“There are always possibilities, but if there is nothing out of the ordinary, the team is what it is”
SEVILLE, Sep. 1 (.) –
Sevilla’s General Sporting Director, Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo ‘Monchi’, was convinced that the squad “is going to go further” during the 2022-23 season despite the poor league start and that “there are always possibilities” to strengthen it after the loan of Nice’s Danish striker Kasper Dolberg.
“There are hours left for the market to close and there are always possibilities. If there is nothing that is out of the ordinary, something that suits us, the squad is what it is and the one we trust to fight for the objectives that the club I think it’s a squad that is going to grow as the weeks go by, that it will get better because there are players who have arrived more or less late and for which I am convinced that as the competition progresses we will see a best performance of all”, he said at a press conference.
Monchi recalled that this summer was the “most exciting” market that he has had to live with “complicated or little understandable decisions”. “In the last two and a half years, due to this pandemic and because the club is more ambitious, daring and daring than other times, we have separated ourselves a little from the business model and we have taken risks by rejecting offers and betting on a possibility that would allow us sporting success. and also financial,” he said.
He commented that Sevilla was “more ambitious” and that this market was to “readjust some economic situations that have arisen.” “I think we have been able to make a very interesting market for departures and at the same time continue to cause a regeneration that is in our minds. Trying to adjust the numbers to continue calmly and look for the most competitive squad possible was not easy and I honestly believe that we have made a difficult and complicated market in which the note will arrive in June… assessing it today may not work, because this is football, not mathematics. It gives us the necessary confidence to be as high as possible”, he commented.
In addition, the one from San Fernando invited institutions such as UEFA and FIFA to make a “deeper reflection”, since once the market begins to compete it should “be closed”. “We have been clear about our roadmap. We have not hit any lurch. We have one point out of nine, yes, the criticism is understandable, but I think it has been worth the suffering because we have done what we wanted to do,” he said.
Regarding the transfer of Lucas Ocampos to Ajax, he revealed that he received an offer at the beginning of the week with “important interest”. “The player traveled with the urgency of the closing of the market and our surprise was that on Tuesday night his agent and then Ajax informed us that due to a decision of the Ajax council they did not see the operation as viable. It is the first time that has happened to me in twenty-odd years. The person, the footballer and the club find ourselves as comfortable as possible within this difficult situation in which we find ourselves”, he wielded.
In addition, he highlighted the numbers of the entity, with ordinary income of over 180 million. “We are always taking risks, Sevilla have been in the Champions League for three years and that is why they have won what they have won. We have put the money on the field, what we cannot do is abandon our model, which I think we cannot change because fortunately It has worked for us,” he said.
Regarding the coach, Julen Lopetegui, he reiterated that he has a very good relationship outside of football. “We are visceral, but there is no cooling at all. As for the signings, I have had coaches and I have worked the same with all of them, what the coaches tell me are the profiles but the names are put by the sports management. And going back to Julen , when the results do not accompany you have to try to be closer to him, because it is our way of being”, he stressed.
Asked about Raúl de Tomás, about whom he assured that “there was no contact” and also about the possibility of offers for En-Nesyri, Monchi confirmed that Elche’s Argentine striker Lucas Boyé “was an option.”
“We thought that it could be similar to Dolberg. The coach wanted a striker and we had a clear profile, then there are different circumstances. I love Kasper, it was an option that was already being handled in the winter market and when we saw the opportunity we went for him because I personally love him and that he responds to the profile that Lopetegui was looking for. He is to be lined up perfectly on Saturday,” he said.
He also accepted criticism of his work. “That’s part of my salary, even the fact that Real Betis can criticize me… people who don’t know what I’m like, who don’t know me… I really care between 0 and 0. What I did the other day in Almería is a performance driven by Sevilla fans. Monchi, who makes decisions and who sometimes acts with his heart more than with his head, did it because it made me angry that 600 Sevilla players were in bad shape and it made me angry to see the players how they were and the only thing What I tried was to unite people who want the same thing. I think that in the end that symbiosis was achieved. That someone considers it postured matters 0 to me. My virtue and my defect is that I am a Sevilla fan, “he stressed.
