Real Betis enjoyed a strong end to their transfer window, but Manuel Pellegrini cannot rest easy yet, with the prospect of one of their star defenders exiting still very much in play.
Luiz Felipe has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad, who Relevo say have communicated their desire to negotiate for him in the last 24 hours. It’s a situation that has caused division at the club.
A rumoured €25m deal was in the offing, but Betis Manager Manuel Pellegrini is desperate to keep hold of arguably his strongest option. Some of the board at Betis believe it makes sense to make a large profit on Felipe while they can, but it would mean significantly weakening Pellegrini’s squad.
Pellegrini claimed he did not think Felipe would be going anywhere, calling it ‘irresponsible’ to sell him now just this Saturday. As per Chilean, it would leave him with just two central defenders with which to compete on three fronts. In addition to Marc Bartra and German Pezzella, he does have Chadi Riad, but perhaps does not consider him ready to make the jump from the third tier to La Liga.
Betis were working on signing Fiorentina’s Lucas Martinez Quarta as a replacement, but now would only have access to the free agent market to replace him. With the Saudi market ending on Thursday, Felipe and the club will meet to discuss his future today.
If there is one thing above all that has caused Betis problems over the past two years it is squad depth, and this would once again make that a problem, despite their strong recruitment, bringing in Isco, Ez Abde, Marc Roca, Hector Bellerin and Bartra. It could well be the difference between Champions League football and Europa League football this season.
