Pablo Garcia left Real Betis on Tuesday night the same way he had arrived 14 years earlier: with his family beside him. This time they were in tears.
The 20-year-old forward had just completed a deadline-day transfer to Racing Santander, bringing an abrupt end to a life spent in green and white.
Garcia was born in Seville and joined the Betis academy at six. He rose through every age group and later scored four times for Spain’s Under-19s in a single European Championship match against Germany. What he could not secure was a regular place in Manuel Pellegrini’s senior side.
Why the academy forward asked to leave
Last season, Pablo Garcia made 25 appearances, most of them from the bench. His only two goals came in a 7-1 Copa del Rey win over semi-professional Atletico Palma del Rio. This season the path looked no clearer. Antony, signed from Manchester United, is Pellegrini’s first choice on the right. Reportedly, Garcia chose to leave because he wanted to start more senior games. People close to the player said the same.
Hull City and Olympiacos both asked about him during the window. Neither offer became a deal. On Tuesday, with hours left in the market, Racing Santander moved.
A late €5m deal and a locker emptied
The newly promoted La Liga club agreed to pay around €5 million ($5.8m; £4.3m), with Betis retaining a 50 per cent sell-on clause and first refusal on any future sale. Racing sources described the fee, third on their record transfer list, as a statement of intent. Garcia returned to the Luis del Sol training ground that evening to collect his belongings.
Garcia also looked ahead to Betis’ return to the Champions League, their first in two decades, with Arsenal and Bayern Munich among the league-phase opponents. “We’ll have to see, but hopefully I’ll be able to return,” he said. “That’s what we all want.”
A first league goal, a farewell video, and Ceballos’ return
The departure was already being written in public. After Betis’ 1-0 opening-weekend win over Real Sociedad at La Cartuja, Garcia said a visible goodbye to supporters. A week later he scored his first La Liga goal, an 83rd-minute winner off the bench against Valencia. The club later posted a montage titled “a life in green and white,” stretching from youth-team finishes to that late strike in Mestalla.
His exit also helped Betis complete the free-transfer return of Dani Ceballos. The 30-year-old midfielder began at the club, played more than 100 games, and left for Real Madrid in 2017.
What Racing are buying
Racing are buying a two-footed wide attacker who can start. Garcia is buying minutes. Betis keep a share of any future sale and a route back if both sides want it. That is the professional reading of a deal that, on the night it closed, looked like something else: a boy from Seville walking away from the only dressing room he had known.