When the Espanyol board contacted Fran Garagarza, today the sports director of the blue and white team, last summer, he explained to him a serious problem of organization and discipline in the club's lower categories. Excess chips in the subsidiary (up to 15 too many), lack of communication between the teams that affected the training of players, constant and meaningless hiring that marginalized the existing talent and a worrying lack of demand: Garagarza's own diagnosis of His arrival corroborated what was stated. Since then, the club has undergone a transformation in its core that seeks to counteract the worrying economic situation, the debt amounts to 57 million euros, more than half for operations from last season, and the solution lies in the home players. . Garagarza's 360 method already works normally in La 21 and the commitment to Manolo González is one more step in this strategy.
The Galician coach, Garagarza's bet for the reserve team, is sitting on the first team bench, among other things, due to his willingness to follow the club's guidelines when promoting the profiles that stand out in the reserve team. With Ramis this did not happen, since he did not help as expected to project the club's new talents, being one of the reasons for his dismissal.
Upon his arrival, Garagarza tried to replicate the model he forged at Eibar, although with the greatest packaging, history and resources as an Espanyol club, creating a horizontal structure to meet and connect all the players at the base; He also increased the staff in the psychology area, developed new recruitment methods (in which the way in which a player warms up, his family environment or what he says in press conferences is so important), he socialized the club in Catalonia with agreements with teams in the area, such as Badalona, which has led to more knocking on the club's door, renewed (almost 30) and continues to renew (nine more are planned) players with great potential and tried to recover the style that has characterized the club's footballers throughout its history: physically strong players, tactically intelligent and romantically committed to the entity.
To help the footballer, the individualized development area was also created, a plan in which the first team players actively participate with the youngest players.
Omar, Pol Lozano, Jofre and Braithwaite are in charge of this technicalization work, which seeks to improve performance and identify the youngest players with the club's figures.
Whether the method works or not will be determined by time, although the Copa del Rey final reached by the youth team is a good sign.
Beyond that, whether promoted or not, the club will be condemned to sell, possibly in-house talent, and also to reinforce itself. Although the precedent of the winter market is not positive, because after the sports management had Manu Trigueros tied up, the ownership decided not to bet on his signing to replace the injured Edu Expósito.
