Bétis Update
We are going well in the league again, rotation working out and learning which players are my best ones and who I can trust. It looks like
Madrid are going to be the challengers this season. They are right on our tail going into the new year and
Barcelona have sacked Xavi after a horrendous first half of the season. I didn’t even apply for the job! Even though they have a few stars that I could never afford, I think we have the most well rounded squad.
It’s a balancing act to strengthen and hold onto our best young players while keeping ourselves below the registration wage limit. We didn’t go for any pre-contract players because they all wanted a fortune to sign and I couldn’t guarantee that I could register them.
Our only unhappy player at the moment is
Kada, our DLP and best midfielder. He is a mercenary and wants to leave. I have told him he can go if someone meets his £62 million asking price. PSG and Madrid are sniffing around.
Our
Champions’ League group was the worst possible kind. Two giants and one lesser team the other two are sure to beat. We drew
Bayern, Newcastle and
Besiktas. We lost the opener away at Toon, but managed a draw in Germany. We had three great wins at home to see us through second in the group on the last day. No away wins, which is a worry for final stages.
Milan are up next in the last sixteen.
It’s going to be a quiet January, but
Odeye, a player from our youth team, asked to be listed. I just didn’t trust him in important games and kept him around because of registration rules.
Silvio Luiz,
Dalgaard,
Sanchez and
Barone all become homegrown in July, so when PSV bid an insane £22 million for him, we let him go.
We used the cash to bring in
Nehruen Perez from Atletico, who is still only 28 and was keen to leave. Got him for well below his value, at only £20 million. For comparison, Liverpool wanted £80 million for wantaway Gomez!
New signings have settled in well.
Marquinhos is a calming influence at the back and
Valverde is fantastic as an all action midfielder. After a slow start,
Cucurella is nailed on at left back and our Turkish youngster,
Yildrum, is looking good at right back.
Christensen, our young Danish DLP with ok stats, has really surprised me and has jumped ahead of the queue in midfield.
The only issue is with
Palacios, who looks like being a transfer mistake and has failed to impress so far. He has 5 months to stake his claim because wages have to be justified at a club our size.
I contemplated selling
Efe, our Turkish Wonderkid, in the summer after an average first season, but he is starting to really come into his own with some crucial last minute winners. Slowly becoming a favourite!
As we move into January, focus now turns to defending our Copa del Rey and trying to extend our lead in La Liga before the CL starts again.
Silvio Luíz has 24 goals so far and won the
Balon D’or for the first time!
We are a better team than last season, but we will never have the resources to get those top stars with amazing stats, but I have such a fondness for the group we have brought through together. The save looked doomed when I was at Oviedo B! Let’s see what we can achieve this season…