Midfielder Sergio Canales has been transferred by Betis to Rayados de Monterrey in Mexico, the Betis club reported on Monday. The Cantabrian player arrived at the Betic club in 2018 and left five years later with 207 official matches in which he has scored 39 goals and given 30 assists.
The Mexican club will pay between 10 and 15 million euros for the transfer, according to variables, sources of the operation informed EFE.
The terms of the contract between the Mexican entity and Canales, who will sign for the next three seasons, had been agreed for days, despite which the footballer traveled to England with the rest of the Betis squad to participate in the second pre-season concentration, although he did not play any minute in the friendlies played by Betis.
Canales, 32 years old and an absolute international with Spain on 11 occasions, arrived at Betis from Real Sociedad in the summer of 2018 and has played for five seasons at the Andalusian club, with which he has won a Copa del Rey, in 2022.
The departure of Sergio Canales supposes for Betis, together with an important economic injection to their tight numbers, the loss of a sporting mainstay and a reference in the dressing room that will be even more noticeable when it occurs shortly after the withdrawal of captain Joaquín Sánchez.
There are players who transcend statistics and Sergio Canales has been and is one of them in the five years that he has remained at Benito Villamarín. Although the commonplace maintains that nobody is essential, Canales has emerged as one of the faces of Betis since he arrived with the letter of freedom from Real Sociedad.
Although others may have surpassed it in years, few will be able to boast of doing so with the identification with a cause, intensity, ambition and display of talent of the Santander soccer player. Heir to the Cantabrian embassy left vacant in Heliópolis by players such as Javier López (1970-1981) and Luis Fernández (1996-2006), Sergio Canales has been, like his countrymen, not only a game, but also a relentless commitment in the 207 games he has played with the verdiblanca and in gestures such as throwing the team on his back at times like, last season, the serious knee injury of the French international Nabil Fékir.
