[Sport] Nacho, the eternal wild card: "He is one of the most underrated in the League"

[SougarLord]

 

Valdebebas's first stone was laid in 2004 by a boy named Dani Carvajal next to Alfredo Di Stéfano, but Nacho Fernández (Madrid, 1990), two years older than him, is the great example of the Real Madrid quarry in the last decade . He has been part of all the La Fábrica teams since his arrival at the B youth squad in 2001 and made the leap to the first team without having to wear another club's shirt. His story is well known: diagnosed with diabetes since he was a teenager and the eternal wild card of Mourinho, Ancelotti, Zidane, Benítez, Lopetegui and Solari. "He always complies," he constantly insists, as if that wild-card role was reserved for those who are worse than others, whose goal is to pass, not stand out. That they are not stars or great signings.

 

From that debate and from Nacho's good performances in recent months, an argument has arisen in Valdebebas that has Euro 2021 as its horizon: "Nacho is one of the most undervalued footballers in the First Division", is repeated these days in the sports city from Madrid. At the club, it is considered that being a wild card at the Bernabéu is as or more difficult than being the undisputed starter in a team in the middle zone and they do not understand that, seeing the problems that the national team has in defense, Nacho is not a fixed.

 

Luis Enrique must decide next week the call for the continental tournament and in the list last March the centrals were Eric García (City), Sergio Ramos, Iñigo Martínez (Athletic) and Diego Llorente (Leeds). No sign of Nacho, who since last February 6 has played all Madrid games except one, due to suspension, and who has just scored the goal in San Mamés that keeps Zidane's men in the fight for the League.

LAST GREAT CONTRACT

The youth squad, who this season has also acted as a left and right back, is one of the Madridistas who will have to analyze his future this summer. His contract ends in 2022 and a few months ago he received offers from Milan, Rome and Naples. All rejected. At 31, he may be facing his last big contract. And Madrid, with the future of Ramos in question and the freezing in the negotiations for the renewal of Varane (it also ends in 2022), will try to prevent its great youth squad, and the defender who charges the least after Odriozola, from leaving.

 

In addition, the great duo that he has formed with Militao in the most important weeks of the season has relaunched the career and the trust of the staff in both. David Alaba will arrive to the Madrid squad for the 21-22 season, except for a surprise, but the doubts with Ramos and Varane, Carvajal's injuries, Odriozola's irregularity and the non-renewal (yet) of Lucas Vázquez place Nacho as a fundamental piece of a defense that could also lose Marcelo. Many holes for the center back to be the perfect wild card for Zidane.

 

"We want him to stay," Nacho insisted these weeks about the future of his coach. The Frenchman is, along with Mourinho, who gave him his first opportunity at the highest level, the coach who has trusted the youth player the most. He played 39 and 42 games in seasons 16-17 and 17-18, the first two that the Frenchman completed on the bench, and only a serious injury to the right knee ligament prevented him from repeating numbers in 19-20. This course has 32 meetings and will end with 33, having lost four due to injury and two due to Covid-19.

 

"I KNOW ME PERFECTLY"

 

The virus could have affected him, but it was just after coming out of isolation that he linked starts incessantly until the end of the season. 22 consecutive games in which he has only been absent in one due to suspension and in which Madrid have only lost one, against Chelsea in London.

 

Everything from Alcalá, in his usual house, his usual streets and his usual friends, going out to ride a bicycle in Los Cerros and checking his sugar levels before and after each training session and game: «Sometimes he started the games with high levels to prevent me from going down and getting leg cramps. Now I know myself perfectly and I know what I have to take at all times. I take the levels constantly, "he declared a few months ago at an event on the occasion of World Diabetes Day.