THE STORY OF A LONG AWAITED RETURN

“This will always be my home”, Jesús Navas emphatically declared on a hot day in June 2013, the day he said goodbye at the Ciudad Deportiva training complex. The winger from Los Palacios was marking the end of his spell at Sevilla FC, where he had developed, grown up and was forged both as a player and as a person. An end which, four years later, was simply to be the end of a chapter, fulfilling the prediction he correctly made beside the statue of his dear friend and teammate Antonio Puerta: “This isn't goodbye, this is just goodbye for now. This is my home and I want to return one day”

It was a goodbye that nobody wanted to miss. Families, friends, coaches, teammates, former teammates, directors, the youth teams... As recalled by then president José María del Nido, “thousands of eyes were trying to get a glimpse any inch of his small but powerful frame", which they knew could be explosive on the pitch.

As Félix Machuca recalled in his column 'Jesús Despojado', the man who was saying goodbye was one who, "when he kissed the badge, did so like the son being lead by the hand to Nervión, because only children and Navas kiss our badge and truly mean it”. And four years later, this man who was born a sevillista has returned to kiss the badge again and represent Sevilla FC, his Sevilla, on that right wing he left vacant in in 2013. 'El Duende de Los Palacios' (the spirit from Los Palacios) is ours. Welcome to the place which has always been, and will forever be your home.