The departure of Ayoze Pérez to Villarreal in the final stretch of the last summer transfer market, after becoming, a little over a year and natural environment, in one of the strongholds of Real Betis and one of the players most loved by Heliopolitan fans, along with Isco, after the departure of footballers like Joaquín, Canales or Guardado.
The Tenerife footballer signed for the Betic team on loan in the winter market of the 22-23 championship from Leicester. In the English team he had a contract precisely until the end of that season, so once his relationship there ended, he signed as a free agent for the Heliopolitans, with whom he committed until 2027. 11 goals in 38 official games during the championship 23 -24 opened the doors to the Euro Cup that Spain won in Germany against England and from there Betis began negotiations to try to renew him, since Ayoze’s name was linked to various teams, for example FC Barcelona, since the Canarian had a very low termination clause for the level he had offered as a green and white player, 4 million euros, which was marked by the drop in salary, compared to what he earned in the Premier, which he had to do the player to sign for Betis in January 2023.
The conversations to extend Ayoze’s contract with Betis – above all, raising the termination clause – lasted until the second week of August, with the footballer in Marbella with the team incorporated after winning the Euro Cup and did not come to fruition. At that moment Villarreal appeared, with an economic proposal in terms of the salary to be received by the Tenerife attacker that was much higher than that made at the time by the Verdiblanco team, making a significant effort to place him in one of the highest positions in the rankings.
The president of Betis, Ángel Haro, tried to explain what happened with Ayoze’s departure before the trip to Kosice (Slovakia) to play against Kryvbas in the Conference League preview: «I am not so surprised by the departure, but by how. Especially the last few hours, which were hours of ‘now I’m leaving, now I’m not leaving’. But it’s football, you have to understand what this is like. Thank you for the year and a half you spent with us and wish you well. “That’s the only thing I can say.”
The Canarian footballer responded to these words in Seville, at the Sánchez-Pizjuán after scoring Villarreal’s winning goal against Sevilla FC in the match played on August 24: «There has been a lot of gossip, a lot of lies that have been told about the situation . It’s a good time to mention it, but that’s football. As in life itself, you have to make decisions. I thought it was the best for me and in the end I made that decision. “I am one of those who says that half-truths are worse than lies, but I don’t give it more importance than it has.”
Three and a half months after his departure, Ayoze crosses the path of Betis, after he was injured with Spain on the November FIFA matchday before Luis de la Fuente’s team played precisely at the Rodríguez López de Tenerife against to Switzerland the match corresponding to the Nations League. He was a doubt for the clash against the green and white, but he was already recovered for last day’s match that Villarreal lost during their visit to San Mamés to play against Athletic Club, against whom he played a few minutes. The Canarian has scored 7 goals so far with the Villarreal shirt and Marcelino, his coach, has already warned that he can even play as a starter against his former team.
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