The Official Real Betis Thread

[RealGunner]

http://bolamalamini.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ff.jpg

Full name: Real Betis Balompié, S.A.D
Ground: Benito Villamarín, Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Manager: Pepe Mel

[RealGunner]

Pozuelo, The One That Got Away

The news, published widely in the Seville press yesterday, that 21-year-old forward Alejandro Pozuelo is to join Swansea City of the English Premier League came as no surprise - but it's a little depressing nonetheless. Betis will get around €500,000 by way of FIFA-decreed compensation for bringing him up, but that hardly seems a satisfactory return for one of the most talented Seville-born players of his generation. As Pepe Mel admitted last month, the whole saga has been "a disaster" for Betis.

There were two key incidents in the brief senior career of Pozuelo at the club. The first came immediately after the home game against Espanyol in March 2012, during which a mistake by the player led (eventually) to the visitors scoring a last-minute equaliser. Apparently he responded angrily to criticism from Pepe Mel's No. 2 Roberto Rios in the dress room, with the result that he was unofficially suspended for several games in a bid to teach him some manners.

The tactic looks not to have worked because nine months later came the final nail in the coffin of his Betis career: the decision taken jointly with his agents to sue Betis for "forcing" him to sign an "abusive" contract (which just happens to be the same sort of deal that the likes of Vadillo and Nono are on quite happily). Sources inside the club reckon there was not much chance of him winning a lawsuit, but they decided if he was that desperate to leave it was pointless to make him stay. Since February he hasn't even been in a first-team squad.

So, if you're a Swansea fan reading this, what kind of player are you getting? A talented one, certainly - albeit possibly not quite as talented as he thinks he is. He's superb on the ball, really hard to knock off it, but he definitely needs to learn to pass to teammates in better positions before he's anything like a complete player. At the moment, he's not a sharp enough finisher to be an out-and-out striker, nor perceptive enough to be a top-class mediapunta, although there's obviously time for him to learn (if he wants to, which is half his problem). He's bright (which might be the other half of the problem), full of potential, and full of himself (or at least that's how it seems). Perhaps three years in South Wales is exactly what he needs; it'll certainly be fascinating - and perhaps a little frustrating - to monitor his development.

http://www.foreverbetis.com/2013/06/pozuelo-the-one-that-got-away.html

______________________________

Shame.

[RealGunner]

Real Betis have completed the signing of midfielder Joan Verdu from Espanyol. Canas' replacement i guess

[RealGunner]

That's Canas, Benat, Pozuelo gone. Joel and Pabon were on loan so not sure if they will return.

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