling is all about: not letting people stop you from doing things, not being told what to do."

Just wait until Sampaoli faces Granada's Paco Jemez. "On the day they were handing out brains, I ended up with a small one," Jemez told the Al Primer Toque radio show (h/t AS) midway through last season while with Rayo Vallecano. "But when they handed out balls, I got the biggest."

Jemez then proved that statement correct a week later when his team, with nine men, decided defending was for wimps. They lost 10-2 to Real Madrid. 

Double figures between Sevilla and Granada might be a good bet.  

Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images

Espanyol won't be quite so brash, but they might be pretty good. 

The charismatic Quique Sanchez Flores has been brought in as manager, and the new faces in the squad look impressive: Leo Baptistao, Javi Fuego, Pablo Piatti, Roberto, Jose Manuel Jurado and Jose Antonio Reyes. 

It's only a start, of course, but the intent is there. "I am sure the city of Barcelona can have two strong clubs," said new owner Chen Yansheng, a Chinese billionaire, back in January. "First of all I hope to make the club debt-free, then [the next aim] is the Champions League in three years."

Espanyol will just hope he doesn't do a Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani, who splashed the cash at Malaga, only then to seemingly lose interest and resort to fighting fans on Twitter. As we all know, Twitter is the place where rational people meet to courteously discuss the matters of the day.

Villarreal enter the season with the prospect of Champions League football still there, but it seems not all are happy to live in the Yellow Submarine—ba dum tss. Manager Marcelino left only last week, with Goal reporting "pushing and fighting between players and staff" over the matter of the captaincy led to his departure. 

If that's bonkers—and it is—on par is the career reversal of Fran Escriba. Escriba was last seen being sacked by relegated Getafe after going three months without a win last season, but he has now been appointed to replace Marcelino at a club with European ambitions. It's a bit like swapping the aisle seat next to the rear toilet in economy for the champagne of business class. Good luck to him, we say. 

(The less said about Villarreal's neighbours, Valencia, the better.)

The Basque Country should be fun and hotly contested this year. With five representatives, the region has more teams in the top-flight this season than any other following the promotions of Alaves and Osasuna to join Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Eibar. When you add Sporting Gijon, Deportivo La Coruna and Celta Vigo from Spain's green-and-wet north, you realise La Liga is going to be a soggy affair this time. 

Speaking of Eibar, they've shown up Sevilla this summer for what squad turnover looks like. Sixteen have left; 15 have arrived, former Manchester United man Bebe among them. There's something delightful about a path that goes from Old Trafford to the Ipurua, where pitch technology has sometimes involved a tarpaulin. 

The promotion of Leganes from southern Madrid also means La Liga's number of sub-10,000-seat stadiums will rise from one to two this season. The club's story is a nice one, but not everyone seems thrilled. 

"Clubs like Leganes take up the space left open by others, like Zaragoza, Valladolid, Mallorca, Hercules, Racing, Oviedo, Castellon, Cadiz, Salamanca... I think you get the idea," wrote AS editor Alfredo Relano. "Clubs with stadiums, fans, cities, history, academies."

The piece was all a bit "well done to them, but La Liga looks a bit crap on TV with these little clubs."

That's one way of looking at it, sure. But only in La Liga can you get Messi and Ronaldo turning up at grounds where the ball can bounce down the road out the back after a hoofed clearance. There's something endearing in that level of contrast. 

And with that masterful segue, we're back to Messi and Ronaldo. 

Ahead of the 2016-17 season, this summer has been a strange one for the planet's two biggest stars. Both finished tournaments in tears but for different reasons, and while Messi decided looking like Aaron Ramsey was a thing, Ronaldo made a new friend in the form of a moth—who picked up 10,000 Twitter followers thanks to the public meeting.  

Ronaldo won that day, of course, but that didn't stop the other lot from being the bigger men. "Gloria sin Cristiano," was Sport's assessment. "Sin CR7," chimed in Mundo Deportivo. At least they're consistent, and the new season will feature a whole lot more of that consistency. Marca and AS will join them, too.

Sometimes you just have to laugh—as is the case with La Liga's planning, which again sees us without dates or times for fixtures as far away as Week 5. 

You know what they say: Not knowing what you're doing in a month is half the fun.

Follow @TimDCollins