Real Betis midfielder Pablo Fornals has revealed he was left sleepless, anxiously waiting to discover if his move from West Ham United would be ratified by FIFA.
The Spaniard has been speaking to Betis’ club TV, relayed by Estadio Deportivo, about his time at Betis so far and the uncomfortable situation he found himself in after the January transfer window had closed.
Betis believed they had sealed a deadline day deal for the midfielder with West Ham only for the deal not to go through before the window had closed.
It was later explained this had been because of a computer fault at West Ham, with them and Betis insisting the paperwork had been done and the transfer could go through despite it.
The situation led to FIFA stepping in the day after the window had closed to look at the matter, which had also affected Said Benrahma’s move to Lyon.
They eventually agreed that everything was above board and ratified the transfers, allowing Fornals to return to Spain and reunite with former West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini at Betis.
He’s been enjoying himself ever since and earning rave reviews, but admits it was an anxious wait for him before FIFA intervened.
“It was nice, sad… I was watching my teammates, I made farewell videos, a very nice talk from the coach…” he said.
“But then, on the way home from the stadium, I was talking to my agent… When 11:00 p.m. British time passed, everything was up in the air; we didn’t know if it was going to happen or not, and that night we didn’t sleep at all.
“The next day, all the time watching X (Twitter) and the news, talking to each other. In the end, We were lucky that it could be closed.”
