Real Betis right-back Hector Bellerin is part of the furniture these days at the Benito Villamarin, having become one of the captains. In the last four years he has spent time at both Barcelona and Sporting CP, but Betis was always the place he wanted to return to – he isn’t planning on going anywhere either.
Bellerin, 29, is now into third year at Betis, and is now heavily involved in the local community and various initiatives. Returning to the home of his grandparents, from where they emigrated to Barcelona, Bellerin has explained to TNT Sports (via EuroSport) that he wants to retire in the Andalusian capital.
“But then coming on loan here at Betis and having such a successful season, being able to connect back to my roots… I have family here in Seville, my dad is from here and it was sort of like a spiritual trip to me. So I was very vocal about it when I was here on loan. I wanted to continue my career here, but for various reasons, my path led me to Barcelona and to Lisbon.”
“After navigating that year in Portugal, Betis gave me an opportunity to bring me back to the place that I felt was my home. Since the moment I landed in Seville, I knew that this was the place where I wanted to end my career. I’ve never wanted to explore lots of different teams. It’s the kind of person I am, I like to create bonds, to be attached to a place, to discover it and really feel at home in it and that takes time. It was nice to come back here and feel as if nothing had changed.”
He was also asked in the interview about handling criticism on social media, and said that it wasn’t something he really paid much attention to.
“I try and walk around in Seville. I get a lot of interactions with people and around 95% were positive, even when we lost. It was always ‘don’t worry, next weekend we’ll win’ or ‘thank you for everything you do’. I spoke to one of my team-mates and he was telling me how he thought some of the stuff that’s said about me [online] could impact my performance. And I said, ‘how can that affect my performance when it’s something that I don’t know that’s happening?’
“People may look at me and think ‘oh, he’s going through such a tough time reading all these negative comments’ – but I literally see none of them.”
Equally, he isn’t convinced that talking about these issues affects a huge amount of change, highlighting two ways that he tries to address the social issues he sees around him.
“One is voting. And the second thing is taking action at a local level because you can actually be on the ground, seeing what is happening. It can be way more effective than trying to embrace the whole world and trying to send a message.”
Bellerin has a long-term deal at Betis until 2028, when he will be 33 years of age. Heavily involved with the club foundation, it would be no surprise to see Betis try to keep Bellerin around after he stops playing football in an ambassadorial capacity, such is his talent for speaking and connecting with people. This season he has started exactly half of Betis’ games, recording one assist in his 7 appearances.
