Pepe Mel has urged Real Betis to speed up their work on maintaining and improving the playing squad and suggested that Jose Canas stays until June.
Canas was confirmed last week as on his way out of the club in the summer when his contract expires, but it was rumoured this week that interested party Swansea had offered €1m to take him this month instead.
“At the moment, unless Swansea say otherwise, he is to continue here until June 30,” commented Mel to reporters today.
“He is a great competitor, a committed player, he does not hide. If he stays, he will still contribute to this team.”
Mel was also asked of the delays in signing goalkeeper Adrian to a new contract and any possible transfer work.
“We are at a moment where the player’s contract is coming to an end and we cannot relax. Betis have to speed things up, to try to enter the market for any possibilities and to keep the people at the club that we already have.
“A player who does not want to be here will not be retained. People who are committed are the ones we care for.”
The Coach was talking ahead of Betis’ second leg Copa del Rey clash with Las Palmas. The tie is balanced at 1-1 from the first leg and Mel made clear that his team’s intention is to progress.
“I have to think only of the two games in this round. Based on that, we are thinking only of Las Palmas. We are a few games away from the final, the fastest way to get into Europe. Our focus is concentrated, though. The opponent deserves our full attention on the match tomorrow.
“We have a good example of what happened yesterday, when Eibar made things difficult for Malaga. Everyone is excited for the Cup. Las Palmas are a good team that does things right, with some good individuals too. We cannot not think about them. If we worry about the League game at the weekend, we will have problems.
“They are bound to attack us. They played Rayo in the Cup and used the same players as in the League. We both want to compete in this competition and go as far as we can. The XI that we put out will be capable.”
