Sevilla director of football Monchi has revealed the "intense" transfer talks he held to prise Anthony Martial away from Manchester United.
French forward Martial joined La Liga side Sevilla towards the end of the January transfer window on loan until the end of the season.
The 26-year-old had made only two Premier League starts all season, and was strongly out of favour under Ralf Rangnick.
So in search of regular playing time, Martial opted to leave United for the first time since his arrival in 2015.
But negotiations were far from straight forward, Monchi has revealed, with manager Julen Lopetegui playing an important role in helping to convince him to join.
“It has been intense because bringing in two players like Martial and Tecatito is not easy because the competition was so great,” La Colina de Nervion report him saying.
“Different situations, with a high market profile, but very coveted pieces of the market. We have spent a lot of time convincing and acquiring these players.
“If the Sevilla coach wasn’t Lopetegui, it wouldn’t have been so easy for Tecatito and Martial to be here. The willingness of the players has helped a lot in that sense.”
Did Martial make the right decision to leave Man Utd? Comment down below
Martial admitted that the negotiations with Sevilla were quite complicated, but confirmed Monchi and Lopetegui had played a key role in getting him to join.
"It [negotiations] hasn't been easy," Martial said. "But from the first day, I knew I wanted to come to Sevilla and we all worked for that to happen.
"The coach [Lopetegui] and the sporting director [Monchi] showed a strong interest in me and that's what convinced me to come here.
"They [Sevilla] wanted me in the past and we kept in touch. They contacted me recently and said I could help them."
Martial joins a Sevilla side currently sitting in second place in La Liga.
And he hinted that while a title charge was certainly on the cards, he was just looking forward to bedding in with his new team-mates.
"I want to help the club achieve it's aims," he said. "We have to be consistent in La Liga and do the best we can knowing that there are other big clubs that want to win the title."
"I have trained a lot in the past few months. I want to adapt as soon as possible to the team and connect well with my teammates to help them reach the aims for the season. I'm ready to play."
