The former Real Madrid and Spain midfielder Isco has claimed that Sevilla‘s ex-director of football Monchi — now Aston Villa‘s president of football operations — assaulted him during a tense confrontation at the club’s training ground.
Isco, 31, who is currently without a club, left Sevilla in December 2022 just five months after joining from Madrid.
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In an interview with the newspaper Marca published on Tuesday, the playmaker said that his departure was sparked by a furious row with Monchi — who left Sevilla for Villa last month — in which the executive “grabbed [Isco] by the throat.”
“As the [January transfer window] approached, I saw a lot of strange things within the club,” Isco said. “They called my agent to look for a move, without talking to me first. When I found out, I went to speak to Monchi directly. I said ‘Hey, I heard about this. I don’t know if you want me or not… Be honest with me, and we’ll sort it out.’
“After that conversation, Monchi was telling everyone that I wanted to leave, which wasn’t true. He started calling me every day, me and my agent, bothering us to sign the termination [of the contract]. So I went and spoke to him again and I said ‘Look Monchi, you’re not being honest with me… I want to stay and you’re saying I want to go.’
“I told him he was the biggest liar I’d come across in the world of football, and he assaulted me. He went for me, grabbed me by the neck, and we had to be separated. After that I didn’t want to carry on there under any circumstances.”
