Football Season Guide

Given that the 2016/17 season was Leganes' first ever in the top flight of Spanish football, their only objective was to avoid relegation and they secured it, finishing one spot above the drop-zone. Leganes, though, were lucky that survival was ‘cheap’ last year, given that their points tally of 35 would often have meant relegation, had last year’s bottom three not been so bad. This year, then, they must aim to increase their number of points if they want to keep their place in the division. In order to do so, they have brought in a number of new players, once again looking to sign free agents and to bring players in on loan, replacing a number of the ones who have since returned to their parent clubs after their one-year stint at the Estadio Butarque. Among the most notable arrivals is centre-back Ezequiel Munoz, who joins from Genoa for a club-record fee while the incorporations of free agents like Gerard Gumbau, Raul Garcia, Javier Eraso and Ivan Cuellar also look like smart pieces of business. Leganes have also signed a couple of their best loanees from last season on permanent deals, such as Dimitrios Siovas and Tito while they were similarly able to make sure that star attacking midfielder Gabriel – who dazzled last season in the No.10 role of their 4-2-3-1 formation – has penned a new deal to stay at the club. Leganes, then, appear to have an even better squad than they had last year and putting all of the pieces together is coach Asier Garitano who has been at the club since 2013. He has the full backing of the board as well as the players and he knows exactly how to get the most out of a cheaply-assembled squad. It certainly won’t be easy for Leganes, as they're one of the smallest teams in the division but they've done all they can to give themselves another decent chance of survival.