first of all i'll list the players i'd keep, julio baptista, toulalan, joaquin, cazorla and van nistelrooy (as backup striker). i'd basically get rid of every other player ASAP. never been a team that has more excess rubbish in it than malaga.
as i recall their centre of defence is full of guys with 7 for pace/acceleration so i got rid of them all asap!
i signed moussa sossoko for BBM midfielder (27m, is really good for me) although theres another spanish guy who would be good here, javi martinez is it? think he plays for bilbao. if you're able to get m'villa he'd prolly be best tho.
dont have any good defensive recommendations 1st season as i signed mangane who was fairly average for CB, demichellis is awful in my opinion despite his good stats. for first 2 seasons i got alot of loan defenders from the EPL like j.evans, fabio and m.richards who were all great and got signed on permanent deals after.
signed kameni for GK who was great and cheapish, although he does leave for african cup first season (both city and r.madrid tried to sign him after his first season for me).
best signing of all was leandro damiao as a poacher striker, played him alongside baptista who was DLF-support and they made an awesome team. also signed iker munain who was useless first season but from 2nd season onwards has been a little god, he's great! i made the mistake of selling rondon, from what i hear he's actually great so prolly best to keep him.
finished 3rd in first season.
beefed up defence in 3rd season with papadopolous and howedes who are completely solid, m.richards (RB) and j.evans (LB) are very good too. sell juanmi imo he's not going to get good anytime soon!