La Liga Desperation Meter: How Worried Should Your Team Be?
Pre-season is almost over, and La Liga is just about ready to go again for 2017/18—but can the same be said of every club?
The transfer window remains open for some time yet, and major additions (or panic buys) can be found in the final days and hours, but by kick-off of the new campaign, most clubs would hope to have the majority of their squad ready, in place and with problem positions filled.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case for all 20 in Spain, not yet at least, so who among the top tier should be most worried that they won't match expectations for the season ahead?
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Todo bien
Real Madrid are just fine. They haven't spent huge amounts, rather replenishing areas of the squad with youth and depth rather than first-team options. But considering they're kings of Spain, Europe and the world, it's sensible. Theo Hernandez, it should be added, is a ready-made stand-in for when Marcelo is out. A world-class addition may yet lie ahead, but they'll start the season as favourites regardless.
From the chasing pack, Sevilla will be extremely happy with their summer; they've brought in strong options at right-back and centre-forward, with Sebastien Corchia a particularly fine addition. If Luis Muriel fires early on, they're candidates to hunt down Real this year.
Alaves face a tough act if they want to match 2016/17, given they've lost loan stars including Theo Hernandez and Marcos Llorente, but they have bought extremely well this summer. Burgui and Ruben Duarte are under-the-radar additions who will lock down the left flank in both halves, while Ruben Sobrino could add much-needed goals. They'll look at mid-table, perhaps the top half, once more.
A strong summer for Real Betis surely only leaves them looking upward; Andres Guardado will bolster the midfield line after Dani Ceballos' departure. Finally, Deportivo La Coruna will similarly be happy with their work. Fabian Schar is a bargain for a centre-back, and they've added pace in wide areas, too.
Summer sorted, aiming high
Maybe not quite as happy as those above but still reasonably confident of matching last term are another clutch of sides.
Villarreal have at least replaced what they lost, if not outright upgraded, but it's a leap of faith in one or two cases that Ruben Semedo, still raw and unpredictable, can replace the assured dominance of Mateo Musacchio. Celta Vigo are similar: ins and outs largely match up, and they can hope for more of the same.
We're also grouping all three promoted sides right here: Levante, Girona and Getafe.
It's not often that each new side can be reasonably confident about their survival chances, but they've certainly given themselves a good opportunity to do so by signing the likes of Oier Olazabal, Carles Planas and Francisco Portillo, respectively—players who know La Liga and have good form with their previous clubs.
Girona also added a clutch of Manchester City youngsters on loan, Levante have the promising Enis Bardhi and each club have spent around €5 million, probably the limit of their budget in an attempt to stay up.
Lingering issues
10. Eibar
If some lowly sides are full of optimism, one or two others must not be. Eibar come into that category this summer.
They've replaced what they've lost, but Paulo Oliveira simply must prove as reliable and consistent as the departed Florian Lejeune at centre-back. There isn't too much else to get excited about, and solidity rather than the spectacular will be key again for Eibar.
That they remain in La Liga is astounding in itself, and it'll take a monumental effort for that to continue.
9. Atletico Madrid
To a large extent, it's out of Atleti's hands; they've signed Vitolo, but a registration ban means he's immediately headed out on loan until January.
There will be no additions to a team that struggled to keep pace at the top last season, and the first campaign at their new stadium is unlikely to be graced by a full-on title tilt unless Diego Simeone makes his side near-impossible to beat—because they often didn't have enough to go out and actively beat teams every week last year.
If they lose any key starter in what remains of the window, even fourth might be a fight, with Sevilla having improved in particular.
8. Real Sociedad
La Real were challenging for European spots last year, but they've largely done nothing to build on that in a summer where they could have added a little more quality and buried rivals—such as Athletic and Espanyol—for squad depth and talent.
Adnan Januzaj is a gamble at best, unproven and erratic, though Diego Llorente is an excellent addition at defensive midfield.
They need a striker and full-back, though, and another wide option wouldn't go amiss.
7. Las Palmas
Las Palmas' worries are relative: the squad still looks good enough to compete in mid-table, but they won't be aiming any higher after only adding loans and free transfers.
Jonathan Calleri is an interesting forward signing, and six months of Vitolo on the wing is decent, but Roque Mesa leaves a big hole in central midfield.
Given their plummet down the table in the second half of last season, you have to wonder if they've done quite enough to avoid being sucked into the battle near the bottom.
6. Espanyol
Espanyol are another side verging on that "is it enough" territory, which is dangerous if they overestimate themselves and disastrous if rivals add further and they don't.
In particular, their strikeforce continues to look short of quality and goal threat; losing Felipe Caicedo won't affect the scoresheet much, but his physicality and hold-up play was a feature of Espanyol for some time.
Losing Duarte for such a low fee is also likely to prove absurd in the long run, regardless of his off-field problems.
Panic attack
5. Leganes
Leganes avoided the drop last season by four points, and their summer work reflects that: pretty much every new arrival is a goalkeeper or defender. The two exceptions are midfield pair Javi Eraso, an admittedly smart and versatile signing, and Gerard Gumbau, unproven other than Luis Enrique randomly throwing him in at Barcelona for a few games in 2015/16.
It isn't enough, particularly in the final third.
Just 36 goals scored last term shows where problems lie, and they've lost one or two who were on loan at that end of the field.
4. Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao are unable to dip into the market at any point like most clubs, due to their policy of Basque-related signings.
Missing out on Mikel Merino on loan was a big blow for them, as the Dortmund man would have brought quality on the ball and a great passing range from deep, so it'll instead be more of the same—albeit under a different manager.
Cuco Ziganda isn't proven in the top flight, though, regardless of how well he's thought of within the club, and he needs a positive start to ensure the fans are onside. They could also do with Iker Muniain rediscovering his best form and Inaki Williams becoming much more clinical in the final third.
3. Barcelona
Let's put things in perspective: Barcelona's worries are concerned with one thing only—fighting for the league title. In that regard, they look extremely short as the season approaches, but only compared to Real Madrid. They are still, quite comfortably, in the top two in Spain.
But losing Neymar is massive, and much of their ability to challenge Los Blancos will depend on the eventual choice of replacement. Lionel Messi will again have to take more responsibility, but Barca also lack genuine world-class quality in midfield when looking past Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic.
At least their full-back woes are solved, though.
2. Malaga
Malaga's best players last season were arguably Pablo Fornals, Ignacio Camacho, Llorente and Sandro Ramirez, perhaps with Roberto Rosales thrown into the mix.
Those first four names have all departed, with Fornals buying out his contract a particular blow. Add in a complete rotation of goalkeepers—two out, three in—and this will be a very different-looking Malaga side this year.
The problem is, the only real money spent is on 20-year-old Argentinian midfielder Emanuel Cecchini for around €4 million, with more than €30 million of sales made—it's simply nowhere near enough to replace the quality lost.
A season of struggle is ahead if they don't invest, quickly.
1. Valencia
Los Che have lurched from one disastrous season to another in recent years, and despite a mid-term improvement in 2016/17, they finished in appalling style.
The dugout continually rotates—six managerial changes since Nuno led them into the Champions League in 2014/15—but there has been minimal upgrade to the playing squad this term, so exactly where will expectation of improvement come from?
A pair of new faces come in the shape of goalkeeper Neto, backup in Serie A most recently, and 22-year-old free transfer Nemanja Maksimovic. The rest are loans made permanent from last season's squad, which again failed to challenge even remotely close to the top.
It's going to take an act of wizardry, even for manager Marcelino and his fine record in La Liga, to reshuffle this pack into a top-six team this term.
