A 4-1 defeat to Real Sociedad on Wednesday was hardly the kind of result Las Palmas would have enjoyed, but the fact it knocked them down from third in the table tells its own tale.
The islanders have been punching above their weight in 2016, backing up a positive end to last season with a scintillating start to this campaign as they put four goals past Valencia, before thoroughly thrashing Granada 5-1. They nearly made it three wins in a row, only to be undone by two injury-time goals at Sevilla.
Las Palmas’ stint in La Liga has been one eye-opener after another. Most thought they would get nowhere, and midway through last season, they were proving a lot of people right.
They only tasted victory once in their opening 10 matches, and by February they were in the bottom three. It looked as though the relegation zone would claim them, much in the same way as it did many before them.
What followed, however, was a run of six wins in seven games, their only loss a narrow defeat to Real Madrid courtesy of a late Casemiro goal. Soon after, the then-new boys weren’t so much knocking on the door of the Europa League but glancing rather glancing at it wistfully.
No longer flirting with relegation, it was an unlikely but nonetheless attainable aim and still mathematically possible. A potentially-huge coup for a team who hadn’t even tasted top flight football for 13 years until that season.
They would later fail to win their final three matches and finished a deceivingly-disappointing 11th place. But for a side as unfancied as Los Amarillos, their final placing was far from underwhelming.
As most teams would, Las Palmas wanted to build on last season’s success, but with money as tight as always on the lower rungs of the La Liga ladder, they only spent 2.4m on new players.
In came players with plenty to prove such as Kevin-Prince Boateng, once of Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and Schalke, and former Inter starlet Marko Livaja, and both have made positive starts to their career on the island, with two goals apiece.
Despite a manageable transfer window, they still owe much of their success to those already on the books. This includes the return of prodigal son Jonathan Viera. Rising through the ranks at the club while still in the second tier, the midfielder earned a move to Valencia.
After indifferent spells with Los Che and Rayo Vallecano, as well as in Belgium, Viera found his way back home. And having helped fire his team back into the top flight while on loan, the diminutive performer signed again permanently over the summer and hasn’t looked back. Other older heads such as Nabil El Zhar and Momo have also hit the ground running.
Defender Mauricio Lemos was the subject of summer interest from Barcelona, a move he turned down in favour of continued development in Gran Canaria, and at just 20, the Uruguayan is definitely one for the future. But for teams such as Las Palmas, the here and now is most important, and the goal will be survival, regardless of their promising start.
It’s a start few would expect Las Palmas to maintain, and one would be hard pressed to disagree with them. But hey, if Leicester City can do it…
