Gayà, a club man

Jose Luis Gayà (Pedreguer, 1995) is the only footballer who has been in the dynamics of the first team -Jaume played in the reserve team- since the first day of Peter Lim, an owner who has turned Valencia into a coming and going of players (91 operations since January 2015, without including signings of young people like Koba or Yunus Musah). Curiously, Gayà could be the first big media sale of the Singaporean, but the full-back refused in the summer of 2015 to listen to an offer from Real Madrid and renewed as che (“I was very young and wanted to continue,” he said during confinement to Movistar).

Gayà, che icon inside and off the pitch, he will wear the captain's armband for the first time today at the home of Real Madrid. In the 21st century, only three Valencians carried the 'Senyera' on their forearm in Madrid's fiefdom: Albelda, the one that more, Soldier (2) and once, the last to do it, Alcacer. Gayà represents the feeling of belonging to a club that lives in a social war between property and fans. In recent months, Gayà has done a master's degree in responsibility and wardrobe management: delays in payroll, liquidation of references, attempted escape from Gracia, revolt in Kondogbia and flirtations with the demotion.

Such context has not diminished his performance (4 assists). Gayà is the only international che for Spain. He is a regular of Luis Enrique despite how much the Asturian has to choose from (Alba, Reguilón, Bernat -injured- or Angeliño). Valencia, for all this, wants to renew him before the Euro and will offer you the best contract in the squad. Gayà, who is no longer so young, is in no hurry to say 'yes'. Has a contract until 2023 and the club lived through better times. But Gayà, in turn, in his black and white subconscious, aspires to exceed 556 games with Fernando Gómez Colomer's Valencia. Today he will play his 248.