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Unless its Real Madrid or Barcelona, no LaLiga club is capable of keeping their best players when there is a huge offer on the table. Even Atletico Madrid have sold players like Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao and David de Gea to other top European clubs over the years.
When it comes to selling top players, it is unlikely that any LaLiga club has sold their key players as frequently as Sevilla.
Although Sevilla have sold many top players over the years their incredible scouting network has helped them replace their outgoing stars.
Take for example what happened ahead of the 2013/14 season. Sevilla notably sold Jesús Navas, Álvaro Negredo, Gary Medel and Geoffrey Kondogbia in the summer and still ended the season as Europa League champions.
Over the years they’ve sold so many players that one can’t help but wonder how amazing their team would have been if they didn’t sell their best players.
Note: This XI only features players who were sold by Sevilla and are not currently with the club.
Goalkeeper - Diego Lopez (Espanyol)
Diego Lopez is a product of the Real Madrid academy but he didn’t have the opportunity to break into the first team as Iker Casillas was the undisputed #1 at the club then.
He left Real Madrid to join Villarreal for whom he played 216 times in five seasons before joining Sevilla ahead of the 2012/13 season.
Lopez shared goalkeeping duties with Andrés Palop while he was at Sevilla but he left the club midway through the season to return to Real Madrid as they needed a goalkeeper following an injury to Iker Casillas.
The Spaniard was the club’s #1 till the end of the season even though Casillas returned from injury and he started in goal the following season in the league games.
He left Real Madrid in 2014 to join Milan before returning to LaLiga with Espanyol in 2016 for whom he still plays.
Note: Sergio Rico has not been included because he is only on loan at Fulham
Full-backs - Dani Alves (PSG) and Alberto Moreno (Liverpool)
Sevilla was Dani Alves’ first club in Europe and he joined them in 2002. The Brazilian played 250 games for Sevilla in six seasons winning five trophies before making a switch to Barcelona.
Alves spent his peak years with Barcelona between 2008 and 2016 during the club’s glorious era. He donned the Catalan club’s colours in 391 games and won as many as 23 trophies during his stint there.
Since leaving Barcelona, Alves has represented Juventus and PSG where he added more trophies to his cabinet en route to becoming the player with the most number of trophies in European football.
The other full-back, Alberto Moreno, is a product of the Sevilla academy. He made his first-team debut in 2012 and went on to play 62 games before leaving the club in 2014 to join Liverpool for whom he still plays.
Moreno won the Europa League with Sevilla in his final season at the club and he played 14 games in their successful campaign.
He is also capped at the full international level by Spain and has four caps to his name so far.
Honourary mention: Martin Caceres (Lazio) and Adriano (Besiktas)
Centre-backs - Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) and Clément Lenglet (Barcelona)
The two former Sevilla centre-backs in this XI currently play for LaLiga clubs albeit for two archrivals.
Sergio Ramos graduated from the Sevilla academy and made his senior debut in February 2004. The following season he became a first team regular and played alongside Dani Alves in defence before making a €27 million move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2005.
At Real Madrid, Ramos started out as a right-back and was, in fact, a World Cup-winning right-back before switching to the heart of the defence.
Today, the Spain and Real Madrid captain is considered one the best defenders in the world. Ramos has represented Real Madrid in 566 games scoring 74 goals and has 19 trophies to show for it.
Clement Lenglet is the latest Sevilla player to make a switch to Barcelona. The Catalan club signed the Frenchman in the summer by paying his €35.9 million release clause.
Lenglet joined Sevilla in January 2017 and played 73 games for the club in a season and a half before his move to Barcelona.
The 23-year-old is highly rated with plenty of LaLiga experience and could be a perfect fit for the Barcelona team. He already won his first career honour when he started and finished the Supercopa de Espana match against his former club.
Honourary mention: Adil Rami (Olympique Marseille) and Federico Fazio (Roma)
Midfield - Steven Nzonzi (Roma), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona) and Luis Alberto (Lazio)
Steven Nzonzi rose to fame in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City before making a switch to Sevilla in 2015.
The Frenchman’s qualities came to the fore with Sevilla and he won the Europa League in his debut season with the club.
In three seasons he played for the club in 136 games before making the switch to Roma in the summer. In fact, Nzonzi was signed at Sevilla and at Roma by the same Director of Football, Monchi.
Ivan Rakitic joined Sevilla in January 2011 from Schalke and he went on to play 149 games scoring 34 goals. The Croat won the Europa League in his last season as captain of the club before joining Barcelona the following summer.
Rakitic has been an important member of the Barcelona midfield since his move and has played 214 games scoring 30 goals in his four seasons at the club. In addition, he has won 12 trophies in those four seasons.
Luis Alberto also came through the Sevilla academy but he only played nine games for the first team across two seasons before moving to Liverpool on a permanent transfer in 2013.
Alberto’s career didn’t take off at Liverpool and he was eventually sold to Lazio in 2016 for just €4 million. The Spaniard struggled in his first season in the Italian capital but he thrived in the 2017/18 season
The 25-year-old ended the last season with 12 goals and 19 assists in all competitions and his tally of 14 assists in the league was bettered only by Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane in Europe’s Top 5 leagues.
Honourary mention: Grzegorz Krychowiak (Lokomotiv Moscow), Geoffrey Kondogbia (Valencia), Gary Medel (Besiktas) and Joaquín Correa (Lazio)
Forwards - Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo), Kevin Gameiro (Valencia) and Vitolo (Atletico Madrid)
Iago Aspas’ only season with Sevilla was on loan but he was briefly on the books of Sevilla as a full-time player.
Aspas joined Sevilla in 2014/15 on loan from Liverpool, played 26 games scoring 10 goals for the club and won the Europa League before his transfer was made permanent the following summer.
The Spaniard was immediately sold to Celta Vigo, the club from which he joined Liverpool. He thrived at Celta scoring 67 goals in 126 games while also winning Zarra Trophy in 2016/17 and 2017/18.
Aspas is now also a full Spanish international with 6 goals in 13 games for La Furia Roja.
Kevin Gameiro joined Sevilla from PSG in 2013 and he spent three seasons there winning the Europa League in each season he was there.
The French international played 144 games for Sevilla scoring 67 goals and assisting 16 more in all competitions before making a switch to Atletico Madrid in the 2016 summer.
Gameiro won another Europa League title with Atletico Madrid before switching to Valencia in the summer.
The final player in the XI, Vitolo, joined Sevilla in 2013 from Las Palmas. He played 170 games for Sevilla scoring 27 goals in four seasons while also winning the Europa League thrice during the same period.
In the summer of 2017, Atletico Madrid paid his release clause but since the club was still going through a transfer ban, he went on loan to Las Palmas for half a season before joining his new club in January 2018.
At Atletico Madrid, Vitolo won the fourth Europa League title of his career just like his former Sevilla and Atletico Madrid teammate Kevin Gameiro.
Honourary mention: Yevhen Konoplyanka (Schalke), Diego Perotti (Roma), Carlos Bacca (Villarreal), Fernando Llorente (Spurs) and Alvaro Negredo (Besiktas)
