Sevilla FC: Life as a Selling Club

The list is long and it is good: Sergio Ramos, Dani Alves, Jesús Navas, Álvaro Negredo, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Ivan Rakitić, Alberto Moreno, and Federico Fazio. These are the players who have transferred recently from Sevilla FC, and to an outsider, it looks like a massive missed opportunity to be one of the best teams in Europe. But with football, it’s never as simple as a blanket statement.

To understand Sevilla FC is to understand La Liga and its unbalanced TV revenue deal that is wildly skewed toward Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is well documented that Real and Barça get every advantage from television revenues and that La Liga is not regarded as highly as the English Premier League for this very reason. Places like Sevilla and Valencia would be more than just a stop-over, more than a spring board to a bigger club and better pay. As it stands, that is exactly what they are and without major changes, they’ll stay that way.

But make no mistake about it, Sevilla have thrived despite the almost annual evacuation of talent from the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. Since this exodus began in 2005 with the transfer of Ramos to Real Madrid, Sevilla have won the Copa del Rey twice (2007, 2010), the Spanish Supercopa once (2007) and the Europa League three times (2006, 2007, 2014).

But we, as fans, want more. We want loyalty to go along with our championships and trophies.

Moisés Pineda Moreno is a Sevilla superfan. He’s a 32 year old native Sevillano and has bought season tickets to games at the Sánchez-Pizjuán ever since he had enough money to afford them. To him, watching Sevilla is like watching family, “Sevilla FC for me is a way of life. You know that Sevilla is the biggest thing for you when they lose and do not feel like eating or doing anything. I say it’s like my son and if someone says it’s good or bad, it’s a reflection of me, of my son. I take it personally.”

He’s not alone. Sevilla is often cited as having one of the most passionate fan bases in Spain, and this was in evidence a few weeks ago when Sevilla (Europa League Champions) took on Real Madrid (Champions League winners) in the UEFA Super Cup in Cardiff, Wales. Even though the blanquirrojos were outclassed by the megalith that is Real Madrid, the Sevilla faithful sung and danced and chanted all night. Happy to be there, happy to show the world who Sevilla FC are, happy to play on a big stage.

Maybe they’re celebrating that occasion because with the recent player sales in the summer transfer window, their fans see no way back, at least not this season.

It was inevitable that Ivan Rakitić was going to be sold. His brilliant performances for Sevilla in La Liga and in Europe were gaining attention all over the continent. The “Man of the Match” in the Europa League final eventually signed with Barcelona for an estimated $23.7 million.

Sevilla have shrewdly signed midfield replacement Grzegorz Krychowiak on the cheap in hopes of turning him into a star, much like they did when they signed Rakitić away from Schalke in 2011. Sevilla have also signed Gerard Deulofeu and Denis Suárez on loan from Barcelona to help balance an attack that lost a true talisman in Rakitić.

The man whose 94th minute header at the Mestalla in Valencia, the one that sent Sevilla to the Europa League Final, was also a loanee. Stéphane M’bia will go down in SFC folklore because of that header, but he will also go back to his parent club, Queens Park Rangers for the 2014–15 season.

[EDIT: M’Bia has signed a one year deal at Sevilla for 2014–15 after a transfer from QPR]

Sevilla often times rely on huge transfer money coming in to be able to operate. Sergio Ramos was sold to Real Madrid for $33.5 million in 2005, Barcelona paid $38.2 for Dani Alves in 2009, and Jesús Navas and Álvaro Negredo netted SFC a combined $57.8 million when the duo signed for Manchester City last summer. Those numbers are astronomical and represent good business for SFC. Besides, no one expects Sevilla to compete financially with those behemoths.

What’s disturbing is the fact that Sevilla can’t compete with any team in England’s top flight, even teams in so-called undesirable locations that fight relegation year in and year out. The Sevilla Sporting Director conceded to this sad fact this week. When asked about potential targets within the Sevilla squad he said, “When an English team appears interested in one of our players it is difficult because they can multiply player salaries.” This fact is not lost on Moreno who told me, “In short, Sevilla is a European Champion three times in the last 10 years and cannot compete for a signing with QPR. This should end now.” There are whispers that La Liga will take a more balanced approach to television revenue in the future, most likely mimicking what is going on in England, but most fans are taking a wait and see approach.

But until then, Sevilla will continue to sell. After a saga that went on and on all summer, Liverpool finally secured Sevilla left back Alberto Moreno on August 12 for $19.8 million. Like Sergio Ramos before him, Moreno came through the Sevilla youth system, having trained with the club since he was 12 years old. Moreno had tears in his eyes when the deal was made and has vowed to make a return to his boyhood club at some point in the future. But for now, the money flows north, and Alberto Moreno will ply his trade on Merseyside for Liverpool. Sevilla supporter Moisés Pineda Moreno understands the reality saying, “Alberto started playing in his childhood and has many years in the club. This is like a family to (players like him). They dream of stepping on (the pitch at) Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán to play with the first team, and all those dreams were fulfilled.”

What fans like Moises Moreno don’t understand, is the departure of a player like Federico Fazio who signed with Tottenham Hotspur on August 26. Rumors flew around Spain that Fazio wanted to leave the club so badly that he was willing to pay his own buy-out clause to make himself available. He didn’t, obviously, but this sits uncomfortably with a fan like Moreno who had no problem with Alberto Moreno leaving for Liverpool, but finds Fazio’s tactics ungrateful. He says, “To pay your clause only because you want out is not looking out for the interests of the club that made ​​you big.”

When I asked Moreno about his favorite transferred Sevilla players, he spoke fondly of Dani Alves in particular, and while Alves produced several great moments in a Sevilla kit (and even more in Barcelona colors), it’s noteworthy to point out that when I asked Moreno about transfers out of Sevilla, he immediately redirected me and mentioned club legend Frédéric Kanouté who played for Sevilla for seven years and scored 89 goals. Moreno said, “Kanouté was here until almost the end of his career. He gave his loyalty to the club.”

Some would argue that big time athletes don’t need to have loyalty to a club or city. Most of these guys are not lifelong fans of a franchise, but rather a paid employer of the club in question. Does the player owe the team anything for making him “big” as Moreno states? Would that player have developed into a star in a different setting? Should clubs reward loyalty (and excellence on the pitch) with big contracts to appease the supporters, even to the detriment of the bottom line? These questions are hotly debated among fans all over the world. One thing is for certain, as a fan of a club, you still want the players to stay. It’s just unrealistic in places like Sevilla and similar places all around Spain.

And this gets back to what it truly is to be a fan, and in particular a fan of a team that sells its players in order to stay ahead financially. Can you get thoroughly invested in a team even though you know many of its great players will not be wearing your colors in the following season? Are you willing to accept that great individual success for a player will often result in that player plying his trade for a rival? The answer to these questions is a resounding “yes”. After all, as Jerry Seinfeld once said, “We’re really just cheering for laundry.”