INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL Etoo, Esnáider, Parejo, Morata … success away from home

For many decades, when there were no billionaire transfers, no transfer windows, no investment funds to finance the purchases, and no Fair Play Financiero … one of the most common and recurring practices was the transfer of players. The reasons were (and are) multiple although the main one was that a player who did not have a place in the squad fired at another club, enjoying more minutes and weight in the team he was leaving. In short, that he gain experience (normally the loan ones were young) so that at the end of that loan period he could return to his home club already made to help the team. In the last times, to balance balances, this formula has been disguised as a transfer with purchase and repurchase options although the spirit of the operation is the same. Many cases have met expectations but many others either did not return or did so only to return soon after, forever. And some succeeded provoking in their home clubs the feeling of having made a fatal mistake.

The paradigmatic example of this is Samuel Etoo. The Cameroonian he came to Madrid very young and had two consecutive transfers to Leganés and Espanyol. In the winter market of the 1999-00 campaign, he went to Majorca and finally I know definitively sold it to the Vermilion Club for 1,200 million pesetas. It was probably the most serious mistake of the white house in the last 30 years. The story of Etoo at Barcelona and Inter, fundamentally, was plagued by successes and titles. Someone in Madrid regretted that for a long time. Before and after, both in Madrid and in other teams, there were many cases of transfers that did not finish returning but did succeed far from home. Although never as painful as that of the Cameroonian. Juanfran or Cheryshev are other relatively recent cases.

Of this family of players who came out to achieve success there are quite a few names that come to mind. But there are not so many that the managers who decided to get rid of them will think for a moment that they made a mistake. In Madrid, before Etoo, Esnáider was a pioneer who won titles after leaving the Bernabéu; Morata and Morientes eliminated him from the Champions League with their goals, although the circumstances of each one were different; and Cambiasso made a top race at Inter, even winning a Champions League. Too the Barcelona He has had cases of transfers that did not bear fruit with players who triumphed outside after flying from Can Barça. Deulofeu is making a career in the Premier after several transfers, just like Tello, settled in Betis. The next one will be Rafinha, that Celta is willing to buy it definitively after a good season. At Atlético, the most blatant case is that of Óliver Torres. Rejected by Cholo Simeone he was loaned to Porto, finally transferred and now shines in Sevilla, a direct rival, under the command of Lopetegui. The Mexican Raúl Jiménez, transferred with a repurchase option that he never exercised against Benfica, and now sought by Juve, after winning the Premier, is another case.

Valencia has its historical example in Palop (although this one left free after being six years in the shade of Cañizares) and now he suffers with Portu, in the Royal Society. In Seville they are living it now with Campaign. After several transfers, he now triumphs in Levante and Monchi wants to recover him so that he can return to Nervión. Another case is Luis Alberto, who after being loaned to Barça B was sold to Liverpool for 8 million and now triumphs in Lazio, where in 35 games he has scored 6 goals and has given 16 assists. Villarreal remembers a case several years ago: Martín Cáceres. Loaned by Villarreal to Recreativo so that he could work. Without making his debut with the Submarine, he ended up transferred to Barcelona where he only played one season. Barça transferred it to Juventus and Sevilla and he ended up buying it.

The of Juan Eduardo Esnáider is one of the first cases in which a discard triumphed after leaving a big. The Argentinian He was signed at the age of 17 by Real Madrid and made his debut in the First in the 1990-91 season. Two courses later he returned to alternate filial and first team, playing 15 games (1 goal) and lifting the Copa del Rey in 1992-93, even having minutes in the final, against Zaragoza. Precisely Zaragoza was his next destination. At the age of 20, he was traded although Madrid kept a purchase option.

In La Romareda he had two successful seasons, with two titles (Copa del Rey and Recopa), scoring even in the famous final of the Recopa in the Parque de los Príncipes against Arsenal. Their numbers were crack: 40 games and 16 goals in the first season and 45 games and 26 goals in the second. He scored three goals for Madrid, against whom he played on for having rejected him. But curiously, the white club decided to recover him for the 1995-96 academic year where he failed again (22 games and only one goal) and he sold it again to the Atlético Liga champion, for 400 million.

He arrived at Calderón as a star signing and to replace Lubo Penev. He played 47 games and scored 21 goals, good numbers. But it marked him the missed penalty in the quarterfinals of the Champions League against Ajax. At only 24 years old, he went to Espanyol, where he played two seasons, before making the leap to another great one: Juventus. In Turin he played two seasons without much success and returned to be loaned at Zaragoza (20 games, 11 goals), where he won another title: the King's Cup in 2000-01. Then he played in Porto, Ajaccio and Murcia.

Samuel Etoo came from Cameroon with a backpack to the Ciudad Deportiva del Real Madrid at only 16 years old. There he began to show his qualities and immediately went ceded to Leganés, in Second, where he scored 4 goals in 30 games at just 16 years old. At 17 he debuted with the first team, against Espanyol, a club to which he would once again be loaned a few days later. There he barely played 32 minutes in the Cup and returned to Real Madrid in the 1999-00 academic year.

They were his last months in Madrid, playing six games (zero goals) before leaving on loan to Mallorca. In that half season he scored six goals in 13 games and in that summer he won the gold medal at the Sydney Games with his team. In 2000-01, With Luis Aragonés on the vermilion bench, his first hatching arrived: 13 goals in 33 games, at just 19 years old. After that season, Madrid made the fatal decision: sell Etoo to Mallorca for 1,200 million pesetas (7.2 million euros) for 60% of the rights. “The player will be one hundred percent ours”Declared Mateu Alemany, then president of Mallorca, euphoric. Economically it could sound good. Sports-wise, the biggest fiasco in recent decades.

Because Etoo, after three more seasons in the Balearic team, where he won a Copa del Rey, played 165 games and scored 70 goals, he was transferred to Barcelona for 24 million, of which 40% went to Madrid. At that moment, Madrid had already regretted it because they wanted to recover it. It was late. Etoo was hurt by the shapes in his white stage (He was motivated and shone against his former team, he had scored seven goals with Mallorca) and signed for the eternal rival at just 23 years old. In Barcelona he played five seasons, the best of his career (199 games, 130 goals, four of them against Real Madrid). There he won three leagues, two Champions, a Cup and 2 Spanish Super Cups, including a treble in his last season (Barça finished winning the sextet).

Also, it was LaLiga top scorer in 2005-06. In his Barcelona journey, Madrid hardly won two Leagues. But his success did not stop there. Barça included it as part of the payment by Ibrahimovic to Inter. And there, with Mourinho, he was part of a team that he won the Champions 45 years later, in addition to winning the Scudetto, in that same season (2009-10) and the Club World Cup, a few months later. He also won an Italian Super Cup. After leaving Inter, he left for the Russian Anzhi to complete your resume at Chelsea, Everton and Sampdoria, Antalyaspor and Qatar SC, club in which he retired. With the Cameroon team, in addition to the Olympic gold, he won two African Cups.

Álvaro Morata's case is also quite peculiar since he never left Madrid under the transfer formula, although he did so twice as transferred. In the first one, Juventus, for 20 million, from where he was rewarded after getting off Madrid in the Champions League semifinals with a goal of his at the Bernabéu. It had also marked him in the first leg, at Juventus Stadium. Morata arrived at the White House in youth and was soon climbing categories until he debuted with the first team of Real Madrid in the 2010-11 academic year, at just 19 years old. Two years later he made the first and second teams compatible and it was in the 2013-14 academic year that he was already a full member of the first team. Won Champions and Cup, playing 34 games and 9 goals. But Madrid decided to sell it to Juve, after that course for 20 million.

In Turin he was happy, playing 41 games (13 goals) in the first year and 42 games (9 goals) in the second, taking control of the 9 holder in the Spanish Selection. But Madrid recovered him by exercising the option to buy back. I saw him as an alternative to Benzema. However, despite having won four titles and scoring 19 goals in all competitions, he only played 26 league games (14 starting). Madrid got an offer from Chelsea (66 million) and decided to definitely sell it. Since his departure, Madrid has not found the ideal complement to Benzema despite the fact that he has spent many millions searching for it (Mariano, Jovic…).

At Chelsea he shone in his first season (38 games and 12 goals) but in the second he began to feel disgust and after a long negotiation he returned to what was his first home, Atlético, charged with controversy for having played many years in Madrid. “I am where I want to be,” he said in his presentation. With Atleti, he scored seven goals in the middle of the season and this year he has accumulated 16 goals in 41 games with the red and white. Also, He is in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, after scoring at Anfield, and dreams of helping to secure the first European Cup with Atlético.

Another specific case of what it is to succeed away from home is Parejo. The captain and today a holy sign of Valencia, He arrived at Real Madrid in children's from Coslada and went through all categories, standing out in the midfield. At 17 he had already debuted with Castilla and at 18 he was one of his pillars (33 games and 10 goals), in Second B. Di Stéfano went on to say of him that he was “the best youth player in La Fábrica“

After that season, Madrid sent him to the Park mili ’of Queens Park Rangers but he never adapted to England and in January he was back in Madrid. Juande Ramos gave him five games, the only ones he played in his life, with Real Madrid. In the 2009-10 academic year, Getafe paid three million for the footballer although Madrid kept a buyback option for the next two seasons. Although Parejo began to show what he is today (36 games and 47 goals in his first season; 44 duels and 4 goals in the second)), even playing in Europe with Getafe, Madrid never thought to play him back.

There appeared Valencia, the club of his life, who signed him in 2011, when he was already a prop for the U21 team, for six million and the loan of Moyà. Madrid still did not trust and to give the go-ahead to the operation, a buyback option was kept two more years, in addition to collecting 1.8 million. Parejo had a hard time adapting to the Mestalla club at first but, after 9 seasons at the club, he has long been a captain and the most important player in the team. Two seasons ago he fulfilled his dream of being an absolute international and in the 2018-19 academic year he won his first title with the Ché, the Copa del Rey, under the command of Marcelino. Until today, he has played 382 games with Valencia (63 goals) in nine courses, being the eighth soccer player in history with the most games played, beating Pep Claramunt a few weeks ago.

Etoo, Morata, Parejo or Esnáider are examples of what they could be and later they became. But today there are many players whose teams let out and it remains to be seen if they end up winning. Current is the case of Marcos Llorente. Crib Madridista left on loan to Alavés where he played one season at an extraordinary level, even playing the Cup final. Madrid recovered him but he barely had him in two seasons. Last summer Atlético, the eternal rival, bought it for 40 million and after a hesitant start, it was the star at Anfield and now dazzles in every game he plays. It remains to be seen how far it can go. Óliver Torres is a similar case, in reverse. The rojiblanco youth squad is beginning to dazzle at Sevilla and it is not known how far it can go. The Barcelona It also has several open cases of this type: Deulofeu, Munir, Tello, Rafinha or Cucurella, among others. Guedes is the reverse case. PSG transferred it to Valencia to have a good time and ended up becoming the most expensive signing in Valencia's history.