Iñigo Pérez's team plays its second pre-season friendly of the 2026/27 campaign this Saturday (18:00, GOL), a high-stakes test against the reigning Dutch champions. After an initial defeat to Benfica (2-0), Villarreal visits PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion. The match will be broadcast live and free on GOL.
The summer schedule offers no respite for Iñigo Pérez's new project. After facing a Portuguese football giant, the Yellow Submarine now confronts the Eredivisie champions, managed by Peter Bosz, who recently won a friendly 7-3 against Union Saint-Gilloise. The duel will serve to assess the team's progress and the implementation of the Navarrese coach's concepts against an intense opponent.
The main novelty in the squad is the inclusion of four players who participated in the World Cup: Pape Gueye, Nicolas Pépé, Tajon Buchanan, and Tani Oluwaseyi. Their return expands the coach's options and will allow for a progressive increase in the squad's competitive load.
The 'groguet' expedition departed from València Airport on Friday, heading to Maastricht, from where they will travel by road to Eindhoven. After the match, Villarreal will not return home directly but will begin the second part of their European tour on Sunday.
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Arnau Tenas is no longer part of the expedition, given his imminent loan move to Real Mallorca, with whom an initial agreement has been reached. Villarreal is also negotiating the arrival of Hungarian goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi, although there is an agreement with the player but not with the German club, and other alternatives are being considered to strengthen the goalkeeping position.
On Sunday, the team will fly to Milan to prepare for the Como Cup. There, they will play two 45-minute matches on Wednesday, July 29th, against AIUla SC and Como 1907. Subsequently, they might play another match on Friday, July 31st, or Saturday, August 1st, before facing Levante on August 5th and concluding the pre-season against Galatasaray on August 8th in Istanbul.
Before embarking on this intensive training camp in Italy, the match against PSV Eindhoven will serve to measure the growth of the new Villarreal and the team's adaptation to Iñigo Pérez's ideas.
