Resolving one of the off-season’s outstanding mysteries, Washington Spirit have hired Spanish coach Adrián González as an assistant coach and the team’s interim head coach for the beginning of the 2024 season. González leaves a position as head coach of RCD Espanyol Femení, currently in first place in Spain’s second division women’s league.

González has 15 years of professional coaching experience, primarily with youth men’s teams in Spain, including work as an assistant coach for the U-19 men’s team at RCD Espanyol. He has also worked as Performance Optimization Department Director and head of the Sport Science Department at Espanyol. His position as head coach of Espanyol’s women’s team was his first experience coaching women’s soccer. There, he has led the team to a 10-4-1 record after a ninth-place finish in the 2022-23 season.

In the Spirit’s hiring announcement, González expressed excitement to be joining the team, citing Michele Kang’s “huge and ambitious” vision.

“My aim is to help the club become the best on player development both personally and professionally,” González said. “I am looking forward to optimizing player performance and helping the Spirit family to achieve a lot of success.”

Washington’s incoming head coach, Jonatan Giráldez, has committed to finishing the season with FC Barcelona Femení, leaving the Spirit without a head coach until his arrival in the summer. Finding an interim coach who could help prepare the team for Giraldez’s desired style of play was vital to giving them a chance of success in 2024. Fortunately, Giráldez has worked with González before and was involved with the latter’s selection as the interim head coach.

“Adrián is a highly qualified coach with an impressive background in high performance soccer,” Giráldez said, “He is the best fit to lead the Spirit because of his technical expertise and his leadership skills as a great manager.” Giráldez also said he and González have a shared vision on player development.

Speaking to Spanish media about his decision to leave Espanyol earlier this month, González said that he had received an offer that was a good fit for him both professionally and personally but expressed sadness about having to leave the team midseason, likely indicating his offer from Washington was conditional on his ability to begin as soon as possible.

“It is not the timing I would have liked, and this is a sad day for me, as I feel uncomfortable about the how or the when,” he said. “But I did not have the luxury to be able to make that decision; I tried to arrange it as I wanted but it was not possible.”

Having coached his final game at Espanyol Femení on Sunday, January 21, González will join the Spirit for preseason training in San Diego. He will have a big task ahead of him, with a young roster adapting to a new style of play and a front office expecting a short turnaround, all while knowing that he will be handing the reins over to his future boss before the end of the season. Luckily, he still has nearly two months before NWSL opening day on March 15.

Welcome and good luck, Adrián!