Alberto Botia has confirmed this week that he had an offer to join Swansea City in January, but that he opted to stay at Sevilla.
The centre-back is one of a number of players at Sevilla thought of as likely to be sold to help service the club’s €50m debt.
And Botia has confirmed that Swansea did come in during January with a €6m bid for the 24-year-old.
“Yes, I heard about the offer, my agent informed me, but it never went any further,” commented Botia to Estadio Deportivo this week.
“I have a contract and I belong to Sevilla and I wanted to stay here. That’s what I said.”
However, Botia’s situation remains complex, as he is co-owned 50-50 between Sevilla and sports investment agency Doyen Group.
The club are reportedly liable to pay Doyen €2.5m to automatically acquire their 50 per cent share as part of a contractual agreement, should Botia reach 27 appearances for the club.
The Andalucians’ financial situation is such that Estadio Deportivo believe they will not play Botia up to that number of games, with a summer sale in mind instead. The former Barcelona man has so far managed 21 appearances for the team.
