First team

ARIAS: “I DON'T KNOW IF WE'LL BE BETTER THAN LAST SEASON BUT THE TEAM LOOKS GOOD”

14/09/2017

The Director of Football told A Balón Parado that "the point is no more than that but it was won on a difficult stage"

Óscar Arias was the star of the show on A Balón Parado. The Director of Football evaluated the clash at Anfield, seeing it as a very valuable point earned: "Everyone knows, it's not more than a point, but its clear that on that stage, and how the match played out, it makes you hold out hope."

“The point means we can hold out hope”

He also mentioned that the support of Sevillistas in Anfield stood out: "You could hear them a lot and at moments, it was our voice you could hear around Anfield. It was my first time there, it's wonderful, but for me there isn't the same energy as there is in the Sánchez-Pizjuán."

Moving on from the match, Arias compared this season's squad to last season's, he said "I don't know if we'll be better this season than we were last. The squad was very good, the numbers prove it, but it's true that this team looks good, we have good feelings and we hope to see Sevilla being competitive in all competitions."

On another matter, he talked about familiar names such as Jesús Navas: "It was clear that Sevilla and Navas were going to cross paths again. There were financial issues that needed sorting, but both sides wanted the deal, it was a matter of time. On Navas it's clear, it's like he hasn't aged a day, he's in as good shape as he was at 20 years-old. It's impressive."

“Tiene muchísimo más mérito haber traído a Notario en aquella época que a Banega al Sevilla FC actual”

Arias repsonded modestly to being reminded that his first signing was Banega, where Monchi's was Notario: "They're different times, it's far more impressive to have brought in Notario back then compared to Banega now. We have to be grateful to the player because he wanted to come. Vincente ran into Éver during the holidays, he called me and told me Éver wanted to come back. I hung up and rang him. Sevilla FC has things other clubs can't offer. Monchi was able to build a structure with a philosophy that you can see every day. Within this massive entity, the club is very close and familiar and that helps the players feel comfortable. That, along with the stadium and the loud fans, playing in the Champions League, the city... they're factors that help us negotiate."

Arias was also asked about the different options that were available for left-back: "What happened was simple. The first transfer we had practically sealed was Amavi, but a number of problems came up that meant we couldn't complete the transfer. He was no longer an option, we started working on different profiles, but with similar characteristics - a few more options popped up. Zeegelaar was one such option, but when he was close to signing, Sporting added clauses that they had never mentioned before. There was a bit of tension, enough so that at one point the Chairman said he would settle the matter."

On the Vitolo case he said: "I thought we knew him, but apparently not. Some situations surprise you. Money can't be everything in life, the players are professionals and they have a career that lasts a certain period, but we got to the stage where the club was offering him fantastic sums. Vitolo has disappointed me quite a bit, he's made a big mistake, but these things happen in life."

Finally he spoke about the Luis Muriel transfer: "Sevilla paid 15 million Euros for Franco Vázquez, which was more at that time, and the club isn't used to these kinds of figures. But that doesn't mean it's a price we consider extremely high. It's not as low a cost as on other occasions , but the market is reaching very high levels, it's inflated and the fans need to know that with the market as it is, it's next to impossible to sign a player at low cost. Muriel has potential, we hope he will adapt soon and give us all the value we hope for. What would worry me is if the player who was bought to score goals doesn't create chances or that his contribution to the team was minimal... At Anfield the minutes he had were crucial: he set up the equaliser, he had two dangerous chances and in the last chance of the game if he had been a bit more accurate, he would have drove us mad."