Four transfers and eight players from the first team. Hercules closed the first week of the preseason, holding on to the idea that it’s better to do things calmly than to rush things. Another question will be whether the obvious delay in sports planning will negatively impact the project for the 2022/23 season.
Currently, Hercules is starting at the tail end of his group in this organizational aspect. And long. Toscano, César Moreno, Raúl Ruiz and Sergi Molina continue from last year. Carlos Abad, Felipe Chacartegui, Víctor Eimil and Jack Harper are just four additions. At this point, something else was expected, despite the break given a month and a half after the end of the competition. In the past seven days, the sports administration, headed by Paco Peña, has closed only one signature of British Harper. The timetable has not yet been drawn and the start of the League seems far away, but the people of Alicante are starting at a disadvantage compared to their rivals.
Only one of the 18 clubs in group 3 of the second RFEF is superior to the Herculaneum squad in uncertainty. This is the Costa Brava, which last Thursday formalized its adoption by Badalona to form a new club called Badalona Futur. The operation appears to be named after Toni Freixa, ex-director of Barcelona, with whom Hercules was linked only a year ago. In the next few days it will become clear the whole situation in this matter and whether the new team has taken Oriol Alsina’s Costa Brava as a base.
According to data from the private portal Transfermarkt, the remaining clubs of the group appear to be in a much more bearable organization than Hércules and Costa Brava (Badalona Futur). The next step in terms of player count on the roster will be occupied by Terrassa, with 17 players on the payroll and nine players from the Blues and Whites.
Lleida Esportiu (18), Ebro, Teruel and Peña Deportiva (19), Formentera and Alzira (20), Manresa and Olot (21), Prat (23), Atlético Saguntino (24) and Ibiza Pitiusas Islands (25) too much for templates owner. also more advanced. Subsidiaries of Zaragoza, Valencia, Espanyol and Mallorca provide data that has yet to be confirmed, as some of their members’ pre-season preparations belong to the senior category and others to the junior category.
a lot to sign
With this scenario, Hercules will have to spin well over the next month to complete his roster. It will also have lost its competitive advantage in some operations that may have progressed and closed between June and July.
Ángel Rodríguez currently has one goalkeeper at his disposal, Carlos Abad, so he will need to involve someone else. On the defensive line, the right side is the only position seemingly closed by the presence of both Raúl Ruiz and Eimil. Sergi Molina is a single centre-back, just like Chacartegui, a left-back. Peña will have to sign two center defenders and one more left-back for the group with the starting lineup.
There are only two players in the Hercules midfield, César Moreno and Toscano. If the Italian fully recovers from injury, both will have lines to run Rico Pérez’s engine room, but it’s clear that players with different profiles are needed for that area of the pitch.
Finally, offensively, the only trick Rodriguez can count on is Malaga’s promising youth team Harper, who is 26 years old and played for Racing de Santander, who started only one game early last year. Second division. Therefore, Hercules must also act in the market to find the target. To all this is added the feature of coating six sub-23 chips. Of the eight existing herculanos, only César Moreno and Sergi Molina are under this age.