Monchi is delighted to be back with Sevilla as sporting director.

When the club offered him a role he couldn't say no after his experience in Rome. He matured in Italy, grew with the criticism and has a clear path to follow.

He told Marca: "After two months there are positives and negatives. There have been moments that have made it a little less beautiful than we'd like it to be, but that can happen when you have a summer like we did. From that point of view I'm a lot more optimistic because I knew it'd take time to become great.

"It's going to be a closer tighter league than three or four years ago when Real Madrid and Barcelona got to 100 points. Atletico Madrid were there too and the rest fought for what was left. This year there will be eight or nine teams fighting for three or four places."