Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Pablo Fornals is looking forward to the new season with Real Betis.

The 28-year-old joined the La Liga outfit from West Ham for £6.8m in February.

Fornals made 15 appearances for Betis, helping the club to secure a seventh-placed finish and earned a spot in this season’s UEFA Conference League and a fourth successive European campaign.

But, speaking to BBC Sport ahead of his side’s pre-season encounter with Manchester United in San Diego, Fornals, who previously played in Spain for Malaga and Villarreal before joining West Ham in 2019 feels he will be better with a full summer behind him.

“I am excited about having a first full season with them,” he said. “When I started I had no time to adapt and no time to settle.

“We have had almost one month of pre-season now. I am good and I am fit.”

Like United, Betis do not have all their senior players with them in the United States, including 18-year-old Assane Diao, part of the Spain squad that beat France in the European Under-19 championship final on Sunday and has been linked with numerous Premier League clubs.

But, as was the case on Friday, when Betis lost to Liverpool in Pittsburgh, Fornals is expecting a tough test from Erik ten Hag’s side.

“They probably don’t have the full squad but the kids who are trying and pushing from behind are doing very well, like Liverpool’s on Friday,” he said.

Image source, Getty Images