Sevilla

COLUMN: ‘You have to put up with everything’ – have Sevilla finally placed the first stone in their rebuild?

Viewers lingering around at the end of last Thursday’s match between Sevilla Football Club and Athletic Club de Bilbao probably had no idea they were about to witness one of the most surreal sequences of the 2023/24 LaLiga season.

After full time of a 2-0 win for Athletic at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Sevilla centre-back Sergio Ramos was speaking to broadcaster DAZN about the result – which leaves Sevilla in 16th place at the season’s halfway mark, level on points with Celta (17th) and a single point ahead of Cádiz in the relegation zone. DAZN’s microphones picked up more than just Ramos’s remarks about another sad defeat, though – one angered Sevillista was heard insulting the veteran defender and the squad. And Ramos, ever one to speak his mind, fired back while the cameras continued to roll.

“Show some respect!” Ramos shouted in a clip that went viral almost instantly. “We’re talking here, show some respect to the people and for the badge. Shut up, off you go and show some respect!”

It was the latest indication of the fraying nerves around the Pizjuan, where Sevilla are struggling again, and on course for consecutive bottom-half finishes after crashing the top-four party in each of the previous three seasons. A first relegation in 24 years has to be considered a possibility, too. Last season at least was salvaged by the club’s seventh Europa League conquest in 17 years, but there’s no such continental saving grace coming this season – Sevilla finished last in its Champions League group, the 2-1 loss at Lens last month sealing their fate.

And it looks very much like that last-minute defeat in France will be the last European match Sevilla play for a bit. This is a club that needs to hit the reset button and completely re-evaluate itself as a sporting project.

“I have a Sevilla in my head that doesn’t want to imitate any of the two previous presidents,” newly-minted club president Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco said during a recent interview with Cadena SER. “I have my own stamp in my head. I want to give a lot of importance to technology, social networks, working well with the academy… As soon as Sevilla improves its income, we will sign better players.”

As was its right, Sevilla ‘went for it’ during the final years of Jose Castro’s presidency. The club opted to open the cheque book for veteran players with comparatively-little resale value, moving away from the tried-and-true Monchi model – bargain-hunting around western Europe, for example turning a €3m investment in Aleix Vidal into €14m in profit, or €2.5m for Ivan Rakitic into €18m from Barcelona.

Between July 2017 and January 2020, Sevilla dropped at least €20m on six players: Luis Muriel, Quincy Promes, Jules Kounde, Rony Lopes, Youssef En-Nesyri, and finally Suso. The latter two are still at the club. Muriel (after two seasons) and Promes (after one) were sold at a loss. Lopes was loaned out multiple times before joining Portuguese side Braga on a free transfer last summer. Only Kounde – the €35m club-record signing – was sold at a profit, becoming just another Sevilla player plucked by Barcelona but leaving €50m in the coffers on his way out.

But you could understand the Sevilla shift under Julen Lopetegui. The Basque rehabilitated his reputation by leading Sevilla into the Champions League in three consecutive seasons for only the second time in club history, implementing a possession-based and safety-first style that may not always have been pleasing to the eye, but sure was effective. 

In 2019/20, Sevilla finished fourth in La Liga, level on points with Atletico Madrid but missing out on top three due to an inferior goal difference. The following season, Sevilla hung around the title race into the final weeks and finished with a club-record 77 points. Lopetegui’s final full season in 2021/22 delivered another 70-point campaign; Sevilla finished one point behind Atletico and three behind Barcelona but well behind runaway champions Real Madrid.

All seemed to agree that Lopetegui’s cycle was ending prior to the start of last season, but Castro and the club opted to retain him as well as Monchi, who had returned to the club from a stint with Roma in 2019 but was suffering from a fading Midas touch. That’s when the bottom fell out. Lopetegui was sacked in October, and Monchi stayed on until the summer, departing on a high note following the Europa League win over – who else? – Roma.

Sevilla have since cycled through Jose Luis Mendilibar and Diego Alonso on the touchline – the latter, impressively, failing to win a single league game while in charge. But del Nido Carrasco is hopeful that Quique Sanchez Flores, appointed on an 18-month contract, can lay the foundation for a long-term project.

A cup run would lift spirits for a side that has won once in the league since October and provide a good platform for del Nido Carrasco to begin executing his vision. Sevilla on Monday were drawn away to Getafe in the Copa del Rey’s round of 16, which begins next week. Los Nervionenses are hoping to reach the quarterfinals for the fifth time in seven years, and with no European distractions – chasing after the Europa League again would have been a distraction for this group – reaching the latter stages of the Copa del Rey (or better) could benefit this transitioning club.

No player may better capture Sevilla’s hope for the future than 20-year-old Juanlu Sanchez, the talented right-back who scored his first senior goal on Sunday, in the Copa del Rey against Racing Ferrol. That well-struck 87th-minute volley clinched a 2-1 win at A Malata and progression to the last 16, and it underscored his growing importance to the club off the back of a good loan spell at Mirandés last season.

Juanlu, fellow defender Kike Salas, and 19-year-old midfielder Manuel Sebastian are among the Sevilla Atletico graduates starting to knock on the door for consistent first-team minutes under Sanchez Flores. But this is a club already hard at work adding external reinforcements. The 21-year-old Lucien Agouame, set to arrive on loan from Inter Milan, could be a valuable addition in midfield. Sporting director Victor Orta is also working to add cheap attacking reinforcements this month, with reports linking the club to Chelsea striker David Datro Fofana and Bayer Leverkusen forward Sardar Azmoun. 

Multiple players could be allowed to leave over the next two transfer windows as the much-needed squad reshaping moves forward. Tottenham could make an irresistible offer for centre-back Loic Bade, and Juanlu himself could follow Ramos’s path – Real Madrid are reportedly following the 20-year-old closely, and he has a €20m release clause in his contract.

This is a rebuild of one of Spain’s biggest clubs, and as such, patience may not last extraordinarily long. Fans like the one Ramos scolded will always be around, and another bottom-half finish would be tough to stomach for this grand club. Del Nido Carrasco, the son of another former Sevilla president, has a delicate line to toe at a club where ‘securing safety’ cannot become the annual goal – but where a teardown might make the most sense. It will be fascinating to see how Orta, Sanchez Flores, and del Nido Carrasco map out the road ahead.

 

Jeremy Beren can be found on social media here, and if you’re hungry for more, find their excellent work here.

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Tags Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco Quique Sanchez Flores Sevilla Victor Orta
La Liga - Club News