Marked for Manu González
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Betis asked and Real Madrid said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
Isco moves on
Atlético Madrid pay $4.3M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Betis
Antony and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
No investment in the facilities at Betis
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fran García wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Betis have no good answer.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ez Abde linked with a move away
The name of Ez Abde keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Betis say nothing, which says plenty.
Market17 Aug 2026
The hardest part of developing a footballer is admitting he needs to be somewhere else for a while. Manu González leaves on loan to get the football he was not going to get here, which is the point of the exercise and not an admission of anything.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
Looking ahead: the trip to Levante
Position 8 for the hosts, a long journey for the away end, and a fixture that will look ordinary on paper right up until it is not.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Betis Deportivo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Eldense for Rodrigo Marina was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ismael Barea and Betis Deportivo agree another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ian Forns and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Ismael Barea asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Betis Deportivo, another week without a signature from Pablo Busto.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Girona come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Betis Deportivo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darling Bladi commits to Betis Deportivo for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Betis Deportivo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ian Forns and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Carlos Reina falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Getafe say no — this time
The offer from Lausanne-Sport for Borja Mayoral was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
$3.5M on the table at River Plate. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Soria and Getafe agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Getafe
Nemanja Gudelj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
Borja Mayoral wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Getafe hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Albacete have kept their man, and Getafe go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Getafe can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Djéné Dakonam stands down from international duty
“93 caps is more than I ever expected, and it is time somebody else had them.” At 34 he is finished with his country and nowhere near finished with Getafe.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Getafe, another week without a signature from David Soria.