Spanish club Espanyol's next signing is central defender Enzo Roco

After securing Francesco Bardi and resolving Kiko Casilla's departure, Espanyol's next signing will be the central defender, who arrives to replace Diego Colotto. The main candidate and the one negotiating with the club is Enzo Roco, as AS already reported on July 17.

The Chilean central defender has a complex contractual situation. Last season, he played for Elche and was one of their most consistent players, but the club only owns 25% of his rights. The remaining 75% belongs to his representatives, who have close ties to Universidad Católica de Chile, the club he came from. Despite his youth at 21 years old, Roco narrowly missed out on going to the World Cup and the Copa America.

Currently, the player is no longer with Elche but with his agents, who are looking for a new destination for him. The formula to bring him to Espanyol could be similar to the one used for Eric Bailly, for example. Espanyol shared 50% of his rights with his representatives. Elche paid 900,000 euros for half of his rights last season, but then did not execute the buyout clause and automatically lost 25%. For this reason, Espanyol could pay around one million for half of the Chilean central defender.

Francesco Bardi. He is already in Barcelona. The Italian Under-21 international goalkeeper has been in the Catalan capital for two days and underwent the relevant medical examination yesterday. However, the announcement of his signing will not be official until today because the club is still awaiting all the necessary documentation. What is certain is that Bardi arrives on loan until the end of the season, and Espanyol retains an option to buy him.

Everything was ready yesterday afternoon to make Bardi's signing official, but the lack of documentation halted everything. It was even planned for him to be presented this morning at Cornellà-El Prat (the club's employees had already been notified) and start training at the Sant Adrià Sports City with the technical staff who did not travel to Austria. Everything has been delayed by one day, but from today nothing will prevent Bardi from being a blanquiazul player this season. He will train with his new teammates next week, and his debut as a perico goalkeeper will be on July 29 in the friendly against Avellino.