Espanyol Preview 2011

Main Storylines: as always, they hover around who is about to be sold. Goalkeeper Carlos Kameni, who seems to have had a yearly battle to stay at the club, almost left for AS Roma over the Summer to join former team-mate Ivan de la Peña who is coaching on Luis Enrique´s staff. A last minute call from Kameni´s reps to renegotiate terms and Roma signed Ajax´s Maarten Stekelenburg instead (a better fit if you ask me). After calling out the club and his coach for lack of ambition, Kameni has now been relegated to third string behind starter Cristian Álvarez and back-up Kiko Casilla. The club are in a quandary. They would like to get something for the Cameroonian, but they would need to feature him at least somewhat in preseason and the last time that happened Kameni let in 5 goals against Sevilla in the testimonial match saluting fallen players Dani Jarque and Sevilla´s Antonio Puerta. It´s a divisive situation that will hover around a club and create cancers where none are expected. It is time to bite the bullet and either release the player or sell for under market value.

The other storyline settles on El Killer, Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, the Italo-Argentine forward that has come under great scrutiny by clubs looking for a young and promising striker with the credentials to make that leap to the big-time: highly-developed aerial game, comfortable with the ball at his feet, a born-leader, and considering his modest surroundings easily had on the cheap. Or so they thought. Clubs valued him at around 10-12 euros a year but the club have placed a much higher valuation on the player. Osvaldo has pledged to stay and help the club fight for trophies, or at least to settle in a European place, and stated on more than one occasion that he´d like to one day become Espanyol captain. He came from Italian football he said, where he wasn´t appreciated, but that he found his place at Espanyol where they value him and he´d like to repay that. New President Ramon Condal, who took over from Dani Sanchez-Llibre over the Summer, has pledged that the club will not sell their inspirational leader. Nice posture to have for the fans, but if his 20 million valuation is met I think either Atlético Madrid or Spurs takes him in a heartbeat.

Forwards: The club are actively looking for a media-punta, a creative spark in attack but as of now they don´t have the money nor the inclination to find someone to take that role from the retired De la Peña. In Joan Verdú and Sergio Garcia they have players with enough versatility to fill that role if needed, which solves the question of who plays for José Callejón who returned to Real Madrid after two years in blue-and-white. Both do, as they can both play centrally as well. On the other side is Luis Garcia, not the one who likes sangría who is apparently somewhere in the Mexican League for all I can find. García is the heart-and-soul of the club, an elder statesman at 30, and as such it seems that his days are numbered at the club. He´ll make it through another year at Cornellà-el Prat but not much more I think. Ones to watch: After losing De la Peña, Ben Sahar, Callejon and Ivan Alonso it would seem the club are quite thin in attack. Don´t believe it. Ex-Arsenal youngster Rui Fonte is in the mix, as is Ajax youth product Marvin Zeegelaar, but the gems of the project are Thievy Bifouma who provides a dogged Edgar Davids-like work-rate and Álvaro Vásquez who is quite clearly the pearl of the Espanyol youth-team. He´s coming off a hat-trick performance against Australia in Spain´s 5-1 win at the U-20 World Cup and could possibly be a starter if Osvaldo is sold this Summer.

Midfielders: Osvaldo is not the only position player getting notice from clubs in the transfer market. Midfielder Javi Márquez is our captain and a stabilizing force in the midfield for a player who is still only 25 years of age so it is no wonder that the likes of Blackburn have come for him. Negotiations are also ongoing regarding his contract. The club are desperate to keep him, but are in ongoing talks that are looking more clouded as the days pass. There are enough hard-workers in midfield to get stuck-in, the likes of Baena and Javi López, but it would be a big blow if we lost Martinez. Ones to watch: Adrian Luna and Juan Albín. One came from Defensor Sporting and the other from Getafe, but more importantly both are products of Oscar Washington Tabárez´s training program in Uruguay.

Defenders: Didac Vilá won a European Under-21 Championship in Denmark this year after a less than stellar season at AC Milan last year where he appeared in one match at the end of the Serie A campaign. As a reward, the player has come back to Espanyol on-loan and rejoins a defense that is always capable of recovering, repairing, and reloading a defense to keep the club competitive. Joining him is Mexican international Héctor Moreno who played so well at the Gold Cup this Summer, Jordi Amat who is playing in Colombia with the U-20´s as well and Juan Forlin rounding off the starters. Ones to watch: Moreno. Since Victor Ruiz left, the club haven´t had an intimidating force in the middle. I think they found the guy.

Projection: I would like to say that with the stable of players we have, that we can challenge for a European slot again, but because of the instability with transfers and the constant churning of the talent pool, I always start with the idea that we can be in the top half of the table, maybe 8th give or take a couple of places.

*By the way, for those of you annoyed by my use of the pronoun we when I speak of the club, well forgive me, as head of the RCD Espanyol Supporter´s Club of Los Ángeles, it is hard for me to talk of my club without using it. To follow the season along with me and Espanyol, check out Espanyol.theOffside.com