Gerard López, former FC Barcelona footballer and former Barcelona B coach, recalled this Saturday, during the broadcast of the Champions match that pitted Barça against Napoli, how former Betic Fabián was about to join the Barça subsidiary that he He was directing in the summer of 2017, although the pass was frustrated when Quique Setién stopped him, today Barça coach and then in charge of Real Betis.
Fabián Ruiz had debuted with the Real Betis first team on December 13, 2014, at just 18 years of age, by the hand of Juan Merino, who gave him minutes in a Lugo-Betis de Segunda that the Verdiblancos would get back on track ten minutes later to enter the palace instead of Xavi Torres, whom he replaced in 50 '. Lugo's coach, curiously, was Quique Setién. Fabian played that season, in which then Betis would rise with Mel, a total of 6 games.
In 2015/16, already in First Division, Fabián counted very little for Pepe Mel, but after he was dismissed on matchday 19 and Merino took his place, he once again enjoyed many minutes, playing a total of 11 league games since the march of the Madrilenian, with whom he had only played one.
In 2016/17, already with Poyet at the helm of Betis, Fabián plays in the first four days, three of them starting, but after hearing whistles from the stands during a Betis-Granada, in which he was replaced in 36 ' for Musonda, losing Betis 0-2 (then he would tie), he does not play again in the League, so the club decides that he will leave on loan to Elche in January, with whom he played a total of 18 games, not achieving avoid the descent to Second B.
Barça scouts had detected a great talent to exploit
In the summer of 2017, with Lorenzo Serra and Quique Setién recently arrived at Betis, FC Barcelona became interested in the signing of Fabián, then 21 years old, whom Barça scouts had detected a great talent to exploit. As Gerard López – then coach of the Barcelona subsidiary – recalled this Friday at the Movistar Champions League, Pep Segura spoke with Lorenzo Serra and he initially gave the go-ahead when leaving the palace, although ultimately it was Quique Setién who had to authorize his departure and this, after seeing him in preseason, asked to stay. “It was practically done, Pep Segura had already discussed it with Lorenzo Serra, but at the last minute Setien stopped him,” Gerard said.
A year later, Napoli paid the 30 million of its termination clause, which was increased in January 2018, after Fabian renewed his contract. In that summer of 2017 he was close to going to Barça for a million euros, as Setién explained last year. “Barcelona wanted to pay a million euros to take Fabian to their subsidiary and I refused, we wanted him at Betis,” said Setien. Serra's version differed somewhat: “Barcelona were trying to borrow Fabián for Barcelona B, and I spoke with Pep Segura and told him to please speak with the club and not with the agents (Fabián had a contract under and a termination clause of only fifteen million euros) … I told him that on loan to the subsidiary I was not going to go and that if they wanted him for the first team they would make an offer and we would study it, because the player was going to do the preseason because the coach I didn't know him, ”Serra said in his day. Now it has been Gerard who has given his version of what happened that summer, in which Fabián was very close to being a Barça player, if it were not for Quique Setién, today Barça coach and a great lover of the palace's game, which exploded from his hand in First.