Inside Spain is a weekly instalment brought to you by Football España, providing an insight into all of the major stories coming out of the rich and intense climes of La Liga and beyond.
The saying goes that you can’t even get a day’s peace with Barcelona these days, and they promised to get no less weird. They were all set for their preseason debut against Juventus last weekend, before a virus ripped through the squad and meant they had to cancel – to the tune of €2m.
The first friendly they could attend was against Arsenal, and it only went a little better, with the Gunners putting five past Barcelona in a 5-3 win. Things got heated though, with Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez complaining that the intensity showed by Arsenal was ‘not normal’. Mikel Arteta refused to apologise afterwards.
Meanwhile Jude Bellingham continues to be the apple of every Madridista eye. The Real Madrid star got into an argument with Lisandro Martinez, only to earn plaudits for his sportsmanship after the two patched things up. He has been praised for many things in the Spanish capital, but perhaps being ‘not that English‘ is the most curious of all.
Franck Kessie is reportedly stonewalling a move to Juventus in order to wait for an offer from Tottenham Hotspur, while Real Madrid continue to rumble on with the Kylian Mbappe saga – there is now a number for Mbappe’s signature though.
Much of the spice in Spain was provided outside of the big two though. Sergio Canales was in tears as he left Real Betis for Mexico and Rayados de Monterrey after five successful years. But the big news was David Silva, who has departed football altogether. Having helped Real Sociedad to their first Champions League qualification in a decade last season, he was set to return to the competition, but an ACL injury has persuaded him to call time on his career at 37.
Remember Isco had gone off at Sevilla and Sporting Director Monchi for the latter attempting to fight him? He has been without a club since that day in December, but what better way to stick to them by joining cross-city rivals Real Betis. The Seville derby is arguably the most heated in Spain, but it just got a lot more fiery.
Just to the east in Pamplona, Osasuna were in celebratory mood after they won their battle with UEFA to be included in the Europa Conference League next season. They had been barred due to a match-fixing scandal ten years back, but they managed to persuade UEFA that they were in fact the victims of the scandal.
