Sevilla president Pepe Castro was forced to defend new director of football Victor Orta, as questions from journalists kept coming in on his predecessor Monchi.
Former Leeds United director of football Orta was appointed at Sevilla last week, replacing Monchi who had held that role at the La Liga club since 2000. Overseeing seven Europa League trophy wins in those years, he left the club to join Aston Villa as their president of football operations.
Sevilla president Castro met with regional journalists this week to answer their questions, but it was the departure of Mochi, rather than the appointment of the former Leeds man which kept cropping up time and time again, leading to Castro making a rather bizarre statement defending Orta.
Castro said: “Today I’m going to answer all the questions that you ask me about Monchi because I understand that it’s news. But I’m not going to talk about him anymore and not because I have anything against him, on the contrary, I have respect and affection for everything he did for Sevilla.”
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“There’s a man there with a beard called Víctor Orta, he’s his substitute and he will govern the sports management. We cannot talk about Monchi all the time and not because he doesn’t have the doors open to Sevilla, but because I don’t know if Víctor Orta will be there for another 50 years.”
El Desmarque cover the comments with a pinch of salt and point out that the president is merely trying to give some importance to the former Leeds figure. He has previously worked under Monchi at Sevilla, but they point out he has work to do to convince fans he has what it takes to fill the huge shoes of Monchi. Less known in Spain, his other roles came at Elche, Zenit and Middlesbrough before joining Leeds United.
