After just two seasons away from the top flight, Granada made it back to La Liga with a second-place finish in the Segunda last season.
Having finished no higher than 15th in the Primera in their last few seasons there, it’s likely to be another tough season for them, but they will surely be a good addition to the league nonetheless.
Transfer Business Overview
Granada didn’t waste any time in adding to their squad ahead of their return to La Liga, with no less than eight new arrivals. Among those is former Spain international Roberto Soldado, who joins on a free from Fenerbahce with Venezuelan winger Darwin Machis moving from Udinese. Domingos Duarte, Yan Brice and Fede Vico also came in for a fee while there are loan moves for Yangel Herrera and Jose Antonio Martinez from Manchester City and Eibar respectively. Neyder Lozano comes in from Elche to complete the business.
On the way out, Adrian Castellano, Sergio Pena and Pablo Vazquez have joined other clubs while four players were released including Fran Rico and Raul Baena.
Manager: Diego Martinez
Having begun his coaching career in his native Galicia, Martinez was snapped up by Sevilla where he spent ten years coaching sides from the C team up to the Juvenil squad before moving on to Osasuna and narrowly missing out on the play-offs.
Granada moved to sign him up for the beginning of last season and after getting the side promoted at the first attempt, he has now been given the chance to keep the team in La Liga.
Player to Watch: Roberto Soldado
With 110 goals in 245 games in La Liga, Roberto Soldado certainly has the pedigree for this level and will be one of newly promoted Granada’s main attacking threats this season.
Alongside Adrian Ramos and with the creative spark of Darwin Machis and Fede Vico, Soldado is sure to get the chances throughout the season and even at the age of 34, he still knows where the net is and will likely bag plenty of goals for El Grana.
One for the Future: Yan Brice
The 21-year old from Cameroon has spent his career in Spain after moving from Yaounde, spending most of it with Sevilla, playing for their B side Sevilla Atletico before playing the 2018/19 season with Almeria, making 33 appearances in league and cup.
He is the second-youngest member of the Granada squad but has lots of first-team experience and could be called upon for action this season. Despite not being expected to be a first-choice starter, he is one that is highly thought of and you would expect to see him playing for the side in the next couple of seasons.
Predicted Finish
The Andalucian side may have some big-name players in their squad but it’s going to be a fight from start to finish for themselves and the other newly-promoted sides. A good start will be important but unfortunately for them, their first five fixtures read Villarreal, Sevilla, Espanyol, Celta Vigo, Barcelona so they may be playing catch up from the start and that could cause them problems.