El Rayo launched the project with Francisco

He Vallecano Raywho will celebrate his centenary at the end of the season, is launching a new sporting project from the bench with the man from Almeria Francis Rodriguezwith the challenge of making forget Andoni Iraola and achieve a comfortable stay in a squad that includes seventeen players from last year and so far only the Canarian central defender has new faces. Aridane Hernandez and the Uruguayan left behind Luis Alfonso ‘Pacha’ Espino.

“Illusion and ambition are maximum. I know the club I am going to but our proposition is that of a brave team with a winning mentality. I face this new phase as a challenge in my career”. This is how Francisco was at his presentation on July 4 as the new coach of Rayo, a team he arrived with the difficult mission of taking over from Andoni Iraolaarchitect of great achievements in the last three seasons.

The Basque coach, who decided not to continue with Rayo despite the president’s attempts, Raul Martin Damand the sports director, david cobenleaves a legacy of promotion to the First Division in 2021, contention in the semifinal of the Copa del Rey in 2022 and two comfortable stays in the top category in the last two years.

Francisco’s choice at Rayo represents a line of continuity in terms of the football proposal that the club hopes will translate into colorful offensive and daring football, some signs seen in Vallecas for a decade, first in Paco Jemezsecond to Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, ‘Míchel’ and finally to Iraola.

The management of Martin Dam On an economic level, recent seasons have allowed Rayo to move from being a selling club to one that keeps its players. The proof is that seventeen players continue from last season, including the Macedonian goalkeeper Dimitrievsky was stolen, Senegalese midfielder Pathé Ciss and the extremes Isi Palazón and Álvaro Garcíaall four listed on the market.

Also Raul de Tomas, where Rayo made a strong bet last season with a disbursement close to ten million euros and that, after a course marked first by inactivity and then by injuries, this campaign is called the offensive team reference . On his side, well supported, follows an exchange of guarantees, the Colombian Radamel Falcaowho, at the age of 37, is in his third year at Vallecas and performs every time he plays, sometimes with goals worth important points.

The only footballers of weight within the tactical method and in the dressing room that does not follow is the central Alejandro Catena (Osasuna), the midfielder Santi Comesaña (Villarreal) and on the left side fran garcia (Real Madrid). Two of them have a replacement with the arrival of the central defender Aridane Hernandezfrom Osasuna and has extensive experience in the First Division, and the left-back ‘Pacha’ Espinoendorsed by his last five campaigns in Cádiz.

‘Pacha’ Espino, incorporated to own the left lane, will form a defense where the Albanian right-back performed at a high level last season Ivan Balliuthe French central Florian Lejeune and the dinner Abdul Mumin.

As captain, the Argentine continues to wear the armband Oscar Trejo, true idol of the fans and probably the team’s most creative footballer with the ball at his feet along with first lopezanother important football player within the tactical method that is gaining popularity over time.

The season will be special for Rayo and for the fans of the Vallecas neighborhood, which in May 2024, before the end of the course, will celebrate the Centenary of the club, a date they are already considering to commemorate it with various events. To celebrate it properly, the best news is to have a guaranteed stay during that period, the main goal set for this course.