The January negotiation between Aston Villa and Sevilla for Loic Badé repeatedly felt like a battle of wills between Monchi and Victor Orta.
Aston Villa’s transfer guru has a long and successful history at Sevilla and Orta, his successor, has been the subject of a lot of questioning regarding the business he’s done since taking the post with the Spanish club.
Therefore, Aston Villa attempts to sign the French defender were never going to be straightforward. In the end, the message sent out by the La Liga club to its local media was that Monchi and Aston Villa caved in the end and agreed to pay what Orta had been requesting, but the player then rejected them anyway.
Whether the Premier League club did go that high is obviously questionable, as is the Badé stance. That said, it’s great public relations with fans for the player to talk up his commitment to Sevilla.
On the topic, Diario de Sevilla quote him as saying “I choose myself” before adding the following words from the defender: “I suppose I will be here for many years. First of all, Sevilla is a place where I feel very good. So that is a very important thing for me . Also, I think we can still do very good things. So I’m staying here because I know I can progress with the coach and with the squad we have. I am the player, so I am the one who always chooses.”
