La Liga's clubs can be found all over the planet this week, from Huddersfield to Holland.
HereâÂÂs a wee taster of what has been going on whilst Barcelona and Real Madrid have been hogging the news duvet over the past couple of weeks.
Celta Vigo
What was very much overlooked in saga surrounding the hunt for a new Barça boss was the impact it could have had on Celta Vigo. The club had only just employed Luis Enrique and put the former Barcelona player in charge of a spiffing new project, when the media prematurely moved him to the Camp Nou. As it turned out, there was nothing to worry about. Not just because Tata Martino was selected, but apparently due to the fact that the Celta manager was not even a candidate in the first place. âÂÂThere was no contact from my part, nor that of the club,â revealed Enrique at a press conference last week. âÂÂIt was simply the rumour mill.âÂÂ
Aside from all that kerfuffle, it has been a quiet period for Celta, with no more former Barcelona youth team products on the market, though Enrique has warned his players that âÂÂno spot in the squad is closed. None of them.âÂÂ
Elche
The Alicante club have made it to the big time at last, and they are going to spend big to stay there. A whopping â¬44,000 in fact, the amount splashed out on Barcelona youngster David Lombán, a player who must feeling that 'free transfer' would actually have sounded better.
Three defenders have been picked up for nowt, with fullback Domingo Cisma arriving from Atletico Madrid, one-time Next Big Thing Alberto BotÃÂa signing from Sevilla, and Romanian Christian Sapunaru completing a switch from Zaragoza, supposedly so his wife could avoid excessive flying. However, there is still work to be done in the striking department, so sys coach Fran Escribá. âÂÂWe lack people up front, this is our biggest urgency right now.âÂÂ
Espanyol
On LLLâÂÂs special transfer ticker tape, it reports that Martin Petrov is currently unemployed, which seems more than a little sad. The Bulgarian is one of a host of players leaving Cornella this summer, along with Joan Verdú, Raúl Baena, Jordi Amat, Juan ForlÃÂn and Cristian ÃÂlvarez. All this has brought in around â¬6 million in funds, although that is not really much use to Espanyol, whose debt is considerably greater. For this reason, only â¬220,000 has been spent in close season, all of it on David López from Segunda side Huesca. However a bit of fizz has been added with Pizzi joining on loan from Benfica, having spent last season on loan at Deportivo and done reasonably well.
Getafe
The crowd at the mighty Coliseum may have been knocked on their heels at the start of the summer by defeat to visiting Brighton and Hove Albion, but at least Dani Güiza is finally off the teamâÂÂs books. âÂÂIt has been an honour to wear this shirt,â claimed the striker, who is off to try out the disco dance floors of Paraguay having agreed a move to Cerro Porteño. The Madrid side have been lurking in Holland, doing a spot of training and playing some friendlies, although three out of four of said matches have ended in defeat.
Granada
And here we are again; LLL pointlessly trying to piece together GranadaâÂÂs wheelings, dealings, loans, sales and purchases, then giving up on the task within about two minutes. The two names which come up most in the Andulusian clubâÂÂs shenanigans are Watford and Udinese, the sides also in the possession of owner Giampaolo Pozzo. Indeed, Granada actually played one of the teamâÂÂs siblings in the form of the English club, but it was the Hertfordshire side that came out on top in Vicarage Road with a 2-0 victory.
