Luis García Plaza set the tone for Sevilla’s season on 14 August 2026, saying the club’s first job is to “fight to avoid suffering” because the budget leaves little room for anything else. On the eve of the opening match of LaLiga 2026/27, he framed the visit from Rayo Vallecano as the point where the serious work begins.
That warning matters now because Sevilla are not opening the campaign with the comfort of a full squad or the freedom to improvise. García Plaza said the team will have 17 professional registrations for the matchday list, including two goalkeepers, and that several players are almost making their first-team debut. He added that the list will be completed with players from the filial, a sign that the club is starting the season with more obligation than margin.
He still pointed to work done in pre-season, but the central message was about limits. García Plaza described Sevilla as one of the most important clubs in Spain and Europe, then said it must know where it stands because of its economic problems. In his view, that reality shapes everything from the bench to the pitch: the club has only one arrival in central midfield, Guridi, and one in attack, Ure, while the market remains open for several more weeks.
That is where the friction sits. Sevilla want to compete like a club of their size, but García Plaza said the market is complicated and that the squad has to be built “with zero.” He said prices demanded for this Sevilla are impossible, which leaves the coaching staff to lean on players who are close to the first team and on a handful from the filial, even as the club speaks about ambition. The result is a season that begins with expectation on the badge and restraint in the budget.
The opening against Rayo Vallecano now carries more weight than a normal first fixture. García Plaza said the visitors keep the same defensive scheme but have changed their attacking structure, and he noted that many of their players know one another almost by memory. For Sevilla, the next few weeks will decide whether the thin early squad is a temporary problem or the shape of the team for much of LaLiga 2026/27.
