Opening the table of the Spanish championship-2022/23, it is seen that the first places are occupied by fairly familiar teams such as Barcelona, Atlético, Real Madrid, from which Betis, Athletic and others do not move away, but the lower ones go down, the more you are amazed that there is not another eminent team on the list. Until recently, Sevilla, considered the best club in Spain, suddenly settled at the bottom of the table, with each matchday increasing the risk of relegation from LaLiga. What happened to the team?
Was it all that good?
In the past ten years, Barcelona and Real Madrid with Atlético have consistently ranked in the top 4, with only the fourth team changing periodically. And it is Sevilla that can be classified as “the worst of the best”, because they have already occupied fourth place four times, three of them in a row in the last three seasons.
In the European competition of the last nine years, there is also something to brag about: four Europa League wins, regular appearances in the playoffs, including one before the Champions League quarter-finals.
In short, Sevilla really was a serious contender in world football, but at one point something broke.
Photo source: Sevilla FC
Something went wrong?
In recent years, Sevilla have changed the transfer approach, so they began to sign more and more star players who, naturally, asked for a considerable salary. This gave some short-term momentum, but in the end the new system inflated the club’s budget, after which new, no longer foreseen problems began.
In the last summer transfer window, the club received €91.5m for the sale, spending just €28m, preferring to rely more on loan and free agents. Isco was going to be one of the main stars of the squad, but he did not play and in December he left the club due to a conflict with the board of directors.
Photo source: Sevilla FC
Julen Lopetegui, who led Sevilla for three brilliant years, failed at the start of the new season, scoring just five points in seven games, for which he was sacked. The setback occurred back in the 2021/22 season, but then the sports director persuaded the club boss to give Lopetegui a chance, but to no avail.
Now what?
Lopetegui was replaced as head coach by the expressive and Jorge Sampaoli, who, apparently, in the opinion of the management, should have given the team a moral boost, but the bet did not work out and the club continued to fall in the championship table.
Despite all the horror, Sevilla is in no hurry to strengthen the team in the winter market, preferring to take modest steps, even too modest. Lucas Ocampos returned to the team after an unsuccessful loan (he had not scored a goal for Ajax in six months), and besides him, only defender of the French youth team Loic Bade joined the team, and he was only on loan. To put it bluntly, transfers don’t seem to save lives at all.
Perhaps it is time for Sevilla to clean up the lower divisions to come back stronger.
