“Isco is smiling again,” The Athletic is told. The reborn Real Betis playmaker will take on former team Real Madrid at the Estadio Benito Villamarin this weekend in his best form for six seasons.
It was 2018 when Isco — short for Francisco Roman Alarcon Suarez — won his fourth Champions League medal with Madrid and was a central figure for Spain at that summer’s World Cup.
Advertisement
But he soon lost his place for club and country.
A downhill path through four years mostly on the Madrid bench, an unhappy first half of last season at Sevilla, a January move to German club Union Berlin breaking down acrimoniously, then six months training on his own in a gym in the Spanish capital pointed to a low-key end to a career that had promised so much.
Early in this summer’s transfer window, there was an offer for the 31-year-old from Saudi Arabia and one from an Italian club, while Real Sociedad were a possibility at home in La Liga after they lost his former international team-mate David Silva to a serious knee injury in pre-season. But Isco liked the idea of returning to Seville with Betis having thought seriously about which club would offer him the best chance of relaunching his career.
After an initial phone conversation with Betis sporting director Ramon Planes, Isco spoke to their head coach, Manuel Pellegrini. They had known each other since 2011 when Isco emerged as a teenager under Pellegrini’s management at Malaga. It took “two minutes” for the Chilean to give his green light to the idea of working together again.
Those six months out of the game had focused Isco’s mind on what was most important at this stage of his career and life. Going back to the Andalusian capital was attractive — he was born and grew up two hours’ drive away in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol. And the idea of playing for Betis, city rivals of his last club Sevilla, motivated him.
A year earlier, having acknowledged that he had lost his hunger and edge at Madrid, Isco had thought that going to Sevilla, then led by his former Spain coach, Julen Lopetegui, would help him get back to his best.
But promising early performances were not built upon, Lopetegui was sacked in the October, and Isco left by mutual consent in December after a physical altercation with Sevilla’s then sporting director Monchi, who is now in the Premier League with Aston Villa.
Advertisement
“After Sevilla, he realised that he had to change or his career was over,” says a source who knows Isco, who asked for anonymity to protect that relationship — as did all those consulted for this article. “He needed to do the work to recover the feeling of being professional, mentally and physically, to find himself again.”
Betis were on the lookout for a fresh start. Key playmaker Sergio Canales had moved to Mexican club Monterrey, veteran wide-man Joaquin Sanchez retired at age 41, and the other main creative hub, Nabil Fakir, was out injured long-term.
From the opening day of the season, Isco has been in the Betis starting XI. He immediately looked to get on the ball and take responsibility for their attacking output, being named man of the match in a 2-1 away win against Villarreal on the opening weekend.
That was followed by a long-range strike away against Athletic Bilbao and a headed goal in a Europa League win against Sparta Prague. Most startling of all was the instinctive 94th-minute volley against Osasuna in late October, bringing a 2-1 win for Betis and an avalanche of love from the Benito Villamarin crowd.
Con la flechita para arriba. ⬆️💚@isco_alarcon x @RealBetis #LALIGAEASPORTS | #LALIGAHighlights pic.twitter.com/Q8NQY0HemP
— LALIGA (@LaLiga) October 31, 2023
Isco’s reputation with his new club’s fans was enhanced when he was the best player on the pitch as Betis crossed the city to Sevilla’s Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan in mid-November. He almost scored a couple of times, then took the free kick from which team-mate Ayoze Perez made it 1-0. Even after Sevilla equalised, Isco was named ‘MVP’ for the match — as he has been in nine of Betis’ first 13 La Liga games.
He was clearly enjoying his status among the supporters, with the once-familiar smile now firmly back in place, and Betis’ marketing team were making the most of having a new, high-profile player in their squad.
👕✨😍
La camiseta de moda.
La camiseta que quiere todo el mundo.@isco_alarcon pic.twitter.com/40rU3xTCfP
— Real Betis Balompié 🌴💚 (@RealBetis) November 17, 2023
The impact on and off the pitch led both sides to re-evaluate the merits of his contract.
Planes and the rest of Betis’ hierarchy were aware that signing Isco was a risk, which would hurt them if it went badly. Although they were confident of success, they still made sure that much of Isco’s deal for 2023-24 would be incentive-based with a relatively low basic salary and bonuses for games played and goals scored. If it went well, he would automatically renew for another season.
Advertisement
But it was now going so well that speculation about his future began.
While the player was concentrating on his football, there were reports in the Andalusian press of a €10million (£8.6m; $10.8m) release clause and even talk of interest from Barcelona in a January move.
Any such move was never really on the cards, however. It is now expected that a longer-term contract, most likely to June 2026, will be signed in the coming weeks. This will be a more ‘normally-structured’ deal, sources say, with a base salary closer to the usual for a player of his stature.
Those who know Isco are happy to see he has fallen back in love with the game. They are not so surprised by his touches of skill, but point to a hunger which has seen him sprinting back to help his defence late in games, something not always present during his later years in Madrid.
Any doubts over his physical condition have been dispelled — no player has more games (15) or minutes (1,227) for Betis in La Liga this season.
A stubborn side of his character might surprise those who felt he did not fight hard enough when his Madrid career started to slide towards insignificance. For various reasons, Lopetegui was not able to properly get him focused again, but the seriousness of Pellegrini appears to have cracked it.
“Isco is a quiet person, a bit introverted, likes to have his space,” says a source who knows the player. “But once training starts, he takes his football very seriously.”
Saturday’s La Liga game brings a reunion with his former Bernabeu coach Carlo Ancelotti and many team-mates from those nine years in Madrid, including old midfield colleagues Luka Modric and Toni Kroos.
Ancelotti was the coach when Isco joined from Malaga in 2013 (scoring for them on his La Liga debut, against Betis) and they ended their first season together celebrating a Champions League final win. But after the Italian returned two and a half years ago for a second spell as coach, Isco was just a spectator for that entire 2021-22 Champions League campaign (including being an unused substitute in nine of the 13 games) as Modric, Kroos and company won the trophy again.
Advertisement
Those who know Isco say he will not lack for motivation at the weekend.
He has accepted that his career was in danger of drifting away completely, and just before it was too late, he found the right place to turn things around.
Isco’s smile will widen should Betis get a positive result.
(Top photo: Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
