Vicente Moreno is confirmed as Espanyol’s new manager. The club announced their arrival of Moreno after reaching an agreement with his former club Real Mallorca. He’s signed a three-year deal and brings three backroom staff with him. Moreno arrived in Barcelona to be presented as the new manager later today.
The negotiations between Espanyol and Mallorca weren’t easy but eventually all sides reached an agreement. Espanyol will pay a little over €500,000 to Mallorca in the way of compensation.
Moreno met with Mallorca on Tuesday morning to discuss being released from his contract and it didn’t go well. However, things dramatically changed over the following few hours and Moreno will now oversee Espanyol’s plans to immediately return to LaLiga.
The new manager will have the final say on all signings and give his opinions on who should be sold this summer. With the end of the 2019/20 season bringing disappointment for Espanyol, Vicente Moreno will now look to build a squad capable of gaining promotion back to La Liga.
With the Segunda Division set to begin on September 12, Espanyol have already seen both Ander Iturraspe and Naldo both depart the club. Espanyol have made a desperate plea for their relegation to be scrapped, despite the top flight completing last month without mishap.
The Barcelona-based side claim they were unfairly disadvantaged both by empty stadiums, given their remaining fixtures against relegation rivals, and the high number of positive cases suffered by the club during the crisis.
The club’s statement read: “Taking into account all the conditions that have occurred since the return to competition and in light of the events that have occurred in recent days, in which various clubs have expressed their opposition to the injustice and lack of solutions, RCD Espanyol argues for the elimination of relegations this season in competitions supervised by La Liga, as has happened in all those organised by the Spanish football federation (RFEF).” The RFEF oversees Spain’s third and fourth tiers and called off relegation in those divisions, with promotion decided in a compressed play-off format.
Espanyol finished 20th in La Liga after a nightmare season that saw them sack three coaches and register only a single victory in the 11 games after the restart.