Sevilla have completed the signing of Isco from Real Madrid on a free transfer. The Andalusian club finished fourth last season and are looking to retain their place in the top four this year as well as progressing deep in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
Monchi, the club’s sporting director, gave Isco a tour of Sevilla’s training facilities and made an eyebrow-raising comparison. He said that Isco is the type of player Sevilla have always gambled on – citing Diego Maradona as someone of a similar ilk.
“We have bet on you because we trust you a lot,” Monchi said in comments carried by Diario Sport. “We always look for players with something special, something different, like Maradona.
“We are a very tight-knit club and we like to develop an attractive game to enable players of tremendous quality to develop their football, like Ever Banega and Mudo Vazquez. I’m not comparing you with Maradona, but here we have an environment that helps the people with talent to show it.”
Maradona, rightly considered one of the greatest players to have ever played the game, spent less than a season at the Sanchez-Pizjuan at the tail end of his career. He made 28 appearances during his year in Andalusia, scoring six goals, before returning to Argentina to see out the rest of his club career.
Isco will hope to make more of an impact at Sevilla. He joins after a trophy-laden spell at the Santiago Bernabeu, making 352 appearances for Madrid across all competitions and winning all there is to win in the Spanish capital. He contributed an impressive 53 goals and 56 assists during his time there.
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