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Garagaza: "We controlled the transfer market"
The Sporting Director assesses the signings made this summer
RCD Espanyol Sporting Director Fran Garagarza reviewed the club’s summer transfer activity in a press conference held on Thursday, and expressed his satisfaction with the operations carried out.
"It was a long transfer window, but we knew what we wanted. Sometimes the transfer window controls you, but this time we controlled the transfer market. All the players were registered for Matchday 3," he explained.
"The current objective is to consolidate the group and the club. The better we build, the less need we'll have to sign in the future. We want to become stronger with the players we have now. We shouldn't look outside the club for what we already have, and instead have to focus on today and tomorrow. For me, the word ‘stability’ is fundamental. We have to be on top of what happens on a day-to-day basis."
Garagarza also insisted that “51 percent of our first team players are either Catalan or from the academy. And we're not going to stop. In addition, we have eight RCD Espanyol players out on loan, seven of them in the Segunda División.”
He also underlined that he feels “very comfortable with the new ownership. We've empathised with each other.”
For this season, he has set out the challenge “not to suffer like we did the previous two years. We have to have stability, which is what makes you grow. That way, we'll take small steps forward.”
Mao Ye, CEO of RCD Espanyol, emphasised that "we've been able to adhere to the 1:1 rule. Not everything you generate commercially at the club increases your salary cap. The capital increase doesn't help increase it, but rather offsets losses from previous years. We didn't have much room to manoeuvre, but we have to invest in generating talent."