The Royal Zaragoza arrives, around 8 p.m. this Friday, July 15, at its concentration of Boltana (Huesca), which will be the 9th edition of his visits to this beautiful city of Sobrarbe in 18 years who has an existence Hotel Barcelo Monastery. Under the new management of the coach Juan Carlos Carcedoaround 28 footballers (the highest number in history at this stage of the summer) will begin a working week in the Aragonese Pyrenees on Saturday morning, the second phase of the pre-season after 10 previous days at the Ciudad Deportiva where the physical preparation was the basis of all preparation sessions.
The Zaragoza team returns to Boltaña after 3 years, Well, the covid pandemic brought life and normality to a halt after that last stay here on the banks of the Ara River when, in July 2019, Victor Fernandez led the last Zaragoza which was on the verge of moving up to the first division. In 2020, Ruben Baraja worked as best as he could in full health restriction without leaving the Cité des Sports, without leaving home. And last year, 2021, John Ignace Martinez ‘Jim’ felt it was best to mix rehearsals in Zaragoza with a stay in San Pedro de Pinatar (Murcia) which turned out to be unique, without going through the Pyrenees.
Carcedo will be the 7th coach to come to Boltaña to take the first steps of a course with Real Zaragoza. This is due to the fact, in the 9 pre-campaigns experienced here, only one has repeated -up to 3 times- at the head of the bench: the aforementioned Víctor Fernándezwho worked here in 2006, 2007 and 2019. The others went up to Sobrarbe and did not have the opportunity to redouble their experience because things did not go well afterwards.
A) Yes, Victor Munoz it was in technical when Boltaña created in 2005 its magnificent Monasterio hotel (by the hand of Alphonse Solans Solans, then also president and maximum shareholder of Real Zaragoza). In 2015, after a long period without setting foot in the city of Boltañesa, Agapito Iglesias took the team to his homeland, Navaleno and San Leonardo de Yagüe (Soria) between 2008 and 1012; and, in his groans, the Valencian In 2013, García Pitarch brought his team closer to his native Valencia, to Alcalá de la Selva (Teruel), Zaragoza returned to the Monastery. The coach of the return to Boltaña was the Serb Ranko Popovic. The above was everything in the first division. This phase started by the Balkans already had Second bases. The previous year, 2014, Víctor Muñoz faced the most difficult pre-season of Zaragoza’s life, in the midst of a chaotic SAD sale, working without staff in the Sports City while the cardiac massage was done at the club, with no possibility of leaving home that summer.
After Popovic, in 2016 it was Louis Milla the tenant of the coaches’ room. In 2017, Natxo Gonzalez. In 2018, Imanol Idiakez. Until we get to the last revised track of the Boltañesa channel, that of the 19 with Fernández, the last one they remember here.
From 8:00 p.m. this Friday July 15 and until Saturday 23 Real Zaragoza will be white fan magnet in this valley of Ara. This will be the only 10 calendar month track in which Carcedo’s workouts can be seen.
For now, there are only two new signings: youngster Giuliano Simeone, a striker arriving from Atlético de Madrid B, and Rebollo, a goalkeeper signed from Betis B. It is expected that next week the list of new faces will increase in Boltaña. As well as the exits. Only Baselga (already loaned to Calahorra and, surely, Javi Ros (who assumes his departure), will be excluded from the large cast of players with whom the coach has rehearsed in Zaragoza for the past two weeks. The rest, all the consumables that they still don’t resolve.