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Our fantastic Spanish winger was supposedly left out of the side against Milan yesterday because of a muscular problem, but that doesn't change the fact that his transfer saga is far from over. In a stunning and emotional interview that he called FirenzeViola.it (out of the blue?) to perform, Joaquin Sanchez made it clear that he no longer wants to be in Florence.
It would be unethical from a journalistic standpoint for us to translate verbatim an interview that a player left with only one other fan news source, but fortunately - well, unfortunately - the message is loud and clear. Joaquin is very unhappy, and yearns only to return to Real Betis to close out his career.
Joaquin claims in the interview that Fiorentina informed him that he was "on the market" over a year ago, when he was rarely playing behind Juan Cuadrado on the right wing, and at that point Joaquin expressed his desire to return to Spain. He was convinced to stay last January, he says, by a desire to "carry the team in an important moment," but that he has "wanted to return to Betis for 5 years."
Joaquin also posted today the following Instagram post, insisting that "I have made my decision, I only want to go home":
Joaquin insists that the goodwill of the fans is behind him, and that they understand his desire to return to Real Betis, although the strong arm tactics of calling a media outlet to say how very unhappy he is in Florence cannot have endeared him to the Viola front office; at the same time, if it is true that Fiorentina put the Spaniard on the market both last season and this summer - as has been rumored and Joaquin maintains - they have little to complain about if Joaquin wants to take them at their word and be sold.
Most importantly Joaquin claims that no one "asked him" if he wanted to stay earlier in the summer, which would be a grave indictment on the Fiorentina front office if true. Regardless, this very muddled and upsetting situation has hit a point of no return now, what with Joaquin acting out so vocally. It will take a miracle for our "Gioacchino" to still be in Florence come September.