23/24 Season
This has been a great season overall. We managed to finish second in the league to Real Madrid, overtaking Barcelona on the last day with a 3-2 win at the Camp Nou. We got knocked out of the Copa Del Rey in the Fourth round by Villareal at the end of January, but after that we went on an incredible run of form, not losing another game for the rest of the season.
In terms of transfers, I made a few more deals in the January window, Picking up Alvaro Fernandez for £2.5 Million (allowing us to loan out Julen Agirrezabala to Huesca in return for some game time), and agreeing another future transfer for Aihen Munoz for £2.5 Million, setting us up nicely for next season.
The tactic worked surprisingly well, and I only made a few changes, most notable of which being Bringing in Julen Jon Gurrero into the sarting line-up as an Advanced Playmaker. He did a great job running things from the centre of the pitch and has become a nailed on starter in this position over De Galarreta. The only issue I think we had this season was that we ddn't really have a main goalscoring threat, with our goals being spread out amongst the team, with Nico Williams and Iker Muniain picking up 12 goals each and Inaki Williams scoring 11. Despite this, we still scored 87 goals in the league, the second most of any team and we put together some incredible attacking moves in games. I was also able to give minutes to a lot of young players this season, with Vicandi, Alboniga-Menor, Junior Bita, Peio Canales and Dani Rodriguez all getting a fair amount of game time to hopefully speed up their development. Oscar De Marcos was one of my favourite players this season, continuously popping up in attacking areas and grabbing a fair few goals and assists. I only wish he was 10 years younger because he would have this position on lock.
Looking forward to next season, I'm hoping to shift some of the deadwood (players like Raul Garcia, Ander Herrera and De Galarreta) and replace them with either players from the academy or signings I can make, with my aim to bring down the age of the squad and continue developing youngsters for the future. I would love to bring in Aimar, however being priced at £68 million makes him a bit out of reach. I was hoping Osasuna might get relegated so I could pick him up cheaper, though that did not happen. I will also be looking at brining in Odriozola as his contract ends with Madrid at the end of this current season and he would be a big improvment on Lekue. The only other players I'm looking at are Guillamon, to reinforce the midfield and central defense, and Ivan Martin, who I think would be a good rotational option in pretty much all of our attacking positions.
Hopefully next season we can pick up some silverware and can continue to play good football, will keep you all updated on how it goes!