Real Sociedad have been one of the most consistent performing sides in the last decade of Spanish football, with Imanol Alguacil qualifying his side for Europe for a fifth successive season. Naturally, other teams are looking at their best players, and this summer, Robin Le Normand and Mikel Merino have both been linked with moves.
Le Normand is reportedly a target for Atletico Madrid this summer, and despite reports of talks between clubs, Sporting Director Roberto Olabe explained that this was not the case.
”With Robin I have not talked about Atletico Madrid. He is an international player who I know over time that Napoli wanted him. We do not have any formal offer for any player at this time, neither for Le Normand nor for anyone else. With Atletico we have a fairly fluid relationship between people, we have played the last game together and nothing more. But summer seems to me to be more complex.”
While there are ‘big clubs’ on the scene for Merino, Olabe also confirmed that no offers had arrived for the Spanish international.
“We would love for him to continue with us. It’s not a question of money. It’s a matter of life and that’s where everything counts. If that were the case [it was about money], I told you that it is impossible. I don’t think Mikel thought about leaving. Thaty wait is not based on ‘I want to leave’. We may come to the conclusion that we prefer performance over money at the time. There are several desires at play.”
Olabe went on to explain to MD that they were not worried about it top talents potentially leaving though.
“The club’s position is not to sell. But we are not a club in which we do not speculate in this game of performance. And that strengthens us when we go into the market.”
“Throughout the summer things happen that don’t depend on you. Over time, players have left the club and at that moment it is who stays and how we deal with it. And who is going to come, in the meantime we try to make all our kids see that La Real want to grow and there are many things still to achieve.”
In terms of their own targets, Olabe said they would not be looking for a centre-forward, despite getting little out of Andre Silva, Carlos Fernandez and Umar Sadiq. The latter has reportedly asked La Real to leave this summer.
“Our center forwards are Sadiq Umar and Mikel. Right now Imanol is thinking of Mikel as a forward and very versatile player.”
Silva will leave the club and return to RB Leipzig, while Olabe also confirmed they would not be holding onto Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney. While he did profess faith in Jonathan Silva and Aihen Munoz, who is recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, the Txuri-Urdin will look for another left-back.
The post Real Sociedad Sporting Director responds to Mikel Merino and Robin Le Normand transfer doubts appeared first on Football España.
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