Sevilla's Summer Blueprint: Cordón Plays the Long Game Amid Financial Chaos
Antonio Cordón is quietly building Sevilla's summer transfer plan despite relegation fears and a potential club sale. Here's what's in the pipeline.
Sevilla are fighting on two fronts right now — trying to stay in La Liga and trying to stop the whole club from falling apart financially. Through all of it, sporting director Antonio Cordón is keeping his head down and getting on with the job.
The Man With a Plan
Cordón signed a three-year deal when he arrived, and regardless of the ongoing uncertainty around a potential takeover, he’s cracking on with planning for next season. His approach has been honest from the off — this isn’t a quick fix, it’s a full rebuild. The financial situation at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán is genuinely grim, with the club needing to generate somewhere between 10 and 15 million euros in player sales before the end of June just to balance the books.
That means his job isn’t just about bringing players in — it’s about protecting the club if some of their more valuable assets walk out the door. Names like Juanlu Sánchez, Lucien Agoumé, Djibril Sow, Rubén Vargas and Akor Adams are all potential departures that could ease the pressure.
Incoming Business
Despite the constraints, Cordón has already moved on one signing:
- Patrik Mercado – The Independiente del Valle midfielder has been a target for months. Sevilla have now confirmed a preliminary agreement to bring him in this summer for around €6 million, likely after he features at the World Cup. Smart business if he kicks on — the sort of buy-low, sell-higher logic that’s the only realistic model for Sevilla right now.
- Juan Iglesias – The Getafe full-back is out of contract in June and looks set to sign a four-year deal at Sevilla. Essentially a free transfer to cover the gap if Juanlu moves on.
- Marius Marin – The Romanian international defensive midfielder is finishing up seven seasons at Pisa and has been linked. Another potential freebie.
Then there’s the more speculative end of the market — Dele Alli, without a club since Como released him last September, and Yari Verschaeren, the Belgian winger who’ll be leaving Anderlecht when his contract expires. Both tick the same box: talent available on the cheap.
Contracts Running Out
This summer Sevilla lose a fair few senior figures to contract expiry:
- Ørjan Nyland
- César Azpilicueta
- Nemanja Gudelj
- Adnan Januzaj
- Alexis Sánchez
Of that lot, Gudelj looks like the only one who might stay — he’s one of the few remaining links to Sevilla’s Europa League-winning era — though even he’d need to take a significant wage cut. Januzaj is an outside possibility too, though he’s unlikely to hit the 25-appearance threshold that would trigger an automatic renewal, having managed just 12 so far.
The Goalkeeper Situation
One of the more interesting subplots is what happens with Odysseas Vlachodimos. The Greek keeper, on loan from Newcastle, has been proper quality and the fans love him. There’s no buy option in place, but he wants to stay and Sevilla are looking at ways to make it work. Meanwhile, buy options do exist for Batista Mendy (€7m) and Neal Maupay (€5m), though the club are in no rush — they’ll wait until May before making any calls on those two.
The Bigger Picture
Cordón said on arrival that “our job is to get this club back on its feet” — and everything he’s doing points to exactly that kind of structural thinking. Lower the wage bill, bring in hungry players with resale value, use the free transfer market cleverly. It’s unglamorous work, but it’s the only realistic path forward for a club in Sevilla’s current state.
The whole thing is being done with a potential ownership change looming in the background. Proper plates-spinning stuff. Whether it comes together depends as much on what happens off the pitch as on it.