Deportivo’s 2026–27 Signings — The Squad Rebuilt for La Liga

Promoted clubs usually shop in one of two ways: patch the eleven that came up, or rebuild for the division above. Deportivo chose the second. Around €20 million committed across the summer window makes Dépor one of the heaviest-spending promoted sides Spanish football has seen this century, a statement about how the club intends to treat its return, eight years after last playing La Liga.

Sporting director Fernando Soriano had eight signings in place by the end of August and added two more on deadline day itself, 1 September. The list mixes three profiles deliberately: established quality, development bets, and one genuine headline.

The headline: Aubameyang

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Riazor is the sort of transfer that would have read as satire during the Primera Federación years. The Gabonese striker arrives with a career of Champions League and Premier League scoring behind him and gives Hidalgo something the promotion squad simply did not have: a reference point in the box whose movement defenders in this league have to plan for. At his age the questions are about legs over 38 games, not about level. Used well (and Hidalgo rotated his forwards all of last season), he changes what Dépor’s attack threatens.

The rest of the window

The arrivals alongside him: goalkeeper Leo Román, defender Bright Ede, midfielders Lorenzo Amatucci and Jonathan Asp Jensen, and Teun Gijselhart, joined by Angeliño on loan from Roma and by Adama Traoré, who signed as a free agent on 26 August after leaving West Ham. The centre-back and the extra midfielder that stayed on Soriano’s list until the end arrived in the final hours of 1 September: José María Giménez on loan from Atlético Madrid until June 2027, and Marc Casadó on loan from Barcelona with a €30 million purchase option.

The pattern splits by type of deal. The permanent business keeps a strict age profile: Amatucci, Asp Jensen, Ede and Gijselhart follow the same logic that kept Yeremay Hernández central to the project, recruit players whose best years can coincide with the club’s next cycle, not their last one. The experience came on short commitments instead, Traoré on a free, Angeliño and Giménez on loan, Aubameyang for a fee well below what the two young midfielders cost.

What it means for the squad that came up

The uncomfortable half of a €20m window is that somebody loses a shirt. The promotion side’s spine, Yeremay above all, stays the reference; the additions raise the floor at goalkeeper and in central midfield, where Segunda-level depth would have been exposed by April. Departures freed wage room through the summer, and the net effect is a squad built to survive the season’s grim middle stretch rather than merely start it well.

Whether €20 million is enough to keep a promoted club up is a question La Liga answers every season, usually coldly. What can be said in September: this window had a plan, and the plan matches the coach’s football.

Individual profiles of the new arrivals are being added to the players section through the autumn.

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