Former Real Madrid and Sevilla star Isco Alarcon has opened up on his departure from the latter, nearly nine months after his exit from Los Nervionenses were separated. He alleges he was attacked by Monchi.
Isco joined Sevilla last summer on a free from Real Madrid, but ended up terminating his deal with them come December, since which he has been a free agent. It was reported at the time that he had fallen out, but the details were somewhat hazy.
Speaking to Marca, Isco explained that things began to go wrong after former manager and main backer Julen Lopetegui was sacked.
“They sack Julen, [Jorge] Sampaoli comes and well too. But when Lopetegui leaves and the winter market window approaches, I see many strange things within the club. To begin with, they called my representative to find a way out for me, without previously discussing anything with me, so as soon as I found out I went to speak directly with Monchi. I told him, ‘Listen, this has come to me, I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know if you want me, if you don’t want me… Be honest with me and we’ll fix it without problems. I’m at your disposal.”
Sevilla have been tight for cash over the last few transfer windows, with a bloated wage bill, despite the sales of Diego Carlos and Jules Kounde.
“I don’t know what kind of economic crisis Sevilla were in, but after that conversation everything went wrong. I just wanted to know the thoughts of the club and he told me that if I found something that I would leave. After that conversation, Monchi began to say that I wanted to leave, something that was not true, and he began to call both me and my lawyer every day, harassing us to sign the termination. So I went to talk to him again and told him, ‘Look Monchi, you are not being honest with me or with the people you tell things to. I want to stay and you keep saying that I want to go.’ And then there was a bit of conflict…”
Few saw Monchi getting physical after that.
“What I am going to tell you is shocking. I told him that he was the biggest liar I had ever met in the world of football and he attacked me. He came towards me, he grabbed me by the neck, we moved apart and they had to separate us completely. As you will understand, after that, I did not want to continue there under any circumstances. And although I was sorry, because I had a very good relationship with my teammates and the fans treated me wonderfully, I couldn’t be comfortable in a club where the sports director attacks me, and nobody speaks up or apologises. Not for the aggression, not for all the lies he was leaking. So I gave up my contract and left.”
The Sevilla legend and former Sporting Director left the club in order to sign for Aston Villa this past summer, apparently feeling he was losing power at Sevilla. There are of course two sides to every story, but Monchi has yet to publicly comment, and the longer these accusations go unchallenged, the more questions will be asked of Monchi. Isco went on to say that he was happy in Seville until then, and that much of what had been printed in the local press wasn’t true.
