Sergio Ortiz pushes cheap academy plan
- Sergio Ortiz used a radio appearance to pitch Granada CF’s academy as a practical answer to next season’s budget squeeze and squad rebuild. - The key detail is timing: Granada’s Juvenil A just won Group 4 for the first time, while the senior squad’s youngest player is 20. - That matters because Granada may face salary-limit pressure and player sales, making internal promotion more than a philosophy — a necessity.
Granada’s story here is really about money, but also about timing. The club may not have the room to build next season with a long list of outside signings. So Sergio Ortiz — coach of Granada’s Juvenil A — is pushing the obvious low-cost alternative: use more of the players already inside the building. That idea would sound generic at most clubs. At Granada, right now, it lands differently because the youth team has just produced a historic season. (cope.es) ### Why is this coming up now? Because Granada’s first-team planning for 2026-27 looks tight. The COPE Granada piece is blunt about the problem — salary-limit pressure, squad-cost constraints, and the possibility that the club may need to sell valuable players to create liquidity. In that setup, academy players are not just cheaper. They are one of the few levers the club fully controls. (cope.es) ### What exactly is Ortiz arguing? Not that Granada should fill the whole first team with teenagers. That is the important nuance. The pitch is more measured — promote a meaningful number of academy players, give them minutes that match their level, and use the youth structu(cope.es)project. (cope.es) ### Why does his view carry weight? Because Ortiz is not making the case in the abstract. His Juvenil A has just won Group 4 of División de Honor for the first time in club history, which put Granada into the Copa de Campeones against Valencia. That matters because Group 4 is not soft competition — it includes clubs like Betis. So the academy argument is arriving with receipts. (granadahoy.com) ### What is the pathway he is pointing to? The near-term route is Juvenil A to Recreativo Granada, then possibly to the first team. COPE’s piece makes that ladder explicit. It also notes a useful reality check — these are still under-18 players, and the youngest player in Granada’s current senior squad is 20, identified t(granadahoy.com)ld start feeding the senior side if the club commits to the process. (cope.es) ### Does Granada already use young players? Yes, but not at a scale that solves a budget problem by itself. The official squad list shows several young profiles around the first team, including academy-linked names like Rodelas, Oscar Naasei, B. Diocou, and Izan. But Granada(cope.es)tiz’s point is that the balance may need to shift. (granadacf.es) ### So is this philosophy or necessity? Mostly necessity. Clubs love talking about identity and development when results are good. But this case is more concrete than that. If Granada cannot spend freely, then every useful first-team contributor produced internally saves transfer money and usually keeps salary costs lower too. One academy graduate does not change a club. Four or five credib(granadacf.es)c Ortiz is pushing. (cope.es) ### What is the catch? Youth success does not automatically translate into second-division reliability. COPE itself notes that Recreativo Granada’s 2025-26 season has been pretty ordinary, finishing in a mid-table zone of Tercera Federación, which is Spain’s fifth tier. So the bridge between elite youth football and meaningful senior minutes is still the hard part. Winning at under-18 level helps. It does not remove that gap. (cope.es) ### Bottom line? Ortiz is basically trying to turn a good youth season into club policy. Granada may not have the cash for an expensive rebuild, and for once the academy has a timely argument for being taken seriously. If the club follows through, this stops being a nice cantera story and becomes next season’s squad model. (cope.es)
