Sevilla coach gives Hannibal update & hints at transfer plans for Man Utd midfielder

Sevilla coach Quique Sanchez Flores has hinted Hannibal does have a future at the club and has said the midfielder is ‘now capable of playing at any time’.

The on-loan Manchester United youngster suffered a difficult start to life in Spain, with Flores revealing weeks after he joined in the January window that Hannibal needed time to adapt to his new surroundings.

"After being with him, talking to him and having seen his first minutes in Girona, we are going to give him the necessary space to understand where he is, that he is at Sevilla and what it means," Flores said on 27 January. 

"He has to know where he is and we want to see him. Let's see if the boy applies himself and I think that in the end he will understand perfectly what we want.”

Hannibal’s loan with an option to buy looked unlikely to be triggered at that stage, with Sevilla set to decide at the end of the campaign whether to trigger a permanent £17m deal for the Tunisia international.

But after Hannibal was handed a first La Liga start on Saturday in 3-2 win over Real Sociedad, Flores said he is happy with the player's recent improvement and implied the 21-year-old is very much part of the first-team plans.

“The boy is reaching another level of understanding and is now capable of playing at any time,” the former Watford boss told Diario de Sevilla. “There has been a more mental landing than a football one, which has been going from the Premier League to the League, which is very different. 

“Moving to a team with a very difficult situation from Manchester United, which was fighting among the top five, to Sevilla, which is among the bottom seven, it is very different. It had to be grounded, put into perspective and now it is the coach who has to put it.”

Saturday’s victory saw Sevilla move up to 14th and eight points clear of the relegation zone. It has been a challenging campaign for the reigning Europa League holders, who crashed out of Europe in the group stages and looked set to be embroiled in a battle to avoid the drop. But a run of three wins in the last five league games, and just one defeat in six, has provided a healthier outlook for Sevilla.

As for Hannibal, regardless of his future in Spain, the player is not seen as a part of Erik ten Hag’s long-term plans and, presuming the United manager remains at Old Trafford, it is expected that the former Monaco midfielder will depart permanently in the summer.