Since Mallorca dropped out of La Liga in 2013, things haven’t been easy. After languishing at the bottom of the table in their first three seasons in the Segunda, they dropped to the third tier in 2017. Luckily, they came back up at the first time of asking and then produced a fantastic season last year, finishing fifth before defeating Albacete and Deportivo La Coruna in the play-offs to reach La Liga again.
They’ll hope to continue that upward trajectory when they get back into action at the end of August in what will be a big season for the island club.
Transfer Business Overview
As you would expect from a newly promoted side, there have been many new arrivals through the doors at the Estadio de Son Moix. Ten players have joined the squad with Ante Budimir, Martin Valjent, Igor Zlatanovic, Pablo Chavarria, Aleix Febas, Aleksandar Trajkovski, Alex Alegria, Josep Sene, Aleksandar Sedlar and Lumor all coming in.
The club haven’t received any money from outgoing transfers with six leaving on a free and no less than eight players away out on loan.
Manager: Vicente Moreno
Moreno is heading into his third year as manager of Mallorca following spells with Xerez and Gimnastic prior to that. Two promotions in a row have gotten the club’s supporters right behind him and both himself and the club are full of confidence heading into the 2019/20 season.
Player to Watch: Alex Alegria
A player with experience of this level is a necessity for promoted sides and although he only has three goals at this level, Alex Alegria could be a key player for Mallorca this season. He does have the knack of knowing where the goal is with a number scored across his spells with many clubs including Numancia and Sporting Gijon and if he can begin to replicate that in La Liga, Mallorca may well be okay.
One for the Future: Aleix Febas
Having departed Real Madrid to join Mallorca, Aleix Febas will be hoping that he can go on to show what he can do at the top of Spanish football. At 23-years old, the midfielder has already made almost 200 appearances from Spain’s third tier up to the UEFA Youth League so he certainly has the experience of playing competitive football.
If he can keep playing consistently then he will likely star for this Mallorca side, if they can keep themselves in La Liga.
Predicted Finish
Most sides will look at Mallorca as a winnable game but the club is at the highest it has been for some years and riding a wave of optimism at the moment. If they can keep that feel good factor going then the chances are they’ll surprise some teams and it could well be that they’ll be back in the Primera for good.