Monchi on leaving Sevilla

Sevilla’s director of football, Monchi, says his next project will be only ever be one outside Spain.

The 47-year-old, who is considered a football phenomenon by many in the game, was immediately linked with replacing Liverpool’s outgoing FC CEO Ian Ayre when he announced his intention to leave Sevilla following their Europa Cup final win over us back in May.

Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are believed to have sounded Monchi out about a possible new challenge at Anfield but he was only interested in taking a break from the game. He insisted he needed some time out and that this was the only reason why he asked Sevilla to let him go. A switch to Anfield was never on the agenda despite what the Twitter ITKs trot out.

Sevilla blocked his exit and insisted that the only way he could leave the club would be if he bought out his contract at a cost of approximately £4.2million. They weren’t interested in what they had achieved with him or the loyalty he had shown. He simply wasn’t going to be allowed to leave.

A statement issued by Sevilla at the time read:

“Sevilla FC, after analysing in recent hours the request presented by its sporting director, Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo, Monchi, to settle his contract with the club, has decided to require him to fulfil his contract signed last summer and which connects the coach from San Fernando with the club until 30 June 2020, so Monchi will remain in his current position.

“Monchi, at the meeting he had with the board this Monday at lunchtime, communicated to the directors his desire to leave his position at Sevilla for personal reasons.

“At the core of the club the situation was weighed up during the day and the final decision was made to communicate to Monchi the wish for his contract signed by both parties to be respected, so that the sporting director remains in his position at the club.

“Monchi has accepted the club’s decision and has communicated his commitment to keep working with the same dedication and professionalism that he has always shown to the club. The club wishes to show its satisfaction with this solution and thanks Monchi, being fully confident that he will continue in his role with the same intensity, quality and efficiency that he has always shown.”

Monchi was gutted. He was upset that nobody believed that he just needed a break.

“What hurts most of all is how few people actually believe what I told the board, that I simply wanted to rest. That my family and I had noted how the cost of losing, the damage it was doing to me to see things not going well even for a match or two, was increasing. I wanted to stop, recuperate and recharge my batteries. Nothing else.”

Several months on and there are suggestions that Monchi’s working conditions are bit frosty and that he has lost some power.

Today however, he claims he’s happy and he insists that when he does leave Sevilla it will only be for an overseas club:

“If I leave Sevilla at some point, it’ll be for a club outside of Spain. I decided to leave just before the end of the season. It was clear what I wanted to do, but it was delayed. The club told me that I had to stay and I was delighted.”

Monchi will no doubt continue to be linked with Liverpool and other English clubs but the chances of something happening on that front appear highly unlikely any time soon, unless of course someone buys his contract out.

FSG remain in the hunt for a new CEO. A handful of names have been linked, notably Nicola Cortese, the former Executive Chairman of Southampton who was linked with a takeover of Leeds United last season.

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