Reality hits and hard. Whilst here we continue to cite young talent for footballers aged 20-22, their South American peers are becoming reinforcements for the biggest clubs in world football. The sensation of the moment has a first and last name Darwin Nunez: The 22-year-old Uruguayan became the most expensive signing in Liverpool history at €100m (they paid 75 plus 25 in variables).
Distance-saving and uncritical, in our midst we have players of the same age who not only continue to play in the Peruvian tournament, but also cannot establish themselves as starters in their clubs because they also do not yet have the necessary conditions, they lack the competitive rhythm, technical decisions or because the system for minors fails when exporting.
YOU CAN SEE: Darwin Núñez is a new Liverpool player
Darwin Núñez is the new partner of Mohamed Salah and Luis Díaz. Photo: Liverpool FC
It’s been a long time since our country was able to sell promising players abroad who have long remained in the elite of world football. For example, Claudio Pizarro, Juan Manuel Vargas, Jefferson Farfán or Paolo Guerrero had some good local tournament campaigns themselves before making the leap (except for the “Predator” who didn’t debut in the First Division).
Since then, other players left but failed to consolidate, such as Sergio Peña, Yordi Reyna, Andy Polo, Edison Flores, Raúl Ruidíaz, “Churrito” Hinostroza, Carlos Ascues, Jean Deza, among other. Some have found maturity in recent years or simply had to come to Peru to “revive” their careers.
Without going too far, the so-called “young promises” are right there, such as Percy Liza, Miguel Cornejo, Mauricio Matzuda, Piero Quispe, Jairo Concha, Luis Arias, among others, playing in teams such as Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal , Melgar or University.
Of the above, only a few have established themselves at these clubs, while the others await their chance to see action on the substitutes’ bench or with a regular player injured.
The problem comes from below, where they don’t perform and achieve optimally in the smaller divisions first division with many technical flaws, so that they will no longer be considered by the coaches and will try their luck in teams from the interior of the country, as they cannot compete with the clubs mentioned.