Pre-season training officially gets under way for Malaga CF who welcome another new face

The hard work begins now for Malaga CF as pre-season training officially got under way on Monday morning.

Although some players, including new signing Dioni Villalba, have already been working for several days under the orders of coach Sergio Pellicer, the rest of the squad have now returned from their holidays and are getting down to work at the Federation's facilities.

Since the club's relegation to the third tier, the squad has been completely overhauled and is still very short in some areas.

That said, six new players have signed already this summer (forward Dioni, defenders Jokin Gabilondo and Einar Galilea; goalkeeper Alfonso Herrero; and midfielders Juanpe and Luca Sangalli), with the latter completing his move from Cartagena.

The 28-year-old, who spent most of his career at Real Sociedad, made an impressive return to first-team football last season, making 33 appearances after overcoming both a stroke and a serious injury.

Sangalli can join the rest of the squad now that he has passed his medical.

The new-look Malaga squad will have a strong reliance on youth, with four players in particular taking on a big role: returning youngsters Kevin, Larrubia, Dani Lorenzo and Roberto who have acquired invaluable experience in the past year during their respective loan spells.

To these, we must add the three who remain from last season: Ramón, Juande and Genaro (Manolo Reina also is under contract, but is not expected to stay).

These thirteen players will form the core of the future team, plus three youth-team players expected to make the permanent step up: Carlos López, Álex Calvo and Cristian.