The Real Betis Balompié Director of Youth Football accompanied Juan Merino in his debut as the new Betis B coach. Pedro Buenaventura gave his evaluation of some of the current events as well as the hiring of the new coach from Cadiz, highlighting the decision that he has made about the third under 18 team. After carefully analysing this issue, the youth football management team has decided that in the end that it would be best to have just two under 18 teams next season.

Merino's arrival as the new Betis B coach: “It is easy to present two Real Betis Balompié standard-bearers. They have come to contribute their wisdom, knowledge and enthusiasm. It is for this reason that we have made this decision. Merino and Capi have not been taken on just for what they did as players but they will also have the responsibility of living up to what we believe they are capable of as coaches. They will have the obligation and responsibility to convey the experiences that they have had as professional players so that our present apprentices can get even closer to being in the first team. They will have players in similar circumstances to the ones they had, having left home to live the dream in exchange for sacrifice. It will be a difficult challenge because the demands on them will be great but they have the ability to prepare the players for when the first team needs them”.

Will Pedro play in the first team or in Betis B?: “He is a first-team player. However, the decision has to be taken by the first-team coach and the Director of Football".

The third under 18 team: “After careful analysis and deliberation we have decided that it is not going to be opportune for this season. The study should be done in greater detail and we have run out of time. We need to plan in greater detail the organisation of training sessions and the configuration of the teams. It is being studied and probably in a few years we will reconsider the situation”.

Agreements with other teams:  “There have been a number of requests. It is not that easy to do when you are talking about non-professional football. We would like to help those teams in this region who have made those requests. We are in a time of economic constraint and possibly we would not be able to offer what we would like to. It is being studied and we shall see if we will be able to collaborate with a friendly club even if there isn't a proper signed agreement”.

Do you know anything about the future of Varela?: "That is something that falls within the scope of the first team so I can't say anything about that. When I meet with Alexis we don't talk about contractual issues just sporting matters. Yes I have asked him if Varela is a Betis player and if he was what would be the conditions. As he has not been able to give a reply to my question we have nothing more to talk about".

Is the main objective to compete against Sevilla FC?: "I don't like to be a slave to my statements. We should have an objective and focus on ourselves and not enter in to comparisons. There isn't a level playing field in terms of budget, installations and number of players. We want to have our own project, not better or worse, just different. Footballing history in the city has given us times when there have been more players that have moved up to the first team in one club and others when it is been the other way around. The same has been the case with regional and national championships. Those sort of comparisons lead is nowhere”.

Footballers with existing contracts and the average age of the reserves: "A comparison with last year doesn't count. Age was one of the problems we had last year, as the age of some of the players was such that they could not alternate with the first team. Is it an incentive being in the Second Division B?: We would prefer the first team to be in the First Division and that it was more difficult for players to make the step up, but the situation is as it is. It is a source of motivation for the players for them to see that there is only one category difference between them. In terms of age, we are a little limited by the number of players who are currently under contract. We have 28 players under contract. That means that our primary objective of reducing a single team cannot be implemented to the extent that we would like. We are working on reducing the number of players to make room for the players who are coming up from the younger teams. But we will do it, if not to the extent that we would like it will be a high percentage. Some of the players would leave the team because we will try to find a solution to their contracts because they are of an age that does not correspond to the reserve team, and others because we do not think they have the level to be in the squad. These two situations limit our ability to rejuvenate the team. There are not many changes because the consideration of the team is absolutely conditioned by that. We cannot continue to bring in players until we relinquish players according to our plan".