Analysis: Why Manuel Pellegrini’s latest portrait at Real Betis stands out

Key Highlights

• His more recent exhibitions are on display in a more modest space, but those who make the trip, do so specifically to see him, and the old master continues to produce pieces that may not be avant-garde, but still hold their own next to anyone in the business. Image via GuiotecaAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe most recent piece to be mounted never fails to draw the eye though, whether the spectator combines their wine with hubris or a soft drink.
• Pellegrini has built a reputation on rehabilitating football’s misunderstood and under-loved talents, perhaps the finest and most high-profile example being Isco Alarcon.
• Collectors will remind that Sergio Canales, Giovani Lo Celso and Ayoze Perez were all part of the oeuvre before Antony made headlines again.
• Yet there is something irresistible about the current image of Pablo Fornals. Always talented, never tall but of square, sturdy dimensions, Fornals has wrestled with inconsistency throughout his career.
• Not quite credited with the same nous as a Canales or an Isco, he’s frequently been placed out wide, and accordingly, operated in the margins.