Mendilibar Under Scrutiny, Transfers Accelerate | OneFootball

Olympiacos coach Jose Luis Mendilibar On The Bench - NEC Nijmegen vs Olympiacos Champions League 3rd Round Qualifier, 2nd Leg - Klodian Lato/EUROKINISSI

The most obvious reaction to missing the Champions League would have been caution. Olympiacos have just lost access to the competition’s biggest revenue stream. Selling clubs know they need players. Supporters are angry. The domestic season begins almost immediately.

panic-spend;

or stop spending entirely.

According to fresh reporting from bwinΣΠΟΡ FM, Evangelos Marinakis has chosen neither. He has instructed Olympiacos to continue strengthening the squad despite the revenue lost through Champions League elimination.

That is an important strategic signal.

The transfer budget has not been switched off

This matters because several major deals are already sitting in expensive territory.

Noah Cadiou: Lorient are reportedly asking €7–8m.

Cristian Cásseres Jr: Toulouse have been holding out around a much higher valuation.

Nair Tiknizyan: Red Star’s European situation had been complicating his availability.

Another striker remains part of the planning. Those negotiations would look very different if Olympiacos had decided that missing the Champions League required a major spending freeze. The new reporting suggests that is not what has happened.

The club appears to be separating sporting necessity from European income

That is arguably the most rational approach. Champions League qualification would have made the economics easier. But the problems exposed by NEC do not disappear because Olympiacos now play Europa League football. They still need:

more midfield quality;

better transition control;

greater left-back depth;

additional attacking support;

and a squad capable of handling domestic and European competition simultaneously.

If the recruitment department genuinely believes those needs existed before Nijmegen, then eliminating them from the plan purely because of one result would be short-term thinking.

But Mendilibar is now part of the evaluation

There is another important layer. Sport-FM says management discussions will include Mendilibar and senior football executives, with the entire operation under review after the disappointing two-legged performance.

That is more significant than generic post-defeat criticism. It suggests Olympiacos are asking organizational questions:

Was the squad ready?

Were the transfer priorities correct?

Was the team tactically prepared?

Did recruitment arrive too late?

Did preseason adequately integrate the new pieces?

How much responsibility belongs to the coach, and how much belongs to the recruitment structure?

Those are precisely the questions a serious club should ask after losing a tie it expected to win.

Mendilibar’s own comments make the review even more interesting

After the defeat, Mendilibar publicly said Olympiacos must improve essentially everywhere: defense, circulation, attacking support for El Kaabi and overall team play. He also complained about the instability created by players arriving late and others completing preseason only to leave. That can be read two ways.

One interpretation is self-criticism. Another is a subtle statement about squad planning.

The meeting with management should therefore be more than a review of one tactical performance.

It may become a discussion about whether the coach and recruitment operation are aligned.

The squad churn now looks substantial

Sport-FM goes further than merely saying “reinforcements are coming.” It says multiple arrivals are in preparation and several departures are expected. That means Olympiacos could look materially different by September.

This is especially important in midfield.

If one or even two midfielders arrive, someone’s role is inevitably reduced. If a new left-back arrives, Bruno Onyemaechi no longer stands alone in the role. If another striker arrives, Mendilibar gains a true alternative to El Kaabi.

And if players leave, the wage bill and foreign-player registration picture can be reshaped simultaneously.

The timing creates pressure

The league begins in roughly ten days. Olympiacos therefore have two competing needs:

move quickly;

but do not make emotional decisions. This is where Geoffrey Moncada’s work becomes particularly important.

A good recruitment structure should already have alternatives ranked by:

quality;

cost;

age;

fit;

contract situation;

and willingness to join.

If those lists exist, NEC should accelerate execution—not alter the scouting conclusions overnight.

The Champions League failure may actually sharpen the hierarchy

Before Nijmegen, Olympiacos were trying to solve several problems at once while simultaneously preparing for European qualifiers. Now the competition path is clearer.

Europa League. Domestic title. Greek Cup.

That may allow the club to determine exactly what kind of squad it needs rather than buying specifically for a Champions League playoff. The ambition remains high. The revenue assumption has changed. The challenge is reconciling those two realities.

The key point is that Marinakis has apparently made the first strategic decision already

Do not retreat. Strengthen.

That does not guarantee good recruitment. It does establish the direction. The next question is whether the club spends intelligently enough to turn disappointment into a better team rather than simply a more expensive one.