In a season with many ups and downs, Nervion has experienced another bump in the rollercoaster. Their emphatic win this past weekend against Athletic Club gave the team a much needed breath of fresh air in the table. After a difficult January, the game felt like a return to form for Matias Almeyda’s men. The Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium crowd screamed and cheered with renewed energy, the way they do when the game swings back and forth to their liking.
It was also a night built on the legs of the academy. As Sevilla team connection highlighted after that, Almeyda hit a total of seven homers in the entire game. Juanlu Sanchez, Carmona, Kike Salas, and Isaac Romero started the game, while Andres Castrin, Oso, and Manu Bueno were considered later.
Sevilla’s current use of academy talent may set the club on a different path than the one that has led to its success over the past two decades. Utrera produced great players who influenced the story of Sevilla and Spanish football – Jesus Navas, Jose Antonio Reyes, Antonio Puerta, Sergio Ramos – but Sevilla’s glory in 21St A century was built primarily on Monchi’s transfer alchemy. Sevilla have been dominating underperforming markets, particularly in France and Portugal, buying unsettled talent and selling them to cash-rich clubs. This margin has eroded over the past 15 years as the Premier League’s spending power and data-driven global focus have swallowed up the grounds used by Sevilla to poach talent.
Sevilla struggled to adapt to this new reality. And unless you’re one of the richest clubs in the world, it doesn’t take too many mistakes to send a club from the top of the table to pieces – as Sevilla saw. Their margin of error is much smaller than in the 2000s or 2010s.
Almeyda keeps the ship steady
Into this instability went Almeyda, equal parts pragmatist and activist. He understands that this Sevilla team is not as talented as it has been in decades, and he understands the high-tempo football that Nervion’s crowd loves. Almeyda’s approach focused on teamwork, tightened the space between the lines and made Sevilla difficult to play. Almeyda did well to get the whole team to buy into this style of play. Even veterans like Alexis Sanchez are doing their best to cope with the tough demands of the coach.
Almeyda’s approach sees the team press harder from midfield. Their defensive line is not very high compared to other teams in La Liga, however according to Opta Analystthey have the second lowest pass allowed per defensive action (PPDA).
Matías Almeyda, head coach of Sevilla, about Alexis Sánchez:
“Alexis is football, he is happy, he doesn’t stay on his phone all day, he talks to you about football, games, players, I am very grateful that you came.
He is one of the shortest yet wins balls in the air. He is not… pic.twitter.com/VYEPWP3Mjk
– Foot Section (@FTBLsection) January 28, 2026
The team’s key players reflect this identity. Odysseas Vlachodimos did not create surprises, providing stability in the goal. The midfield unit of Djibril Sow, Batista Mendy, and Lucien Agoume has become the engine room of Almeyda’s strong defensive style. And up front, Nigerian legend Akor Adams plays well with Isaac Romero who brings link-up play and defensive toughness.
Despite having a strong tactical identity, the Sevilla team has its limitations, and that is reflected in the consistent results. The pendulum has swung all the way from a 4-1 defeat of league leaders Barcelona, to a 0-3 loss against relegated Levante.
However, if Almeyda can continue to convince the players to work hard and press, Sevilla should at least be able to stay in the mid-table positions. Sevilla’s real edge as a club comes from the front office.
The real chaos below: Club politics and finance
Foremost over Sevilla’s ups and downs on the pitch is the long-running civil war between Jose Maria del Nido Benavente and his son, current club president Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco. The intensity of this conflict has seeped into the clubs’ day-to-day operations: managers are in doubt, departments are operating under changing priorities, and long-term planning has been repeatedly disrupted.
Financially, the world has been in turmoil for a long time. The accounts for 2024/25 approved in December 2025 showed a loss of €54m, following the largest deficit in 23/24. The board led by del Nido Carrasco pointed to a lack of European revenue, a drop in TV revenue, and poor transfer sales as the main drivers of the club’s losses.
In a way, it was already a small miracle that these accounts were approved, because all the board meetings of the last few years turned into an argument about whether del Nido Benavente could vote or not. In this case, it seems that del Nido Carrasco has made enough connections with other small shareholders of Sevilla to not only approve the financial accounts for 2024-25, but also those of the previous three seasons, which were stuck in political limbo.
This does not really help the popularity of del Nido Carrasco’s board, which was constantly insulted and insulted by the whole meeting. However, it certainly helps to set the stage for the arrival of new investors. As the club’s losses and debts pile up, the current board sees a sale as the only possible ‘escape’ from future bankruptcy.
The return of Sergio Ramos
News broke this week that prodigal son Sergio Ramos was planning to return to the club, but this time in the owner’s box instead of the pitch. A consortium led by Ramos and his partners at Five Eleven Capital signed a Letter of Intent with key Sevilla investors to buy the club for an estimated €450m. The agreement gives Ramos’ consortium a three-month exclusivity period to be able to carry out its duties properly and audit the club’s account.
Ramos is the face and symbol of the bid, but the funding comes from across the Atlantic. A Spanish company, Five Eleven Capital, acted as a bridge between Ramos and American investors. Interestingly, Sevilla’s current sporting director, Antonio Cordon, was the football director of Five Eleven Capital a year before joining Sevilla, so he may have been a key figure in bringing about the alliance.
The bid is intended to buy out the warring shareholders (the del Nidos and the Castros) and inject cash to pay off short-term loans with high interest. Part of the project also involves the expansion of the capital like that done by Atletico Madrid or Real Betis. This will allow the club to increase the wage bill and allow them to re-buy players without having to sell quality young players every year. The final price, structure, and equity injection depend on due diligence, and especially on how Sevilla’s debt is classified.
However, the biggest player in Sevilla, del Nido Benavente, said in the past weeks that Ramos and his partners. he had not contacted him about the bid. Without del Nido’s cooperation, it will be very difficult to get any traction.
Ramos may not be the most unifying figure at Nervion, but it is hard for his opponents to doubt his love and dedication to the club at this stage. At the moment, the Ramos consortium seems to be in a good position to end the rivalry for the leadership of Sevilla.
Hope and uncertainty in the future
Emotionally, Sevilla fans are navigating a sea of renewed expectations. They are used to European nights and big knockout runs, but it will take the club several years of financial cleanup and good moves in the transfer market to return to the Eurozone. Meanwhile, the current victory of the club should be focused on the steady work promoted by Almeyda and on the small steps: academy debuts, strong performances, signs of tactical cohesion.
In this slow but steady recovery, the institution of higher learning can hopefully play a greater role than it did in previous decades. If sales are necessary, youth minutes are not only romantic, but also a sustainable strategy. Sevilla may not be returning to their previous plan, but they may be getting a new one going forward.
