Profile
It was the experienced and respected Manuel Pellegrini, perhaps arriving in Seville with a point to prove, Real Betis turned to when recruiting a new manager to lead them into the 2020/21 La Liga season. The Chilean was sacked by West Ham in December 2019, the first club he struggled at since so impressively enhancing his reputation while at Villarreal.
Having built Villarreal’s best ever team, he continued to succeed to varying degrees at Real Madrid, Malaga and Manchester City, before a move to China’s Hebei China Fortune preceded him heading to London, and Betis has become the ideal next move. He has inherited a squad in which full-backs Emerson Royal and Álex Moreno, and Sergio Canales, Guido Rodríguez, Borja Iglesias, Joaquín and Nabil Fekir already appear capable of providing the core of the entertaining team he is expected to build.