A modern leader, accustomed to deciphering the personality of each player, Míchel still does not know how the Girona squad will be formed. An obsessive coach, always focused on how to improve each of his players individually, Míchel has not been able to count on eight players during the preseason: Tsygankov, Valery, Van de Beek and Portu (virus); Bryan Gil and Krejci, injured; Abel Ruiz and Miguel Gutiérrez, Olympic Games. Ambitious, with the idea of strengthening Girona (even more), Míchel asked for four more reinforcements (he already has seven new faces). In short, the team that was the sensation of last season in Spain begins the League under construction and its coach is worried.
“The pre-season was bad, it was difficult to prepare for training,” Míchel admitted last week in an interview on RAC1: “we couldn’t count on all the players.” Girona played seven friendly matches this summer: they won one (Naples), drew three (Olot, Espanyol and Montpellier) and lost three (Toulouse, Newcastle and Bournemouth). In addition, the preparation matches left a balance of eight goals in favor and 15 against. Right now, I’m not sure about the team or the way to play. And we’re five days away from the competition,” the Girona coach completed his analysis last Saturday, after the last match against Bournemouth before their debut in La Liga this Thursday against Betis at the Benito Villamarín (9:30 p.m., DAZN).
Nobody in Girona said a word. On the contrary, they understand Michel’s anger. “I am clear that I want the club to grow and for this shirt to be honoured,” says the Madrid coach. And, after speaking with Quique Cárcel, the club’s sporting director, on Wednesday before the match against Betis, Michel moderated his speech. “The other day I said that I was not clear about the team or how to play, but that is what I thought then. On Saturday we had six players out due to illness and two who were injured. I didn’t know if they would make it to the match. Now I do know. That makes things clearer for me,” he said. His measured speech, in any case, does not alter his wishes. And they also know this in the sporting area: he wants a goalkeeper, an attacking midfielder, a forward and also a winger.
However, it has never been easy to sign players at Girona. The systematic and patient approach of the red-and-white team’s sports department sometimes means that new faces are delayed. “If there are four options for a position, we always try to wait for the first or second. We don’t want to settle for the third or fourth,” explain Montilivi. Cárcel doesn’t want mistakes in signings; Michel, neither. The problem is timing. “But the success of signings cannot be controlled no matter how much talent we have in the sports area and on the bench,” the same sources add.
And although Krejci (Sparta Prague), Abel Ruiz (Sporting Braga), Misehouy (Ajax), Van de Beek (Manchester United), Alejandro Francés (Zaragoza), Bryan Gil (Tottenham), Oriol Romeu (Barcelona) have arrived, Michel is looking for a leap in quality to compensate for the loss of 13 players, especially the important ones being the absences of Aleix García (Bayer Leverkusen), Eric García (Barcelona), Savinho (City), Yan Couto (Borussia Dortmund) and Dovbyk (Roma).
“Right now I can’t think of any preseason game in which the team has had a collective vision. That’s why we have to grow a lot compared to what the team has shown so far,” insisted the coach. “But,” he added, “we will do it. The sports management and I are on the same page, in the same way of seeing things and of putting together the squad. Players will be signed top for us. We have to put our mentality into everyone. And we have to have Girona pride“to honour the shirt,” said Míchel on the eve of the match against Betis, the opening shot of a historic campaign for Girona in which it will compete for the first time in the Champions League.
“I’m sure we will have a great season,” concluded the Madrid coach, after a summer in which he covered his ears to avoid listening to offers that could take him away from Montilivi. His leadership, obsession and ambition remain intact: he wants a winning Girona. His problem is the uncertainty, in the team’s play, and also in the squad.
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