Everton to take on Celta Vigo in preseason friendly

Everton's lead-up to the beginning of the Premier League season is starting to take shape. While the squad situation is still up in the air with Romelu Lukaku and Muhamed Besic rumors everywhere, the schedule is pretty much all set at this point. The Blues will take on Celta Vigo on 6th August at Tranmere's Prenton Park. Tranmere are hosting the game to give the staff at Goodison Park time to work on the playing surface and get additional stadium maintenance work done. Everton were committed to playing just the one pre-season friendly at Goodison.

Celta Vigo have been in the upper tier of Spain's La Liga for a few years now. Their manager Luis Enrique left at the end of the season to take over at Barcelona. Celta were partly responsible for Real Madrid's double dreams falling through after they beat them at the end of the season to put paid to their League title hopes. Current manager Argentinian Eduardo Berizzo was a former player and comes back to the club having led O'Higgins FC to the Chilean national title.

Nicknamed Os Celestes (The Sky Blues), Celta have been around since 1923, having played 48 seasons in the top flight. They have never won a national title, but have come in as runners-up in the Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) thrice. Celta did win the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000, in what could be considered their golden era, culminating in their best ever League finish of fourth in 2002-03 and a Champions League appearance in 2003-04.

As for the Blues, their current schedule of pre-season games is a step down from the competition they faced in the last offseason. With the Europa League fixtures they will be playing this year though, this might not be a bad thing.