A GOODBYE AFTER 15 YEARS😭 Pablo García is 20 years old and had lived at Betis’s training complex since he was 5. That’s where he learned to play, where he became the all-time leading scorer in the youth ranks, where he made his first-team debut, and where he played in a U-20 World Cup wearing Spain’s jersey. On September 1, the final day of the transfer window, all of that came to an abrupt end: the club sold him to free up room on the wage bill and register Dani Ceballos, who was returning from Real Madrid. García said goodbye to his teammates and left in the car driven by his own mother. Cameras caught them both crying—her behind the wheel and him unable to hide what he was feeling. Betis kept a percentage of any future sale and a right of first refusal, as if it knew that one day it might need him back.

A GOODBYE AFTER 15 YEARS😭 Pablo García is 20 years old and had lived at Betis’s training complex since he was 5. That’s where he learned to play, where he became the all-time leading scorer in the youth ranks, where he made his first-team debut, and where he played in a U-20 World Cup wearing Spain’s jersey. On September 1, the final day of the transfer window, all of that came to an abrupt end: the club sold him to free up room on the wage bill and register Dani Ceballos, who was returning from Real Madrid. García said goodbye to his teammates and left in the car driven by his own mother. Cameras caught them both crying—her behind the wheel and him unable to hide what he was feeling. Betis kept a percentage of any future sale and a right of first refusal, as if it knew that one day it might need him back.