Sevilla #1: Selling club?

Having chosen Sevilla as the club I'll be writing about for the near future, I thought I'd dig into the past a bit to see how the club's record sales have fared. One of the gripes I guess you could say about the club in recent years is that Monchi sold players whenever they reached a certain level. The same was said with Roma, but he didn't bring them any success, so they don't like him there. However, the proof is somewhat in the pudding, as Sevilla have won 5 Europa Leagues and regularly featured in the Champions League (effectively taking the place of Valencia). So yeah, I'll look at a number of the highest fees raked in and give my take on how each player performed in subsequent seasons.

Ben Yedder (striker, sold for 36m pounds at age 29, currently age 31 still at Monaco):

This situation is a bit odd. I was surprised to see that he was the highest sale, in all honesty. He's a good player for sure, but Monaco for me peaked once in 2004 with that CL final and in 2017 with the infamous run with Mbappe, Bernardo Silva, Falcao, Fabinho, etc. Since then it seems like a typical Ligue 1 club; financial issues, producing young talents, far off what PSG are. 18 goals 4 assists in 25 starts first season, 20 and 7 in 32 starts last season, 6 and 2 in 10 starts so far this campaign. No hype around him, solid numbers, just not in CL so people will just say "oh it's Ligue 1".

Clement Lenglet (CB, sold for 32m pounds at age 23, 26 and still at Barcelona):

Safe to say this has ben a failure. Not so much in terms of trophies, but the performance of the player has declined drastically over his stint at the Camp Nou. His minutes actually increased the first three seasons, but the position in the table has dropped from 1 to 2 to 3 and now to whatever they'll finish this season. I don't follow him closely, but it seems like he peaked (as did a few French players) for the 2018 triumph at the World Cup. Umtiti is worse, injures for sure, but Lenglet has become a target for abuse with his poor form, and now he doesn't even start.

Vitolo (AM/Winger, sold for 32m to Atleti at age 27, now 32 and at Getafe):

This one has always made no sense. Wingers haven't played well for Simeone since Arda Turan. What's even weirder to me is he was loaned directly to Las Palmas after the transfer, who were relegated that season. Since then he's put up a grand total of 4 goals and 5 assists, and is now in a dire Getafe team. Almost reeks of money laundering, or just a signing that wasn't wanted by the coach.

Dani Alves (RB, sold for 32m pounds to Barcelona at age 25, now 38 and back at Barca):

One of the rare misfires. Only sold one the best RB's and most decorated players ever. Not much else to say. That was back in '08 though so the situation wasn't what it is now. I suppose the club can somewhat take solace in that he gave Sevilla 4 good seasons and declined at the end of his first stint at Barcelona (age 33 or so), though that's reaching.

Carlos Bacca (CF, sold 30m at age 28 to Milan, now 35 at Granada):

Banter era Milan signing. To be fair, he actually scored 18 goals in his first season, before dropping off to 13. Moved to Villarreal and scored 15 goals before a drastic dip (6, 2 and 5 goals respectively after that). Just turned 35, clearly passed it, playing for a lower mid table/relegation team.

Kevin Gameiro (CF, sold 29m to Atleti at age 29, now 34 at Strasbourg):

A bit like Bacca, had a decent first season at his new club (12 goals 5 assists) and was pretty poor after that. Moved to Valencia after two years at Atleti. Now back in France. Great business by Sevilla.

Grzegorz Krychowiak (DM, sold 25m to PSG at age 25, now 31 at Krasnodar):

I always liked this player, though he's nowhere near the level that PSG aspired to even at that time. That was the season they finished 2nd to Monaco, and he never played for the club again; loaned to West Brom of all teams and then sent to Russia (Lokomotiv and now Krasnodar). To be fair, he actually scored 9 goals for Lok two years in a row.

Sergio Ramos (CB, sold 24m to Madrid age 19, now 35 at PSG):

Clear loss here, second one with Alves. It happens when you're a high-end selling club. Most of the time they don't work out, as we're seeing here. Sometimes they become legends. No positives to take here, if I'm honest.

Steven Nzonzi (DM, sold to Roma 24m pounds age 29, now 32 at Al Rayyan):

Pound for pound one of the worst ones here. He actually started 29 games for Roma that first season, but they finished 6th and he was shipped out and never played for them again.

Bryan Gil (winger, sold age 20 to Spurs for 22m):

Barely played so far, so I'll add one more.

Luis Muriel (CF, sold to Atalanta age 28 for 19m, now age 30):

One of the rare fails. Ciro Immobile esque in that he thrives in Serie A. Scored 11 twice for Samp, came back and scored 18 and 22 for Atalanta. Sevilla spell was mediocre; 7 goals in 17 starts (29 total games). That team in general was a mess. Finished 7th, only scored 48 goals in the league.

CONCLUSIONS:

Main conclusion I can draw from this exercise is it there are hits and misses, but more misses than hits. As I said with the Ramos bit, certain players are destined for the top, whether that's at their boyhood club or a "super club". The "selling club" model, at least at this level of competition, has its drawbacks. You usually don't win trophies, and selling players well before their peak kinda defeats the purpose. Let's take Gil as an example. That deal came to pass for two reasons; money and Lopetegui having a rigid style of play. The financial issues in La Liga are well documented, so I won't expand on that. Lamela may be better RIGHT NOW, but he's a limited player and turns 30 in a few months. Compare that to Gil, only 20 and would have outlived Lopetegui at the club. My point here is it's a "win now" move that won't move the needle enough to actually win the league or go deep in the CL. There's certainly a chance Gil doesn't pan out at Spurs, not due to him not having the talent but because it's a bad fit.