What a busy summer (a carryover from January). I know we have some folks on here who have joined us quite recently and may not be so familiar with last year's squad. So, by way of reminder, here was Villarreal's squad when the transfer window closed in the fall of 2014:
Keepers: Sergio Asenjo, Juan Carlos
Defenders: Mario, Rukavina, Gabriel, Musacchio, Ruiz, Dorado, Jokic, Jaume Costa, Adrián Marín
Midfielders: Cani, Bruno, Trigueros, Pina, Jonathan dos Santos, Javier Espinosa, Moi Gomez, Denis Cheryshev, Nahuel, Hernán Pérez (injured)
Strikers: Vietto, Uche, Gio dos Santos, Gerard Moreno, Jony Pereira (on loan)
(players in bold have departed permanently, those in italics are on loan)
Here is the squad a year later, with newcomers in bold:
Keepers: Sergio Asenjo (injured), Mariano Barbosa, Alphonse Areola
Defenders: Mario, Rukavina, Musacchio (injured) , Ruiz, Jokic, Jaume Costa, Adrian Marin, Eric Bailly, Bonera, Pablo Iñiguez (returned from loan)
Midfielders: Samu Garcia, Samu Castillejo, Denis Suarez, Alfonso Pedraza, Bruno, Trigueros, Pina, Jonathan dos Santos, Nahuel
Strikers: Soldado, Baptistao, Bakambu, Adrián
I can't remember a season when Villarreal had so many changes, but we seem to have put together quite a squad and Marcelino thinks we are better than a year ago, which is kind of the point--though he did admit we don't really have a player like Cheryshev.
Musacchio seems ready to return from injury in the next few weeks, so that will be a big bonus.
Also worth noting that players with roster numbers above 25 (Nahuel, Adrián Marín, Pedraza, Aitor, Iñiguez) are also available to play for the B team, and B team players such as Ivan Alejo and Fran Sol could be called up at some point and given similarly high numbers.
Endavant!