Real Betis vice president Lorenzo Serra Ferrer was non-committal when asked if Ruben Castro would return to the club in January.
Last month the 36-year-old, who is also the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, joined Chinese Super League club Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng on a loan agreement until the end of the year.
“Any return will be dependent on the decision of the player,” Serra Ferrer told a news conference.
“We cannot force him either to return to the club or leave the club against his wishes, the player’s decision is always vital in these moves.
“The president (Angel Haro) has already said that we would be open to facilitating Ruben’s wishes, so we will wait and see.”
Ferrer also added the club were continuing to work on deals which would see out-of-favour duo Didier Digard and Roman Zozulya leave the club, with ‘interest both inside Spain and from abroad’.
