PB,
It's anything but simple.
Where do you get your info from? The deal was never reported in the press as being agreed. On the contrary, the swap was considered outrageous. If the swap was agreed, why didn't it go through? After all, Betis would have been delighted to get rid of Joey.
Then you're saying that after DOL had decided he didn't want Joey, we were going to let JPA go for free? Just who was going to let him go? Not DOL, he persuaded him to stay. You see, your story just doesn't add up.
Villa were writing off losses at the time, sure, but Alpay had become a libaility for other reasons, and the nobody wanted Bosko. Hadji was kept on a long time after DOL arrived, for whatever reason.
JPA on the other hand was a club hero, it would have been madness to release him on a free. Why do you have such difficulty understanding that? If the club policy had been to release Angel, it would have happened. But no, as you yourself admit, it was DOL's brief to persuade him to stay. This is an absurd argument.