Why has Vargas not triumphed at Espanyol?

Two years after Matías Vargas will land at Espanyol and the blue and white fans will rub their hands over the arrival of the Argentine promise, who had already been summoned by the absolute, the winger has left the entity through the back door, yielded a campaign to Adana Demirspor, a kick to follow to save the token. El Monito has not triumphed at Espanyol. The Argentine cost 10.5 million euros and Vélez, his club, kept 20% in the event of a future sale. “They came to ask for 15”, they remember from the blue and white environment.

To try to find out what is behind his poor performance, three people close to the blue and white entity think in the past who know the market well and what surrounds the footballer. “Honestly, I think I was not so level”, the first is started. “The club made a very high investment for Espanyol and that required creating a team around it because the player did not have the virtue of adapting to different models”explains the second. “We saw him in training conditions to be a competitive player in LaLiga”adds the third. From there, the reasoning deepens.

“I would understand it if the Espanyol model were stable”

The first of them focuses on the choice of Espanyol to sign to the extreme. “A club like this does not spend that amount of money for one more player, but for a footballer in which to build its model.. He is their franchise player: a powerful winger who plays with a different foot, young and international. I would understand it if the Espanyol model were stable and did not vary. But it's not like that”he declared.

With David Gallego, the player started seven of the first eight matchdays, but Espanyol did not carburize nor the player could show off his game. “He had no personal adjustment problems. At the age of 13, he left his town for Buenos Aires, which is 800 kilometers away. He is used to it. In addition, he had a demanding coach like Gabriel Heinze, who pressed him ”, underlines one of the sources. “But the bad times led to precipitation and lack of confidence. “

“In training we saw conditions for him to be a competitive and starting player. He had an overflow, a good lower body, a goal, a good technical level … Perhaps he was not a finisher at the far post or had a left leg”added another voice that saw Vargas up close. “What we already do not know is how he emotionally managed to leave the team, not play and see himself in the background.”

And that happened with Machín. Espanyol stopped playing with wingers, Vargas tried as a winger or midfielder, but he barely participated in five games. “How much money you spend on the player is a high level of demand that was not adequate. If it had cost three or four million, there would have been more patience and the player would have had less pressure ”, he added.

“You can enter through the eyes, but you must be effective”

Nor did things improve with Abelardo Fernández, not with Francisco Rufete on the bench, and much less Vicente Moreno. In that year and a half, the player only played eight starting games. “Maybe he needed an intermediate step. It has quality that attracts attention, but it must be effective. You can enter through the eyes with dribbles, but you must be effective ”, explains a source. “Expecting the winger to perform with Machín is nonsense due to the technician's system”, ditch the other.

Waiting for the regeneration of Vargas, which ends the contract in 2024, at the moment it has not been a great business for the blue and white entity, that between the cost of his transfer and the player's salary he could invest between 18 and 20 million at the end of it.