Real Betis sporting director Eduardo Macia confirms Juan Merino for the season, President Juan Ollero resigns, and Leandro Damiao’s agent is angry.
Ollero announced he was stepping down after presenting Martin Montoya and Charly Musonda Jr, Betis’ final signings of the January transfer window.
“I can’t find a solution more than my irrevocable resignation as President of Betis,” Estadio Deportivo quotes Ollero as saying.
“Betis and Betis fans deserve to know what is happening. I took the Presidency because it was offered, and with pride and satisfaction.
“It was always clear I was an interim President. I had three priorities. To govern with dignity, to take Betis to the Primera and to bring peace to the club.
“After the League game against Sevilla I was President because no one else wanted to be. I put my resignation to the council and if I’m still here it’s because no one else, including the council, want it.”
Macia, meanwhile, confirmed Merino would remain on the bench after replacing Pepe Mel despite links to Juande Ramos.
“Merino is our Coach until the end of the season. We’ll work with him and we trust him,” he added.
“If it goes well [he’ll stay beyond the end of the season]. We haven’t decided. He might be here for three years. We have full confidence in him.
“When we evaluate a Coach we look at his availability, but we haven’t established negotiations [with Ramos or anyone else]. We looked for candidates not for the next four months but for years.”
Betis have also been savaged by the agent of Damiao, who accused the club of wasting their time.
“It’s been a lack of respect, to the player and the fans,” Vinicius Prates said.
“They changed the contract four times. I thank Macia for fighting hard but the club didn’t act properly.
“If I had known, I never would have let the player fly to Seville for a medical. This doesn’t make sense for a player as important as Damiao.
“We had better financial offers but we were persuaded by Macia’s project. Now I don’t know what we’ll do. We’re angry at how Betis have treated us. They’ve wasted our time.”
