Monchi's departures coincides with Raúl's return
The news was finally confirmed in a straightforward news conference held yesterday: Monchi is leaving Sevilla. To be honest, the writing was on the wall with the sporting director anxious to leave the club last summer but now the news is official. Sevilla's recent success can be attributed to many but one individual in particular stands out and that is Monchi. In his time with the Andalusian outfit, the club has taken massive forward steps. Sevilla were always regarded as a big club in a Spanish footballing context during but his time as director of football "Los Hispalenses" have established themselves as a major player on a European level winning five Europa League (formerly known as the UEFA Cup) titles in the past ten years.
European finals
When the first final came around in Eindhoven (against English side Middlesbrough, May 2006) the thousands of "sevillistas" who made the journey probably regarded the trip to Holland as a one-off. But year after year, history repeated itself and the trips to major European finals became a habit thanks to the club's astute policy of buying smartly and selling players at the right time whilst maintaining a sensible salary structure at the football club. The man behind this policy was Monchi. So why leave now? Possibly he feels he has taken things as far as he can and the burden of sentimentality that he feels at his club is too much. At any other outfit, such as AS Roma he'll work equally as well but without that emotional weight.
Raúl returns
So a true great from the world of Spanish football is set to leave LaLiga with Roma leading the way in terms of potential destinations. As he departs, it would appear that Raúl is set for a possible return to Madrid after completing his ‘masters degree’ with LaLiga. A signing to help Florentino's public image after the recent findings relating to the Púnica investigation. We still don't know what function Raúl will perform at Madrid but his return is a positive step for him. He's a guy with his feet on the ground and carries positive values of Real Madrid from a time when the VIP area at the Bernabeu wasn't so vulgarly bloated.