Sevilla sporting director Monchi has reflected on his career as both a player and an administrator, with Real Madrid cropping up regularly.
Marca reports an interview conducted by Jot Down with Monchi, in which he discussed his playing career and revealed he almost joined Los Blancos.
“I went for a week’s trial at RM Castilla. Vicente Del Bosque was the Coach,” he recalled.
“I was a little reluctant. I trained for two days and on the third said I was leaving.”
It wasn’t the last time Madrid influenced Monchi, however, as he admitted the hardest transfer he was ever part of was Sergio Ramos’ move to Santiago Bernabeu.
“It was the final day of the window and Florentino Perez paid the clause,” he confirmed.
“It’s one of the nights I’ve cried for the impotence of the sporting director.”
Monchi moved on to discuss Coaches under whom he played, teammates he lined up alongside and players he signed for Los Rojiblancos.
“Luis Aragones was the best tactically. I felt that under his command the team went on to the pitch perfectly clear in what he wanted,” the former goalkeeper noted.
“Diego Simeone didn’t catch my attention because technically he wasn’t anything out of this world, but when the player inside started to come out, he soon became important.
“He was a Coach on the pitch. He was ordering, he was in charge.
“Dani Alves took a lot of work to integrate but Joaquin Caparros was capable. I feel a lot of devotion to Ivan Rakitic, for his professionalism, his help for the club, for his involvement with the locker room and for his performances.”
Picture via @SevillaFC
