The Seville made six additions in the summer market and two more in January. Dmitrovic, Lamela, Rafa Mir, Delaney, Montiel and Augustinsson arrived at the beginning of the season while Martial and Tecatito Corona did it in winter. And none of them, for various reasons, has become essential for Lopetegui as the season approaches its final stretch.
The best example is that only one of the incorporations is among the eleven players with the most minutes, what would become the ideal lineup of the season. It treats of Rafa Mir, that occupies the ninth place of this classification with a total of 2,236 minutes among all competitions. The Cartagena striker is the team’s top scorer with eleven goals, a not insignificant figure, but the truth is that his performance has not been as expected, especially during the absence due to injury and subsequent participation in the African Cup of En Nesyri.
The next most used is Delaney, specifically the jplayer number 12. The Dane has mixed brilliant performances with a couple of inexplicable expulsions and a penalty caused by the style. Montiel is the 13th footballer with the most minutes, having had to cover Navas’ loss in the year of his debut in Europe and ending up paying for the accumulation of matches.
Augustinsson is number 17, showing himself to be far inferior to Acuña in his competition for the left-back. Despite arriving in January, Tecatito ranks 20th, ahead of Dmitrovic, 21st, and Lamela, 22nd. The Serbian goalkeeper has always been Bono’s backup, while the Argentine dazzled at the beginning of the season and his few minutes to date are due to the serious shoulder injury he suffered in November and from which he returned last week.
And the least used signing is Martial. Although it is true that he arrived at the end of January, between the fact that he was injured for a couple of weeks and that his performance has been disappointing so far, his total minutes is 458. Or what is the samehas played less than Suso, who was seriously injured at the beginning of the season, and Óscar, a secondary actor in the first round and on loan to Getafe in January.
Despite the effort made to strengthen Sevilla, Lopetegui’s backbone, for another year, continues to be occupied by his trusted men. In this order, Diego Carlos, Bono, Koundé, Joan Jordán, Ocampos and Fernando.