Madrid CFF have taken almost two months since the end of the season to announce their first signing.
Ana González returns to the club after two campaigns with FC Badalona Women. The Seville-born midfielder previously made 53 Liga F appearances for Madrid CFF between 2022 and 2024, scoring seven goals and providing three assists.
Her arrival breaks the silence of a club that had previously announced only departures this summer.
Eleven members of last season’s squad will not remain. Kamilla Melgård has joined Aston Villa; Allegra Poljak has signed for Atlético Madrid; Nerea Sánchez for Eibar; Esther Laborde for Real Sociedad; Anita for Espanyol; Hildur Antonsdóttir for Newcastle United; Nuria Mendoza for SCU Torreense; and Natalia Serrano for Villarreal. Natasha Andonova, Bárbara López and Freja Olofsson have also left the club.
These are significant losses.
Anita was one of the team’s main attacking figures alongside Emilie Nautnes, their leading scorer with nine goals across Liga F and the Copa de la Reina. Melgård, meanwhile, played in all 30 league matches, scored four times and provided six assists. Their departures leave Madrid CFF needing to replace a considerable share of their attacking output, although the overhaul affects almost every area of the squad.
Ana González is the first step towards rebuilding the midfield.
She knows the club, has made more than 190 top-flight appearances and returns after featuring in 49 league matches during her two years in Badalona. She also knows Madrid CFF at their recent best.
During the first season of her previous spell, in 2022/23, the team finished fifth with 56 points — the best league campaign in the club’s history. By the time she left two seasons later, she had established herself as a regular starter.
The team she returns to is very different.
Madrid CFF finished ninth last season with 37 points after recording eleven wins, four draws and fifteen defeats. José Luis Sánchez Vera took charge in January and will remain at the helm, but he still needs a squad with which to shape the team he wants to build.
Just over a month remains before the competition begins. Madrid CFF will open their season at home to Granada on the weekend of 30 August.
Ana González is the first piece. She cannot be the last.