Back in town after the concentration week in Benasque, the SD Huesca I returned to normality with a morning training session at the IES Pirámide and the presentation of two of his new footballers, Jérémy Blasco and Ignasi Vilarrasa. Players “young, hungry, wanting to improve and growbe sure that they will adapt wonderfully”, as the sporting director, Ángel Martin Gonzalez. The two joined on the same formula, a two-year contract plus an optional contract, and they arrive on a free transfer from Real Sociedad and Atlético Baleares, respectively.
With a few days of filming under the orders of Cuco Ziganda, they showed the illusion of the first times and the conviction that their roles will be the main ones. Blasco, a 23-year-old Frenchman, can play as a centre-back or a right-back and Vilarrasa, 22, can expect “opportunities for the future and growth” on the left flank. A few days ago, Patrick Soko was presented and the list of summer recruits will grow in the coming hours with striker Abou Kanté from Fuenlabrada.
Before, it was a question of getting to know Blasco and Vilarrasa a little closer. The first leaves San Sebastián after twelve years and faces this vertigo “very excited and happy, now it’s time to work”. The versatility he shows in his service book does not hide his preference for acting in the center of the backs: “I’ve been a central defender all my life and I’m more used to it. Over the past three years, I had a rather important role and it helped me learn and improve. I am ready for both positions. He received his first lessons from veterans like Jorge Pulido, with whom he already sat down at the table on the first day, and he knows well that the competition will be high in a position where two more defenders are still expected.
The Frenchman met El Alcoraz with mixed feelings. Last season, Real Sociedad B signed their mathematical relegation at the Barça stadium and then felt “that the people were cheering us on. At the end of the match, we were devastated and the public reacted very well. I can’t wait to see him with wins and through good times and bad, with your support, we will do better”. Moreover, he perceived the feeling of a “family club, with a nice atmosphere. I felt comfortable and welcomed when I arrived. It wasn’t a decision made because yes, I really wanted to come.”
Ignasi Vilarrasa feels comfortable in his first days as a Barça player, where “the most important thing is that the team gets to know each other and make friends. Little by little Cuco gives us nuances on how he wants to organize the block defensively. To be a brave team, attack and use lanes and deal damage. We are going to be a balanced team. He is aware that “in any position on this team, there will be competition. There are great players and young people have the ambition to take a step forward. Atlético Baleares helped me a lot and I’m ready. We all have the quality and the ambition to win the place”.
In a still slow and heavy market, the Catalan made his preference for SD Huesca’s offer clear from the start: “All footballers have several options, from the first moment Huesca has been the pioneering team that my family and my agent we had I’m glad it could be done and it’s a club that two years ago was in the first division”; More in a future key, he considers it to be a group “aiming to be able to reach the ‘play offs’ for the promotion”.
The gap between the previously called second B and the silver category has narrowed and Vilarrasa doesn’t think the difference will affect him. “The first RFEF is crazy. Making two groups of 20 teams reduced the level. It has helped us youngsters to experience this category and many second division teams are getting stronger with players who can make that leap more easily,” he pointed out. For now, the veterans “have been worried about our adaptation, people are in very good health. The deal will help us make a pineapple in the locker room.”
intense heat Matchday one plans changed after Benasque returned and training scheduled for Thursday afternoon was cancelled. In exchange, the duration of the morning work was extended even beyond two hours, with a physical part and a more technical one. Ziganda has the players he worked with during this second week of effort and Kevin Carlos has already joined the squad after overcoming his physical discomfort. This Friday, there will be training at 9:30 a.m. and there will be rest on Saturday and Sunday.