Caparrós: "Sevilla almost seems like Barcelona's youth academy..."
Sevilla's Director of Sport says the Andalucian club has a good relationship with Barcelona "but we didn't want Lenglet to leave".
Sevilla Director of Sport Joaquín Caparrós has aired his views on Clément Lenglet's transfer to Barcelona and confessed that he did not want to see the defender leave. "We put a proposal forward to him because we didn't want to lose him. Barcelona wanted to negotiate for the player, but we didn't. Maybe it might have worked out better for him to spend one more season with us here at Sevilla but he had it clear in his mind what he wanted; he's a magnificent lad and a great professional. Sevilla is a financially healthy club and we would have loved to have Lenglet with us still but then there is a mechanism in place whereby if a club comes along and is willing to pay a player's buy-out, he can leave", Caparrós told El Larguero.
Lenglet loss won't affect Sevilla's relationship with Barcelona
Caparrós went on to say that Barça meeting Lenglet's buy-out won't have a negative effect on the relationship between the two clubs, which he adds has always been good. "Barcelona's youth academy is almost like Sevilla. But that's a sign that our technical department must be doing their job well; players have developed here, moved on and left money in the coffers here. Sevilla has been a selling club, it's bought and sold well and that has helped us to grown season on season".
Come up with N'Zonzi's buy-out, says Caparrós
He was also asked about Steven N'Zonzi's situation - the midfielder has also been linked to Barcelona and Arsenal. "He has two years left on his contract, I haven't spoken to him but we've been exchanging text messages. We're hoping he will be world champion with France. We haven't received any offers for him but I'll say the same as I said with Lenglet, his buy-out clause is 40 million".
Aleix Vidal, Iborra and Bacca
As for the rumours placing Sevilla in line to sign Aleix Vidal, Vicente Iborra and Carlos Bacca, Caparrós explained: "We haven't spoken to Aleix or Barcelona. Like other players, his name has been mentioned as someone who is keen to come back to Sevilla - he's well thought of and valued by our technical department but we have that position well covered. Both Bacca and Iborra were transferred to other clubs and now earn high wages so the idea of them returning is complicated. All of them are played who are still loved at Sevilla, it's not easy for any of them to come back but all of them left their mark here".
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