Fran García

Then we've got Elche next.

Any thoughts on Elche? The last time we went to Elche, we had Fran Garcia at wing back or whatever it was.

as a winger.

That was a winger, not wingback.

Bellerín.

Like Betis, we had Real Betis the year 2026 with the, their wing backs, Fran García and Héctor Bellerín.

Yeah.

[laughs] We should have destroyed their wing backs.

Madrid's lightning-fast move was the clearest sign of just how serious they were in the transfer window.

By beating Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to the punch, they reached an agreement worth €55m plus €5m in add-ons for the 28-year-old, despite already having three left-backs on their books in Alvaro Carreras, Ferlan Mendy and Fran Garcia, who would eventually leave for Real Betis in a switch worth €4 million, with Madrid retaining a 50% sell-on clause.

Yes, John?

It's nice to see that you've incorporated the correct pronunciation of Alvaro.

Vinny had a terrible game again.

And then Fran Garcia on the left, who obviously we are familiar with.

Dumfries, I don't think, was able to punish Fran Garcia.

I don't think Dumfries had a good game either, apart from making overloads and creating space.

But like on the ball, he was clumsy.

And then, of course, Artur Guler is playing more narrow, and he's not really going at Fran Garcia.

So Betis also did a really good job of making sure Bellerin and Fran Garcia don't get isolated 1v1, and they sent a lot of help defense on both flanks, and they plugged the flanks.

But where we messed up, again, to go back to it, this is going to be the theme of the podcast.

I'm looking forward to seeing the lad play.

They also signed Facundo Bernal for Fluminense for 10.59. Old friend, Fran Garcia.

For a frankly criminal, $4 million.

Whoa.

You know, he doesn't have searing pace, but he's really become very, very athletic.

Uh, and then he had the intelligence to, when the ball went out wide on the left to Fran García, he had the intelligence to keep on running, break past the defensive line, distract the defender for long enough to create space for Fran García to, uh, square it to Pablo García, whose finish was brilliant.

I mean, it was a phenomenal volley.

Um, but it was good.

Um, other than that, there weren't too many chances.

Um, it was interesting to see Fran García, who, he was in, uh, for, for Betis for his debut.

And then the goal just after our lovely scooped, um, pass from Cristian Tello.

I thought he was excellent throughout the game.