Fresh from winning back-to-back Europa League titles, one might have feared the worst when it emerged not long afterwards that top scorer Carlos Bacca was packing his bags for AC Milan in what turned out to be a €30 million transfer fee. However the truth is, Sevilla have been here before, many times.
Carlos Bacca's departure will hurt no doubt but Sevilla are quiet capable of replacing departing star players with cheaper potential star players. In fact Bacca is a case study in this. Signed back in 2013 from Belgian side Club Brugge for a relatively cheap €7 million, Bacca was signed to replace the departing top scorer of 2012-13 Álvaro Negredo who was sold to Manchester City for around €25 million.
Replacing Bacca in 2015 is Italian striker Ciro Immobile signed on loan from Borussia Dortmund. Immobile impressed while at Torino two seasons ago and will be hoping to replicate that sort of form for Sevilla who are also back in the champions league this season.
The policy at Sevilla is clear buy low and sell high and you could make a pretty decent team with the players they have sold particularly in the last few years with the likes of Ivan Rakitic, Jesús Navas, Álvaro Negredo, Aleix Vidal, Adriano and Kondogbia.
This summer they have signed Yevhen Konoplyanka, Gael Kakuta, Micheal Krohn-Dehli, Adil Rami and Steven N'Zonzi for a combined €20 million. All decent players that should give Sevilla more depth to their squad for the coming campaign. You don't need to be an expert to see that if Kakuta and Konoplyanka have a few impressive seasons with the club they'll be the next €20-30 million rated players leaving Sevilla and the process starts again.
Sevilla's key players these days have been signed for peanuts in today's market. Vitolo was a €3 million signing in 2013, Trémoulinas was signed for under €4 million last summer and Polish rock Gregorz Krychowiak was signed for what now looks a give away at €5 million last summer.
Even with the champions league money this season, Sevilla are not going mad. The policy remains the same as they look to stabilize the club off the pitch. The risk is always spending the money unwisely and then missing out on the champions league the following season. For a few years Sevilla's transfers were not working out, the likes of Tom De Mul, Romaric and Morgan De Sanctis were signed and didn't produce so Sevilla's league position declined. They are now back on the upward curve on and off the pitch and it remains to be seen just how far they can go in the champions league this coming season.
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