Just to keep a track on our squad as the pre season goes on, and get a rough idea on what we are looking at really. I have included the more notable Cantera at the bottom, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them with first team squad numbers by the time the season starts. I would love to see Oso take the legendary Puerta 16 now Juanlu has all but departed.
I was having a little thought earlier about the state of our squad now. Like a couple of years ago when we had started bringing in a few younger lads like Stanis Idumbo and Mateo Mejía to kind of build up from the ranks and make us a bit more sustainable… That really hasn’t panned out has it with even those young guys ending up being shipped out. It really is sad in a sense as we were in a position viewed as a club on the rise, we had the potential to push Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga, being talked up as being strong enough to challenge Europe’s elite, and then it all came crumbling down.
Were we wrong to take the chance and try and push for the top of the game? How did it all go so spectacularly wrong, when we are now at the wrong end of La Liga, basically haemorraging money and having to build a squad from scraps, selling off our Cantera at cut price deals, and even young lads we brought in to maintain a steady flow of talent from the Cantera being shipped out to cut costs? Vamos mi Sevilla right?!
I feel the biggest reason we slid sporting wise was when Marcao and Nianzou couldn’t fill the shoes of the two they replaced.
We also just made some really poor choices that hurt us. We gave Quincy Promes 81 million euros including transfer fee, Luis Muriel 78 million, Rony Lopes… Etc etc.
Our wage bill has increased from 34.5 million euros in 2015-2016 to 82 million euros last year. That’s a staggering number considering the quality of the players. Now a lot of that has been the inflation in player salaries, but revenues haven’t kept up, and in covid years was slashed to practically nothing, thus increasing the debt.
Sevilla, until it can grow revenues, will probably still be in this flux. This season’s wage bill looks to be a lot less, so that’s a positive.
I’ll forever rue Lope’s debut season when Sevilla won Europa during Covid. Sure they won but the wins were honestly more about luck than sheer quality, the rounds being one-matched affairs also helped. The value of the squad was sky-high after the win (Ocampos was valued at 40m Euros, Kounde could have fetched 60m) but the board were convinced they could challenge Real and Barca so they kept the squad together for too long and their values plummeted in the post-covid financial environment.
After that it was the board getting greedy and looking for cheap stop-gap after stop-gap. While most of the gremlins are still in the board at least the ones who can make football-wise decisions such as Navarro and Luis Garcia seem competent and know what has to be done.
The decisions made on those following seasons still impact the club today. Although it must be acknowledged that Sevilla was in uncharted territory. Hindsight says they should have gone back to the habitual model of cashing in on those high value players. But in the moment, would you not have wanted them to take that chance and go for the title?
Verdict is still out, but they seem to be managing well so far. Half of the arrivals were done by Cordón, however, Navarro has followed up with some solid moves (Odysseas, Nianzou, M*r, Juanlu, Sow). It’s still hard to work thru this market, but i trust he’ll round out this squad well by the end of the window.
García has a hard job making this squad look competent from day 1. We lost goals (Akor) and experience (Alexis & Azpi), so he’s damn near starting from scratch. I’d like to see a clear vision once the season starts, but honestly, all i need from him is results.
It the usual story! We will get the players in late by end of window.
It means we will be extremely weak for first 3 games of season. This is why we in trouble every season as we never prepared to start off season.
Hopefully we get decent replacements but it not a guarantee at this point. Teams know we desperate and can use that against us.
The Rayo first match is a direct rival and we not prepared for it. We usually do okay against Rayo but we not currently in good shape squad wise to take them on.
I read yesterday that the likes of Bueno, Castrin, Oso and Sierra are likely to remain on Reserve team squad numbers. I am not entirely sure of the rationale behind it, as I cannot see us signing 7 players for the first team squad regardless.
If they on reserve list then we struggling for numbers even more.
In terms of what we got Manu Bueno right now probably has to start. Castrin maybe is backup but he’s close and played a lot last season. It same for Oso.
Until we get suitable replacements it all hands on deck.
God knows what lineup will be against Rayo. The only position we currently have some cover and players is defence.
In midfield and up front we so light we forced to pick who there. Even finished Jordan is close to starting 11 at moment considering how light the midfield is.
We have to pray we can try pull something off in these first 3 games and then get some suitable replacements. The time ticking though in window so we will see.
I don’t know if we can say we aren’t prepared. We might find out in 30 minutes if that statement holds water. The weak argument holds some water, but being prepared is a different argument at least with coaching and the players we have. So far this preseason, we have made huge strides in formulation of a defense that doesn’t leak like a sieve. We’ve even been finding some attacking movement the last three matches. This was all done with the players that are here and not the ones that were shipped off. Weak and unprepared for the season roster wise, yes. Unprepared tactically and sporting, I argue differently.
Maybe it won’t be as bad. I don’t read into pre season much though and the teams we faced have been in the main pretty weak.
We will see how we start against Rayo. That’s an early test and to see what this current squad is made of. I’m just hoping we stay up though and don’t expect anything else.
The last 4 years has taught us it likely not going to be pretty watch a lot of the time. We just have to find a way to make it work. My confidence mainly comes from the fact the league is weak and hopefully there are 3 or more worse.
Ir would be nice if the team surprised us more too but in what we witnessed recently I can’t be to optimistic. It is good we still got the same manager though and hopefully that breeds some stability.
I had to look at the squads of Real, Barca and Atletico from those two seasons to jog my memory, the opportunity was definitely there as Simeone did his crowning achievement by leading Atletico to the title. Sevilla were also placed to have a shot and I won’t blame them for trying, but looking back the transfers were disappointing at best, and dreadful at worst.
The squad that won the Europa league was a good one but not strong enough to mount a legitimate challenge, the midfield was Banega playing his best football followed by a Jordan from another reality and a Fernando who was on the verge of 32, the frontline was Ocampos having his best season followed by De Jong who cemented his name in Sevilla history with that brace and Munir who scored 10 goals.
Reinforcements were needed and the board did provide by spending 70 million (!) in the next transfer window, some were necessary such as confirming the purchases of Bono, Suso (21m is a bit steep but still) and Acuna for 10m. The really bad ones were Oscar Rodriguez for 13.5m and Idrissi for 12m. Rakitic came in for a nominal 1.5m too. The midfield was not reinforced appropriately and relied on an aging Fernando and Gudelj to keep things quiet at the back, Acuna and Rekik were the only defensive reinforcements. The board or Monchi also decided to collect attacking midfielders like dragon balls by signing Papu Gomez in the winter window which failed dramatically. The season didn’t work out as planned and I remembered Lope having Mudo throw himself into tackles to win the ball back.
In hindsight, I’d say the challenge was worth a shot but the transfer strategy was dreadful, the Oscar Arias window is widely regarded as one of the worst but the 2020 transfer window was partly responsible for the situation the club is at today so is definitely up there in the hall of shame as well.
