Monchi

Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo (born 20 September 1968), commonly known as Monchi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and the current director of football of Sevilla FC.

Playing career

Born in San Fernando, Cádiz, Andalusia, Monchi graduated from Sevilla FC's youth system. He made his senior debut with the reserves in the 1988–89 season, in Segunda División B.

In the 1990 summer, Monchi was promoted to the main squad in La Liga. He first appeared in the competition on 13 January 1991, starting in a 1–1 away draw against Real Sociedad.

Monchi spent the vast majority of his career as a backup to Juan Carlos Unzué, only featuring more regularly from 1995 onwards. He played a career-best 26 matches in 1996–97, in a campaign that ended in relegation.

Monchi retired in 1999 aged only 30, after contributing with 20 games – playoffs included – to his team's promotion.

Post-retirement

In 2000, after Sevilla got relegated from the top division, Monchi was appointed its director of football. He was given two objectives by the board: develop the club's youth system and implement a vast scouting policy inside and outside Spain.

Monchi clearly shone in both tasks, as a big number of wonderkids came through the Rojiblancos youth setup (notably Diego Capel, Alberto Moreno, Jesús Navas, Antonio Puerta, Sergio Ramos and José Antonio Reyes), and he also created a network of over 700 scouts around the world. Within this setup, he also helped the club discover a number of profittable bargains (including Adriano, Dani Alves, Júlio Baptista, Federico Fazio, Seydou Keita and Ivan Rakitić), and helped it establish in the top half of the top division in the subsequent decades, making a profit of around €200 million.

Monchi asked to be relieved of his duties in the 2016 off-season, but the board of directors did not accept his request unless he paid his €5 million buyout clause.