I mean it very seriously, I say it as I think it, and I comment on it with personal pleasure, as someone who feels happy. For fun, for language, for knowledge, for experience, for original, sometimes even unique considerations. May it be your turn to debate at a gathering like today’s ‘The strain’with Raul VarelaIn ‘Daily’from Radio Marcawith Javier Clemente, The legendary Javier Clemente and I say this with admiration, he is super funny, original and you learn a lot.
Clemente, who, of course, was not asked about this topic for the first time, sharply criticized the fact that footballers make their debut in the first league or in the national team at the age of 16 and 17, and demanded that all this be postponed because the boys are not yet physically fit are trained for this challenge, for facing adult men, for three games a week and therefore “the more games you play, the greater the risk of injury.”
Stand up if necessary
And Clemente, at the end of his reflections with all of us (not everyone completely agreed with him, but we enjoyed listening to him and discussing with him), pointed out those who are responsible for the medical care of the clubs because they allow this happen. . “You and only you have to decide whether or not a 16-year-old child can take this leap, these challenges. But since they don’t let them have their say, they will of course never say whether they are in favor of what is being done or not.” And of course he cited above all the cases of the recently injured Gavi, Ansu Fati And Lamine Yamal.
“They bring out kids that play a lot of football because you have to see them because people want to see them,” Clemente said. “Well, let her see him for half an hour. I remember it when Raúl made his debut with Valdano at Real MadridI worked as a trainer for a short time. Yes, yes, I made my debut in the First Division at the age of 18, but I was a substitute and didn’t go to the national team. They gave birth to me because two years later I made my Raúl debut. And I said that playing for Real Madrid was enough of a burden for me and that’s why I called him up. He played in the U21 team, not because of his level, but because of his physical potential. We wanted to burn him out and he was tired of playing for Real Madrid and that’s what I say about children.
“I remember that they gave birth to me as a coach because it took me two years to make Raúl’s debut.”
Former Spanish football coach
“Jamal, only 16 years old, plays a lot. He has to play faster than he should to stand out,” the former Spanish coach continued. “He has to try harder than many of his rivals and when.” He crashes, I won’t tell you anymore. This is what happened to Ansu Fati. He collided with a 28-year-old and took off his knee. The legs, the bones, the ligaments, the lungs… Everything requires preparation. That’s not the right thing to do. “At 27 or 23 it’s the same as at 16. The kids are good and well trained, but they have to put in a lot less effort.”
Clemente regrets rushing a good, good boy’s debut (“I admit it’s a temptation to see them play the way they play and not put them with the greats, but we have to think about theirs Think about the future, her long career.” “), the possibility of losing this great footballer after two or three years is out of the question. “They will have time to admire us with their filigree work!”
The former coach fears that many coaches and doctors do not realize that the rhythm, the speed, the force, the pressure with which the game is now played “has nothing more to do with the football of the 70s than we do have played, has nothing to do with it! ” And of course Now the good guys play a lot of games. “Obviously if you play 150 games you have a lot more chance of getting hurt, of doing real damage, than if you play 50.”
Doctor’s word
And at the end of his lecture, in the final part of “La Tribu,” in the heat of conversation and ideas, Clemente put his finger on the sore point: the role of doctors responsible for checking young footballers, Children from every club who he described as the only ones who could stop this delicate and dangerous situation.
“I want the doctors to speak, but they are employees of the club and will not open their mouths,” Clemente initially said. “Maybe the day they are allowed to express their opinion on this, they will say that they do blood tests every now and then, that they check their heart, their kidney, their liver and their gallbladder and that they are great, that they have everything control.” and “They are great.”
What they don’t reveal, or don’t know if they do, is the rest of their training. “What they should control and tell us is to analyze the difference in effort from playing a certain number of games in the youth team, which progresses them very well, up to playing with professionals, a national team game or even a championship game. League final.” . , as many have played it. You have to ask the doctors that. Hey, doctor, do you think we have enough guarantees with this boy?”
And the former Basque player, former coach and ex-coach ended his presentation, I emphasize, by referring to the clubs’ doctors. “The medical service must be responsible for all this with this type of player, with the children who are still very young. We should not move so quickly with these children when, by age 20, they will continue to fantasize as they do now, but will be more physically formed and developed. Let’s not walk with them so much.
