From Benítez to Iraola: the talent of Spanish coaches colonizes 20% of the Premier

On June 16, 2004, Spanish football set foot in the Premier League and opened a path of no return that has only grown.. Rafa Benítez, with two Leagues and a UEFA Cup with Valencia under his arm, became the first Spanish coach to lead a team in the highest category of English football. A historic club set its eyes on the Spanish talent that emerged on the benches and the reward was to be proclaimed European champion in the first season. Those successes paved the way for Juande Ramos in 2008 at Tottenham and then Roberto Martínez at Swansea and Wigan Athletic.

In this season, which kicks off this Friday with a Burnley-Manchester City match, 20% of the coaches will be Spanish, a percentage that had not occurred at the start of the competition since the 18/19 campaign. Two of those four repeat: Pep Guardiola, who has been in charge of the citizens for seven years, and Unai Emery, then at Arsenal and today in charge of a thriving Aston Villa. Next to them will be Mikel Arteta, three years already on the Gunner bench and the only one who has not gone through LaLiga, and the newcomer Andoni Iraola, who takes the reins of Bournemouth.

Only the departure of Julen Lopetegui from Wolves has prevented them from being more Spanish coaches than English. And it is that the Basque has been replaced in the last hours by Gary O'Neil, who joins Eddie Howe (Newcastle), Heckingbottom (Sheffield), Dyche (Everton) and Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace). Five coaches who hold up the English banner in an almost universal league in which there is a German (Klopp), a Scotsman (Moyes), two Welshmen (Cooper and Edwards), a Dane (Thomas Frank), a Portuguese (Marco Silva ), a Dutchman (Ten Hag), a Belgian (Kompany) and an Italian (De Zerbi). Pochettino is the Argentine representation and even an Australian has joined: Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Spurs.

record seven

Only on two more occasions were there so many Spaniards in the technical area, but it was during the course of the seasons and due to dismissals. The first was in the 19/20 campaign with Guardiola at City, Emery fired at Arsenal to end up signing Arteta and Javi Gracia at Watford, who was replaced by Quique Sánchez Flores. Entering into the dynamics of the English market promises several experiences, examples of which are Quique, Emery or Gracia and, especially, Benítez, who has gone through Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle and Everton.

The Spanishization became very evident in April of last season when there were seven: the already veterans Guardiola and Arteta were joined by Lopetegui, Emery -in November and after paying a clause of six million, something unprecedented- and Rubén Sellés and Bruno Saltor as caretaker at Southampton and Chelsea.

One factor that has accelerated this landing is the opening that the Premier has experienced through the new owners who have arrived at the clubs, many of them with no ties to Great Britain or even to football.. Success no longer needs to be achieved only in the competitive Premier for your work to be valued and desired.

In turn, the coaches find attractive projects that, although they do not aspire to be among the Big Six, already manage budgets well above the mid-table teams in LaLiga. Everyone waits for the Premier before choosing options such as the Italian Serie A, where there is no Spaniard, the Bundesliga, in which Xabi Alonso resists at Leverkusen, or the French Ligue 1, which will now have Luis Enrique (PSG), Marcelino García Toral (Marseille) and Carles Martínez (Toulouse).

Less look at the grass

The economic capacity of the Premier makes it desirable, although the trainers are aware of the extreme competitiveness that accompanies it. Three weeks after the closing of the market, the 20 teams in the English competition have spent more than 1,600 million euros.

Arsenal have broken the bar by paying 116.6 million euros for Declan Rice and City with 90 for Gvardiol, making him the most expensive central defender in history. Most of their most expensive moves, including Havertz or Mason Mount, are made between English clubs, which allows the little ones to invest. The exception has been precisely the Wolves and has ended up causing the departure of Lopetegui.

However, the look at LaLiga is directed to the benches and not so much to the pitch. The time of the Spanish Swansea or Liverpool and the arrival of mass players is over. Spain is the one in the major leagues that has closed the fewest soccer transfer operations with the Premier in this summer market.

The two main purchases have been that of the Valencian central defender Pau Torres (33) for Aston Villa and Nico Jackson (37) for Chelsea, a total of 70 million euros that have ended up in Villarreal's box. Matheus Cunha is also counted, who already left Atlético in January with a mandatory clause of 50 million.