FCBARCELONA.CAT

09.07.2008 12:57

Plenty of movement

Jesús Carrillo

Clubs in la Primera have pressed ahead with their rebuilding plans for the new campaign following the end of the European Championships, with some already having returned to pre-season training.

FC Barcelona have been one of the busiest top flight clubs in the transfer market having secured four new players with the arrival of Seydou Keita, Daniel Alves and Martin Cáceres. There is a strong possibility that more will arrive before the start of the season and they will work under new coach, Pep Guardiola.

New coaches

Apart from Guardiola, there will be seven new trainers starting from scratch in la Primera. The most high profile club to have a new man at the helm is Valencia who have Unai Emery in charge, while Víctor Muñoz has been installed at Getafe and Juan Ramón Muñiz, who won promotion with Málaga last term, has taken over at Racing Santander in their first ever year in Europe.

Also, Antonio Tapia has taken over at Málaga for their return to the top flight and veteran coach Sergio Kresic will oversee Numancia's return to the first division.

Preparing for Europe

While Barça have been adding new players, other clubs have also been restructuring and Villarreal have added three new players ahead of their return to the Champions League. Edmílson, Ariel Ibagaza and Joseba Llorente have all moved to El Madrigal this summer.

Another team strengthening for a return to the Champions League is Atlético de Madrid. Los Colchoneros have signed Florent-Sinama Pongolle most recently to add to Grégory Coupet, Tomas Ujfalusi, John Heitinga and Paulo Assunçao.

Almería have made eleven new signings since the end of last term, with one of those to join the club being ex-Blaugrana player Iban Cuadrado.

More to come

Almost every team still appear to be open to move new arrivals while Real Madrid will have to find a space for Rubén De la Red, Javi García and Esteban Granero, who have all returned to the club after spending last season elsewhere. Mehmet Aurelio is Real Betis' only signing so far after he moved from Fenerbahçe, while Sevilla have added former Barça defender, Fernando Navarro to their ranks and Numancia have signed Dimas from Barça B.