Ooh Betis

Station master

There's no doubt that Beñat made quite an impression in his first game and a half as an international footballer. And you don't just have to take it from me: "Beñat pulls Spain along," said the website of RTVE,  the national broadcaster, which also declared him man of the match. Marca also picked him out -  "Beñat leaves his mark" - as did AS, who called him "one of the best [players]".

So how did the new hero of the best national football side in the world return home? In his Lamborghini? Driven by his agent? No, it seems he simply returned to Seville by train, on his own, not even putting a mobile to his ear to avoid having to talk to the great unwashed as he passed through Santa Justa station. (As you can see, from the picture above from today's Diario de Sevilla, even Sevillistas wanted their photo taken with him.)

 

A little bemused to find the nation's press waiting for him - actually, they were also expecting the Chinese national team on the same train - he paid tribute to the friendliness of his new team-mates in the Spain squad, said he had learned a lot, and admitted he thought he had "taken the chance" he'd been given. All in all, he said, he was really happy. 

Next stop, new contract.

Rubén tied up

As you can probably imagine, there are about 10 rumours for every snippet of hard news right now, but one thing we can definitely say is that Rubén Castro will remain a Betis player for the time being. Yesterday he signed an extension to his contract (which was due to run out in a year's time) committing him to the club until June 2015, when he'll be 34. 

It's a deal that suits both sides. The player has stated repeatedly how happy he is to be able to stay in one place after a career which had taken him (involuntarily) to eight different clubs before he was out of his 20s, while Betis get to keep a striker who's goalscoring prowess isn't based entirely on speed and therefore shouldn't be too blunted by age.

Next up for renewal might well be Beñat, who, as an article in the Correo de Andalucía today points out, is still one of the lower-paid footballers at Betis - never mind the fact he must earn many multiples less than the superstars he was playing alongside last night. The good news is that Athletic Bilbao have just said they have no intention of matching Betis's valuation of the Basque midfielder - more fool them - but underpaying your best player is still not a sensible tactic in the long run.

Some more news, briefly...

l This story is about a week old, but it's bizarre enough to stand being mentioned late. As you may know, Sevilla coach Míchel and Betis's own Pepe Mel grew up together in the Real Madrid youth system. Thereafter their playing careers took very different paths, with Míchel playing more than 400 games for Madrid and 60-plus for Spain and Pepe Mel, er, not doing so, and although it used to be assumed they were friends, journalists had recently hinted at a falling out between the two. This was confirmed last week when, in an interview with Marca, Míchel suddenly let fly: "We're not friends and if Mel says we are there'll be problems. We were friends, and I think he's a great coach, a really great coach...But things have happened in our lives - personal, very personal things, intimate even - which mean I'd rather put whatever friendship we had behind us...Was it serious what he did? Yes, for me, yes."

It was such a strange outburst that even their mutual friend Rafael Gordillo suggested he shouldn't have said it in public, while Pepe Mel's response was dignity personified. "I'm a little surprised," he said. "I don't know what he's referring to, but if he's right, then I'm sorry. I wish him all the best in both his personal and professional life."

The rumours are that the row is something to do with an alleged slight of Míchel's son, but it still seems dangerous to speak like that in an interview with Spain's best-selling newspaper. Next season's derbis are clearly going to be served up with extra spice.

l Back on the pitch, it seems that Paulao is very close to signing a permanent contract, while Mohamed Diamé has said he'd rather stay in the Premier League (let's call that Money 1, Sunshine 0). Reading between the lines of other reports (appearing almost daily), I'd say that Roque Santa Cruz is 80 per cent likely to be a Betis player next year, Jefferson Montero 40 per cent (going up) and Iriney 20 per cent. 

l You'll know by now that Betis have a whole host of young players being followed closely by Europe's biggest clubs. Now one of these, attacking midfielder Sergio Rodriguéz, is reportedly on the verge of being poached by Barcelona B. It's easy to see why they'd like him - he's an Iniesta-idolising ball player with good vision and great close control - but it will be very hard for Betis to let him go before he's made an impact with the first team, even for the €1.5million plus a loan of promising Barça central defender Fontás that's being mentioned. In the end it's probably up to the player himself - if he stays he'll be closer to first-team football, but on the other hand it is Barcelona we're talking about. 

l We already know, of course, which three sides were relegated from Primera - Racing Santander, Sporting Gijón and Villareal - but the full list of their replacements is a long way from being decided. Deportivo La Coruña secured the first promotion spot last weekend, and their Galician neighbours Celta de Vigo are favourites to join them on Sunday (when they'll be watched by superfan Jonathan Pereira), but after that we've got another few weeks of play-offs. I'll be rooting hard for our Andalucían neighbours Córdoba, in memory of a great day out there in May of last year.

l Finally, if the website videosdelbetis.com - run by friend of this blog, Felipe, from London - isn't on you list of Favourites, it should be. Just up is a really nice recap of the season that's a very fine way to spend 11 minutes and 48 seconds.

Resumen Betis 11-12 (FINAL) por videosdelbetis 

Beñat starts

It clearly wasn't just watching Béticos who were excited by Beñat's first 45 minutes as an international player on Saturday. Tonight he's been promoted to the starting line-up for another friendly against South Korea - and it's not a bad Spain side, either: Casillas; Arbeloa, Albiol, Ramos, Monreal; Xabi Alonso, Beñat; Cazorla, Mata, Silva; and Torres. Vicente Del Bosque has already announced that Beñat won't be in the Euro 2012 squad - losing out to the host of returning Barcelona midfielders - but the stock of the Betis No. 10 is obviously rising fast.

 

UPDATE (8.11pm): Fernando Torres opens the scoring with a neat header and wonders where his team-mates are. The answer? They're all congratulating Beñat for dropping the ball right on the Chelsea striker's head from the left touchline. "What a ball from Beñat!" says the commentator on Spanish TV.

UPDATE (final whistle): I had to leave the house with the score at 1-1 - and actually the equaliser came from a misplaced Beñat clearance - but he stayed on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes and by all accounts looked like a seasoned veteran throughout. I'm not normally one to advocate violence, but if you did happen to find yourself standing behind Xavi at the top of a particularly steep flight of stairs in the next week...

Thinking ahead

Can anyone who follows English football more closely than I do tell us anything about Mohamed Diamé? The French-Senegalese defensive midfielder is out of contract with Wigan, where he's spent the last three seasons, and is rumoured to have been in Seville this weekend discussing a possible move to Betis with Pepe Mel, for whom he played at Rayo Vallecano. The word is that the player fancies playing in southern Spain, but a quick Google search reveals that he's also being courted by clubs such as Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle, all of whom would pay him twice as much as Betis would, so he's going to have to really want some sunshine in his life for this deal to happen.

I think, though, that this is the right time to show you this graphic, which is an educated guess at Betis's transfer needs this summer. Pepe Mel has repeatedly said he wants only 22 or 23 first-team squad members, with Betis B players also available to step up when required, so let's call this two players per position. You'll see that the ???s - obviously - are the positions to be filled, so Diamé, for instance, would be competing with Cañas for first-team starts.

There has, of course, been some guesswork on my part. All of the following could prove to be wrong, but to get to this point I've assumed...

1) ...that Iriney and Montero won't be re-signed, but Roque Santa Cruz and Paulao will. The latter seems a fairly safe bet, while a Roque deal might be more complicated but should still happen. There's a glimmer of hope for both the first two named, but they're still more likely to be elsewhere come August.

2)...that Salva Sevilla and Javier Matilla will also have moved on. There's been conflicting news about both of these midfielders - in theory, competition for Beñat - but Salva in particular is being sought by other Primera and Segunda clubs and will probably be allowed to leave. A season-long loan might be best for Matilla.

3)...that all the promising Betis B players will be regarded separately for the time being. If you count Pozuelo as a first-teamer now, the only Betis B player I've included is left-back Alex Martínez as an occasional substitute for the apparently indestructible Nacho. He'll be ready. Other names Pepe Mel might consider including more regularly would be right-back Manu Palancar, holding midfielder Carlos García, attacking midfielders Nono and Sergio, and winger (on either flank) Álvaro Vadillo.

4)...that Nelson, Juanma, Jonathan Pereira, Jorge Molina and, yes, Beñat, will all still be at the club when next season starts. Actually this is very unlikely, but it's impossible to know right now who will attract the most tempting offers. All are reportedly available at the right price, but there's no particular desperation to sell any of them, so we'll just have to wait and see. 

One further point to add is a warning not to expect much to happen before the second half of July. Pepe Mel has said he expects to leave for the pre-season tour of China on July 8th without too many new faces, so the real wheeling and dealing will probably start when the squad returns two weeks later. It's going to be a long old summer.

Passing with flying colours

 

One of Beñat's great talents as a footballer has always been knowing when to keep the passes simple and when to try something a little more extravagant, so you could say his first 45 minutes as an international offered a perfect demonstration to the world of what he's all about. Coming on for Spain at half-time of their friendly against Serbia, with the score at 0-0 and not much having happened in the previous half, he spent most of the time hovering around the centre-circle making neat little triangles with David Silva and Santi Cazorla. But then, on 64 minutes, with his one and only long pass of the game, he knocked a perfect 30-yard ball from deep in his own half to find Jesus Navas in space on the right-wing, allowing the little Sevillista to cross with his first touch for Atlético Madrid striker Adrián to head home easily. Once the scorer had been congratulated, the whole team sought out the real architect of the goal.

Of course, Beñat is still not Xavi, and he'll almost certainly be allowed to go off on his holidays once the Barcelona players join the squad, but he definitely did enough today to suggest it won't be his last time with La Roja.