Given that he is Sevilla’s favourite victim, you’d have thought that the Andalusian’s sporting director, Monchi, might be glad to see the back of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
The Argentinian has an enviable record against Sevilla, and Monchi just wants to continue to see him do his thing in the Spanish top flight.
“For Spanish football, the better players that are playing here, the happier we’ll be, regardless of whether they’re rivals or not,” he said on the El Desmarque programme, cited by Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish) and Football Espana (in English).
“It’s good news [that Messi’s here] and we hope he continues for many more years.”
After all of the turmoil in the summer, there was, for a short time at least, a very real possibility that Messi would move to Manchester City to be reunited with Pep Guardiola.
In the end, such a move never materialised, but that’s not to say that the Citizens won’t come calling again next summer.
Particularly if the Blaugrana haven’t enjoyed the best of seasons under Ronald Koeman.
For now, however, the Argentinian remains at the heart of everything that Barca do, and clearly Monchi will hope that the status quo remains.