Yesterday it was the turn of Cañas to take to the microphones of the Benito Villamarín press office to say say goodbye - which he did sweetly and with no little humour ("I hope I don't cry," he started, with a grin). Compared to Adrián the other day he's practically a new boy, having been at Betis a "mere" 10 years, but his preprepared statement, in which he thanked all and sundry for their support "during the good times and the bad", was warm and heartfelt enough to show exactly why he's always said to be the most popular player with the club's day-to-day workers.
Perhaps more interesting for us, however, was the question-and-answer section with journalists afterwards, in which he revealed, among other things, that 1) there were no hard feeling towards Betis for not being able to match the Swansea offer; 2) that he'd spoken to Swansea defender Chico (also from Cádiz), who'd told him that he would find things very different but he'd love it; 3) that while it would obviously be helpful to have so many Spanish players at his new club, it was by no means a decisive factor; and 4) that his English is still "chungo" (horrible).
The quote that has got the Seville press excited, though, was when he said in a self-deprecating kind of way that "in a few months nobody is going to remember Adrián, Cañas and Beñat..." A-ha! said journalists - Beñat's best friend has let slip that he's leaving (as though they hadn't been predicting exactly the same for the past nine months). We already know, for instance, that Beñat has cleared out his training-ground locker and hasn't renewed the lease on his Seville flat, so by this stage it would a bigger surprise if the Basque midfielder was still in verdiblanco at the start of next season than if he wasn't.
His likely destination still seems to be Athletic Bilbao, especially if departing coach Marcelo Bielsa (not a fan) is replaced by Ernesto Valverde (more so). But as the Spanish tax year runs to the end of this month and Betis don't want several million euros landing in their current account right at this moment, no deal will be announced until the beginning of July.
Meanwhile, finding a replacement for Beñat is proving predictably awkward. Ideally, Pepe Mel would like an experienced midfielder with a touch of class, but all the most obvious candidates - QPR's Granero, Espanyol's Verdú, etc - want more money than the Betis budget can afford, and the scouting department is going a bit crazy trying to square the circle.
So for the time being let's just say all the best to Cañas and wish him well for his new adventure. In the last couple of years he's gone from being regarded as something of a headless chicken to winning Bético hearts with countless important displays of intelligent, committed defensive midfield play and he fully deserves his payday. As long as Swansea fans don't think they're getting a Cazorla (or even a Pablo Hernández), I reckon he could be a big success in South Wales.
