The La Liga may be a division renowned for its unprecedented aesthetics on the field, but that’s not to say we’re not served up a host of entertaining events off of it.
As with most campaigns, the 2016/17 season has seen Real Madrid and Barcelona tussling for superiority at the top, with Los Blancos currently leading, and while some sides have threatened to challenge this superiority complex, a large handful fell away very early indeed.
Also read: EPL 2016/17: Top 5 off-field mistakes of the season so far
It’s not only towards the top but also amidst the relegation pack that we have seen some costly misjudgements in both the transfer market and boardroom, in general, this term. Here, therefore, we have compiled a list of five particularly damaging, off-field mistakes by La Liga teams this season.
#1 Valencia’s triple sale and failure to replace them
Valencia have certainly had a torrid time of it in the La Liga over the past couple of years, finishing a very average twelfth last season and lingering around mid-table once again this term. The more cynical football fan might claim that this mediocrity threatens to translate into devastation, with the Spaniards just ten points off the drop-zone at present.
The misery stems from last summer’s transfer business. Following a disappointing campaign, the majority of Spanish football followers would’ve expected a bold statement of intent from Valencia in the transfer window; all they got was a pathetic whimper. The spine of the team was stripped bare, with Shkodran Mustafi, Andre Gomes and Paco Alcacer all departing for combined fees of €106 million, with the latter two joining rivals Barcelona.
Not only were the club’s three main components sent packing, but the likes of other important players – Sofiane Feghouli, Alvaro Negredo and Pablo Piatti – were also allowed to go, the former to West Ham on a free and the other two on loan deals.
Valencia’s reply was by no means impressive; the club spent just under €30 million on nine players, five of which were brought in on loan. Ezequiel Garay and Eliaquim Mangala were snapped up to plug the gap in defence but Valencia’s total of 41 goals conceded this campaign, the fourth highest in the division, suggests they’ve done little to appease the defensive concerns.
The stringent approach to transfers laid down by the directors at the club have seriously limited any progress this campaign and such reluctance to spend even pushed manager Cesare Prandelli out the door at the end of last year.
#2 Atletico Madrid’s signing of Nicolas Gaitan
Ordinarily, Atletico prove to be incredibly sharp in the transfer market when it comes to scouting and gathering together attacking talent, but the acquisition of Nicolas Gaitan, with the beauty of hindsight, seems to have been a short-sighted one.
The Argentinian international has managed just three goals in his thirteen appearances for the club this term, creating a pathetic eleven chances along the way. His average pass completion rate also sits at a rather concerning 80%; in short, he hasn’t impressed.
The former-Benfica forward cost Atletico €25 million, money which could’ve been put to better use on a more youthful striker or even a more adept defensive partner for Diego Godin. With the addition of Kevin Gameiro from Sevilla and the already established Antoine Griezmann, Saul, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco and Fernando Torres in their ranks, was another attacking-minded player even needed?
It’s plainly ignorant to blame one player for a club’s dismal season, but there’s certainly evidence here to suggest that Gaitan hasn’t done Atletico any favours this campaign in the final third.
#3 Sporting Gijon holding onto Abelardo Fernandez for too long
During his three-year spell at El Molinón, Fernandez may have overseen Sporting Gijon’s promotion from the Segunda Division to the top tier of Spanish football, but, as we’ve seen from Ranieri’s dismissal this week, loyalty sometimes takes a back seat in football to the needs of a club.
Ordinarily, a club would sack their manager if they had a season like Abelardo did in the 2015/16 campaign; Gijon survived relegation by the skin of their teeth, finishing 17th, one point off the bottom three.
Nonetheless, the board opted to give Abelardo another bite at the cherry this term. Their decision looked a good one after the club picked up seven points from their opening three games but it was all downhill from then on.
The club went on a dismal run of ten games without a win from mid-September to the end of November in a spell which should’ve seen Fernandez dismissed before it got too late. Gijon may have won the following game but it would be Abelardo’s last as a manager and just their third of the season.
It took another four defeats for Fernandez before he left the club by mutual consent. Since his departure, the club have picked up as many points in their last five games as they had done in their previous nine matches, so the form has improved ever-so-slightly since then.
Ultimately, when a manager has such a poor campaign as Gijon’s 2015/16 term was, they shouldn’t be given anywhere near as much time as Gijon supplied Abelardo with. Now in 18th in the division, is it too late for Gijon to appease Fernandez’s poor stint?
#4 Athletic Bilbao making no signings
When a club implements an unwritten law that they may only sign players from Basque country, they’re severely limiting themselves as it is in the transfer market but nonetheless, Athletic Bilbao still had a pool of players to choose from when it came to making signings last summer. The only individual to come into the club at the start of the 2016/17 season was young goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who returned from his loan spell at Real Valladolid.
In the 2015/16 season, Aritz Aduriz finished top scorer for the club with 20 league goals, navigating the Basque side towards an impressive fifth place finish and Europa League qualification.
The club, therefore, had good foundations to build on heading into this term but refused to reinforce personnel which seems a strange decision, given that their key frontman is now 36-years-old and undoubtedly past his best.
He leads the way as their top scorer this term but with a mere eight goals, and the club are being left behind by the Europe-chasing pack, sitting in 8th position at present, nine points behind fifth-placed Real Sociedad.
The club may not have sold a great deal of players at the start of the campaign but, with their rivals heavily investing in new signings, they have failed to progress this term. A new, top-class, out-and-out frontman was required to challenge and even supersede Aduriz and the lack of reinforcements is evident in the fact that the club have only managed 28 goals this term; to put that into perspective, bottom club Osasuna have scored just four goals fewer.
#5 Real Betis signing Antonio Sanabria
For a big club, £6.5 million is ordinarily not a big transfer fee to fork out but when the club is only in its second season in the top flight since promotion and has a small transfer budget like Betis, it can make a dent in the club’s financial plan. Moreover, they expect to get something for that money.
Antonio Sanabria was the club’s most expensive signing at the start of this term and, following a reasonably successful spell with Gijon last season, a great deal was expected from the youngster.
However, it’s been a woeful start to life in Seville for Sanabria. In 13 league games, he’s managed just a single goal and has an abominable shot accuracy of 33%, resulting in Squawka Statistics giving the 20-year-old an overall performance score of -67, the second worst in the Betis squad.
He’s been greatly disappointing in other areas of the game as well, having created a pathetic total of four goal-scoring chances all season and averaging a pass completion rate of just 63%.
As a result of Sanabria’s poor form, Betis have once again had to rely on veteran Ruben Castro for goals, a reality they thought they had evaded with the purchase of Sanabria. The club have only conceded 35 goals this term, one of the league’s lowest, so it’s been their poor tally of 22 goals and problems in attack, which has led to the club being sucked into a relegation battle they ordinarily should not be a part of.
Had the club invested the money in a more established forward, but one still not near the age of Castro, then their goal return and thus their attack would have looked a lot better than it is now.
