Hector Bellerin spent the last campaign on loan at Real Betis and he wanted to return to the club after his successful and enjoyable spell with them.
Arsenal initially wanted some money in transfer fees before releasing the full-back, but Betis insisted they have no money to pay and couldn’t meet that demand from the Gunners.
He negotiated with the Gunners to terminate his contract by mutual consent and they agreed, but he moved to Barcelona instead.
That was a surprising twist that most fans didn’t see coming and the president of Betis has revealed why they couldn’t sign him.
The Spanish club has been battling financially, and they didn’t want to be punished by a breach of FFP, so they avoided adding him to their group this summer.
Betis president, Ángel Haro, explains, as quoted by Estadio Deportivo:
“At this moment, the (salary) limit we have is practically non-existent.
“Someone would have to leave for there to be some limit.
“This year (signing Bellerin) was unfeasible. As our theoretical (salary) limit was exceeded, it would not make sense. That’s why the objective was to keep the group (together). It didn’t make sense to add someone.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Bellerin had a good time at Betis and he wanted to return there, but they needed the capacity to accommodate him.
Hopefully, at the expiry of his one-year deal at Barca, he will move to the Seville club.
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Full in-depth review of Arsenal’s Transfer Window with Alfie and Rob
Sad Hector is Gone…..An actually experienced player,at the club since 2011…..We move on!!!
Small point / question – my understanding is that the contract wasn’t cancelled, they did it as a free transfer with Bellerin waiving any monies due to him from Arsenal.
I imagine there’s a reason – perhaps to stop Bellerin becoming a free agent and sloping off to Betis. I got the impression in this window that Arsenal were out to make a point (that they will not be pushed around). Fiorentina were another club trying it on, who eventually found that they didn’t get their player at all.
With 12 players outgoing, including all the ones who were earmarked for the exit, that in itself is a pretty good window, setting the club up for the future.
Some of those outgoings were loans so they may give us another headache when they come back next summer – but it should be a minor one and some of them may actually be better players by then that we may to keep.
I agree that this was, in part, driven by a desire to stop being viewed as a club that cancels contracts for players to move. A lot of players were starting to push for this. This seems like a reasonably positive outcome for all parties involved.
Bit of a dirty trick by Bellerin. He must have known which club he wanted to go to from the start and that Arsenal would get a decent fee from Barcelona, so he negotiated a release and moved to Barca anyway (leaving Betis high & dry) and in a position where they can sell him next year (like they did with Auba) and Arsenal miss out on a few million once again.
I believe that you will find that a 25% clause on any transfer monies that Barca might receive will go to The Arsenal – not certain how true that is.
It’s obvious, who didn’t read the article read the article…IJS
Was goer say the same mate 👍
Barcelona Build a better squad then us with no money to spend ! How ridiculous is that we have way more money and cant even compete with them its a shame
Where’s the shame. I think we did well in this window. Taken out all the fringe players either on loan or out.
January we can just patch up.
In-fact defence we are set. May be just 2more players.
The idea of Douglas Luiz attracted me although I didn’t expect it.
Don’t know why we couldn’t get Arthur Melo on loan?