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.
This week in Spain has been defined by Ousmane Dembele. The French winger has spent the vast majority of his career in Spain seeming like an outsider, failing to deliver on his potential and generally looking like a terrible deal for the Blaugrana. Just when it seemed he was set up change that narrative, Dembele left.
His €50m move to Paris Saint-Germain is a blow to Xavi Hernandez in particular, who stood defiant in the face of an institutional desire to move him on, and championed Dembele when no-one else would. His success was Xavi’s success.
Now Barcelona are working out just what to do with the money coming in. They will likely only receive around €27m from the deal, but reportedly are mounting a €75m offer for Bernardo Silva – where that money comes from, nobody knows. They are moving on Franck Kessie, trying to move on Clement Lenglet, and have moved on Nico Gonzalez. If, as seems the case, they cannot pull off a deal for Silva, then their choice is between the unproven Ivan Fresneda or the character concerns that come with Joao Cancelo.
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? BARÇA 3-0 REAL MADRID
? Dembélé, Fermín, Ferran pic.twitter.com/DE0bPcYqOc— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 30, 2023
Real Madrid are starting to wonder just how much they need Kylian Mbappe. Their new 4-4-2 diamond formation has gone down well, and they are creating plenty of chances. But after hitting the post 7 times in two defeats to Juventus (3-1) and Barcelona (3-0), some are wondering if Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior will finish enough of the chances they are creating. At the very least, Bellingham is enjoying himself on the pitch.
Away from the big two, Villarreal signed Alexander Sorloth from RB Leipzig for €10m, who scored 16 goals at Real Sociedad last season. In order to replace him, they brought in another Leipzig striker in Andre Silva on loan. Real Mallorca have signed Canadian striker Cyle Larin from Real Valladolid for €8m, meaning they can now line him up alongside Vedat Muriqi. A large and large partnership if ever there was one, good luck to Eric Garcia if comes up against Muriqi (6’4) and Larin (6’2).
For those unaware, Brazilian Ronaldo owns Valladolid, and he was deemed to be doing a good job until they were relegated last season. Perhaps he isn’t making the decisions, but one way or another, the plot has been lost a little. Eleven days before their first Segunda match, Valladolid sacked their entire transfer team and brought in a new Sporting Director in former Espanyol man Domingo Catoira – who masterminded their relegation. Meanwhile former Chelsea player Kenedy was due to head to Olympiakos on loan, but the Greek giants sent Kenedy back, claiming he was ‘unfit for football’.
