La Liga begins again in Girona on Friday evening, a five-day weekend to start it off, and for the first time the division’s biggest clubs, every side competing for the title, share a vital weapon: they all have Englishmen in their team. Trent Alexander-Arnold, just Trent now on his No 12 shirt, has joined Jude Bellingham at Real Madrid. Nine players have left Atlético Madrid, but Conor Gallagher isn’t one of them. Marcus Rashford has landed in Barcelona, 39 years after Gary Lineker. And Oviemuno Ejaria has just signed a two-year deal at Real Oviedo.
Or, if you prefer your obvious jokes to have a slightly different bias, another team for the punchline, Tyrhys Dolan has joined Espanyol.
Ejaria is the last in, a three-week trial convincing the coach, Veljko Paunovic, to give him an opportunity at a club returning to the first division 24 years later, joining on the same salary as teammate Santi Cazorla: the €195,000 (£168,100) minimum wage. Alexander-Arnold was the first, two months ago and on 75 times more having arrived for free until Madrid decided they needed him at the Club World Cup and spent €10m to get him an early release. Dolan’s arrival intrigues. But Rashford is likely to command the most attention this weekend.
If, that is, he plays. If he does not, his will not be the only absence. Not among the Englishmen – Bellingham has finally had an operation on his shoulder and will be out for a couple of months – and probably not among Barcelona’s new signings either. Like Dolan and Ejaria, like more than 50 players across the league, Rashford has not yet been registered, a familiar summer story. Many, but not all, should have their paperwork completed in time; Barcelona, who have always found a way to eventually get their players registered, hope they will too. For some of their signings, at least.
“I’m calm; I trust that the club will sort it out,” Rashford said at the start of August as he headed off on pre-season, a new opportunity. “I’m just concentrating on training and getting in good shape to start the competition.” Two days before his team do in Mallorca – and two weeks before the market closes, margin to balance books – he was still waiting. And if he was confident, part of the reason he has arrived in Catalonia is that not everyone felt the same way. Barcelona wanted to sign Nico Williams, meeting his €58m buyout clause at Athletic Club, but they could not guarantee he would be registered in advance. Rashford was more affordable, less demanding and a player they long admired.
Rashford’s arrival brings variety and versatility. Able to play in any of the positions across the front – “my favourite position is on the left … but [it’s] a bit of everywhere really” – he offers cover for Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, who is a week from his 37th birthday. That addresses a feeling that last season they found few alternatives – Ferran Torres apart – to a front three that was superb but also had to play huge amounts of minutes; that perhaps paid for it in the end.
Across a whole campaign, that could be significant. Yet in the short term, Rashford’s registration was not Barcelona’s most pressing, immediate priority. On Wednesday night, none of their summer signings had yet been cleared by the league’s strict financial fair play rules, including Joan García, the goalkeeper signed for €25m from Espanyol, or Wojciech Szczesny, the story of last season and any season. Convinced to come out of retirement to win every domestic title, Szczesny has now been convinced to stay on as a sub. As Marc-André ter Stegen is injured, Barcelona face going into the opening game with just one available goalkeeper: Iñaki Peña, who has not played a minute in pre-season.
Ter Stegen’s injury, though, was more a solution than a problem: if his injury could be judged to be long term, Barcelona will be able to “use” up to 80% of his salary to register another player, which would be García. That had been the source of conflict: Ter Stegen, seemingly wishing to avoid facilitating his own replacement, refused to authorise the release of his medical details to the league committee making the judgment. Stripped of his captaincy, he eventually backed down, had the armband returned and even gave the speech before Barcelona’s club’s traditional season curtain raiser – played at the training ground because the Camp Nou is not ready, another deadline missed. On Wednesday night, the league’s commission confirmed that they considered the injury long term; Barcelona immediately announced the registration of García, another obstacle overcome.
That night Joan Laporta admitted he couldn’t be sure that they would get everyone registered for the start of the season but that they were working on it. In the end, with the club waiting on the auditors’ clearance of the sale of VIP seats at the new stadium and a sponsorship deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with departures still to be confirmed, he and his board may need to put up personal bank guarantees.
Yet if the summer has been difficult off the pitch, missed amid the drama is a steady strengthening, and on it has been different. While there will be a defensive balance to attend to, Hansi Flick expressing frustration at how they let the Inter semi-final escape them last season, Barcelona have continued to blow everyone apart, scoring at five a game in pre-season.
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“You see how good they were last year but they have that motivation and determination to improve,” Rashford told The Rest is Football podcast. “They won so many trophies but everyone has forgotten about that now.” At the end of the previous campaign, Lamine Yamal said: “I told my mum there’s another Champions League next year.” Which might not be a promise, exactly, but almost. Which won’t be easy, either; in Europe or domestically, even if Lamine Yamal is just about the most exciting player around, handed a new contract, the No 10 and the future.
Real Madrid have spent €200m, their biggest outlay in six years, but they have not really had a pre-season, playing only one game since the Club World Cup. The enthusiasm for the structural shifts seen at that tournament was hit hard by their destruction at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain, Xabi Alonso quick to say that match belonged to last season, not this. Shifting a culture is not simple, combining Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé doesn’t appear to be either, and there is still a gap in the middle of their midfield, which they are trying to fill with Arda Güler adapting to a new role.
Meanwhile Álex Baena, the outstanding player outside the big three last season, creating more chances than anyone, has joined their rivals across the capital and he didn’t come alone. Atlético have spent €175m, a second summer in a row of heavy spending, demanding a challenge that lasts into the spring this time. Gallagher didn’t just survive the cut; he appears poised to play a more central role. It is six years since anyone won a title two years running and almost 20 since anyone other than Barcelona did it, last season’s certainties tending to slip away swiftly and opponents invariably coming back for more.
One thing is for sure and if it’s a bold predication you’re after, try this; by the time May comes round, in some corner of a foreign field, an Englishman will lift the league title. Tyrhys, it is your time.
