Aleñá: "Valverde knew that I wanted to leave"

Carles Aleñá is officially a Real Betis player. The midfielder was loaned from Barcelona and will wear the number 24 jersey. Aleñá spoke to the press after being presented and said: "This club has to keep moving up, the team, the fans... I am excited like crazy to play at the Villamarín and I hope they will be six glorious months here."

The 22-year-old was questioned about leaving Barcelona after failing to get gametime this season. "I told Valverde that I wanted to come to Betis," he said. I had a clause that allowed me to decide my future, during the summer there was interest from Betis and Valverde knew that I wanted to go. It was all very simple."

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During the presentation, Aleñá was very emotional about the fulfilling of a dream to play with Betis. "I spoke to Bartra and Álex Moreno a lot and since I got here, you can see how it is. Betis hooked me and I'm delighted to be able to live this at such a young age. For me, it's a dream and I hope to keep doing great things and that Betis keeps moving upwards."

 "It's six months because it had to be that way and in the future, we will see what happens," Alñá said. "I was sure that the best thing for me because of my style of play was to come to Betis. It was the best place to come, with the manager I only spoke about style of play matters, I didn't come here thinking I have to be a starter because I come from Barcelona. I come to a team with a lot of competition and to play as many minutes as possible."

The former La Masia player says it's poor luck that has Betis in the position they are and says they will bounce back. They currently sit 13th in the table. "We are convinced that in the second half of the league, we will be good and against Real Sociedad, you will start to see a new Betis with eyes on Europe," he said.