The controversial and debated departure of Francho Serrano from Real Zaragoza was not in the plans of the white sports management, but it has ended up happening when Getafe’s opportunity appeared and the player himself expressed his willingness to leave. This was revealed this Friday by the sporting director of the Aragonese entity, Lalo Arantegui, who reviewed how an operation was carried out that ended with the white captain heading to the First Division after leaving the club where he had become the first captain and the maximum symbol and bulwark of Zaragoza.
Since the end of last season and throughout the summer, Real Zaragoza have been in talks with Francho and his entourage to find a formula that would allow them to adapt their contractual situation to the new economic reality of the Primera RFEF. «The club reached an agreement to offer a proposal to the player in which there was neither a reduction nor anything. It was an extension of one more year of the contract, but it was not accepted,» explained Arantegui. Despite this, the club continued to count on the medium within the sporting and economic planning and there were even direct contacts during Boltaña’s training camp to find out the feelings of a player who «was very mentally focused on the project«.
Even so, the situation changed drastically during the week of the match against U.D. Logroñés. «We received interest, not directly from the club, but from the player and from the representation agency, from a club that we did not have the identity of. It was a proposal that was interesting for the player and the player’s willingness was for us to listen to it and to assess whether we were willing to accept those conditions,» revealed the sporting director.
«In this situation, the player’s desire was to leave and it was a very good opportunity for him. We try to defend the interests of Real Zaragoza and to get the best possible agreement, which has not been possible, but it has not gone at zero cost either,» said Arantegui, who explained that the transfer remuneration will arrive with «future objectives». «We were a bit in that situation that was to accept this or the agreement would be broken, so that’s why we had to assess very well who the player was and we had to respect what his will was,» said the sporting director about an exit that he has defined as «good for all parties».
«A SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCE»
In this way, Lalo Arantegui has acknowledged that the case of Francho has been treated in a different way for everything he represents for Zaragoza after having been «quite inflexible» in the conditions of the transfers of other players. «We have heard this case because of a special circumstance, because of who Francho is and because of the affection that the club has for him or me,» said the sporting director, who also recalled the effort made by the midfielder last season, when he played the final stretch with a battered knee trying to help the team avoid relegation.
In addition, Arantegui has pointed out that the origin of all this problem with Francho was born two years ago at the time when the Zaragoza midfielder was renewed with a high contract. «I would have managed it better two years ago, but now it has been a surprise because we no longer counted on the departure of Francho and we did not have any problems within the economic planning,» said the sporting director.
Francho’s departure now leaves Real Zaragoza forced to look for new references within the dressing room, although Lalo Arantegui is confident in the existing alternatives. «We have players in the squad who can take on that role, with experience and some who have been in the first team for several years,» he said. For this reason, he believes that «the role will be won little by little» and faces the farewell of the homegrown player with mixed feelings: «It’s a 50% sad and 50% happy day, because I’m happy that things are going well for Francho. This opportunity has come to him and he will do very well. We will continue on our way.»
