Two Mancunian forwards arrived in Barcelona in July to play top-flight football. Marcus Rashford’s move to Barcelona made more headlines than Tyrhys Dolan moving to Espanyol, but both are settling in their new surroundings.
Dolan, 23, joined on a three-year contract from English Championship side Blackburn Rovers, where he had been a mainstay for five years, averaging more than 40 games per season and winning player of the year in 2024/25. That he was out of contract and picked up on a free was typical of a club who live in the shadow of Barca and play on the earthier margins of the city.
Dolan has played every game so far, finding his feet for a team enjoying their best start in years. He made two assists in Monday’s 3-2 win against Mallorca. He’s fast, skillful, exciting, and while there’s room for his improvement in his decisions making, he looks like he made the right call to move to La Liga.
He communicates well, especially when it comes to mental health – he speaks from the brutal experience of losing his best friend, Jeremy Wisten, to suicide in 2020. Wisten and Dolan met at 14 when they played at Manchester City. Dolan visits Wisten’s grave regularly and was a pallbearer at the funeral. Wisten would doubtless be proud of Dolan’s career.
He will play at the Bernabeu against Real Madrid on Saturday. Espanyol have already beaten their neighbours Atletico 2-1 on the opening day of the season. They also beat Real Madrid at home in the league last term.
Espanyol boast a superb youth system, a modern 41,000-seater stadium and the atmosphere at games is far more passionate than for most Barca games.
However, while the second biggest club in Madrid plays Champions League football, and Real Betis, the second club of Seville, enjoy average crowds of 59,000 – life at Espanyol has been more of a challenge.
For a club blessed with a prime big city location, an average league finish of 14th in the 25 completed seasons of this century is underwhelming.
Too often, the club have led a hand-to-mouth existence, selling the pearls of their youth system to wealthier rivals because they needed the money. Defender Eric Bailly was sold to Villarreal after a handful of games because finances dictated.
Marc Cucurella spent six years at Espanyol, striker Gerard Moreno, too. Both made it big elsewhere.
It’s the club that gave Mauricio Pochettino, an Espanyol legend as a player, his first break as manager, then saw him leave when he realised the financial restrictions he was under.
Only this summer, Espanyol fans were furious when their goalkeeper Joan Garcia, 24, and a product of their youth system, left after Barcelona activated his €25 million release clause. He’s already Barcelona’s first-choice goalkeeper. The anger is understandable; Espanyol wouldn’t have stayed up last season without Garcia, but they’ve pocketed much-needed funds.
There was more big news in July when Espanyol were taken over by Velocity Sports Limited after previous owners, China’s RASTAR group, sold their majority shareholding. Velocity also own Premier League side Burnley.
The deal is still to be formally ratified, but this season has already started well, with Espanyol winning three and drawing one of their opening four matches to sit third, on the same number of points as Barcelona.
Tougher tests will come, but what the team lacks in big names, it makes up for with a clear style of football. Espanyol are compact, hardworking, fast in transitions and look defensively sound in their 4-2-3-1 formation.
Omar Al Hilal, 23, a Barcelona-born full-back of Moroccan heritage, made his international debut, for Morocco, last week. He’s another player who, when analysed individually, doesn’t stand out, yet he fits in with a team that isn’t about individuals.
Central midfielder Edu Exposito, 29, and captain and winger Javi Puado, 27, are both local boys. Espanyol’s entire five-man midfield against Atletico on the opening day of the season was comprised of local Catalan players. One, Ramon Terrats, is a lifelong fan and socio number 6,031 since childhood.
Coach Manolo Gonzalez, 46, was a bus driver up until four years ago and coaching part-time teams on a casual basis.
A Galician, whose family, like many, moved to Barcelona in search of a better life when he was aged three, Gonzalez started out playing part-time himself. He gradually moved up, coaching in the working-class areas that surround Barcelona, including Montanesa and Badalona, before coaching Espanyol’s B team and making the step up after the club was relegated.
Under Gonzalez, Espanyol won promotion via the play-offs in their first season down. They finished 14th last season, although that position is a little misleading. The season ended on a knife-edge as they lost four games in May and needed a win on the final day against already-relegated Las Palmas to stay up.
Leganes also needed to win. At half-time, Leganes led 3-0 and were on for 40 points. Espanyol were 0-0, the crowd was nervous until they benefited from a soft penalty after 65 minutes. It was scored, they won the game 2-0, stayed up and fans celebrated on the pitch.
Next month has difficult games, but there’s a renewed optimism among fans because of the bright start and new owners led by Alan Pace, a 57-year-old Californian.
Pace messaged his delight in Catalan and English after the win against Atletico, with JJ Watt, the former NFL star, the first to respond with a ‘Vamos!'
Watt is the 36-year-old Houston Texans hero who retired in 2022 and is a minority investor in Burnley and Espanyol. Can the Americans mix with the Catalans and help unlock the clear potential of Real Club Deportivo Espanyol de Barcelona in their 125th year? The opening month of the season has certainly raised expectations.
