“It was the 80th minute of the game with the score tied at zero between Fútbol Club Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. “In just 23 seconds and two beautiful touches he broke free, received a beautiful and masterful pass from the magician Joao Félix, turned, controlled and finished in a superb finish that beat the Spanish team’s goalkeeper.” This chronicle from El Periódico de Cataluña was what led a reader of the newspaper to send a letter to the director whose headline was the following: “The debut of Marc Guiu, a sample of the inexhaustible talent of La Masía.” Like so many other media outlets, Sport quickly searched the stands for the father of the new star, whose images celebrating his son’s goal went viral at the Lluís Companys stadium. Filled with satisfaction, as could not be less, Manel acknowledged that he had cried with emotion because, he highlighted, his son had been at Barça since he was a child: “Eleven seasons giving his all.” And it must be true that, as the reader of the Periódico de Cataluña said, the talent of La Masía is inexhaustible because the noi of Santa María de Palautordera, in Bajo Montseny, a municipality belonging to the province of Barcelona, has just signed for the Chelsea English.
The chronicle of Guiu’s great goal is not from three years ago, nor two, nor one. The great goal of the “noi” that provoked the emotion of his parents and the subsequent reaction of the anonymous culé fan boasting of the infinite flow of La Masía is from eight months ago, specifically on October 24, 2023. On December 27, that is Two months and three days later, and probably to show the world how abundant Barça is with homegrown talent, Vitor Roque arrived in Barcelona. Although it would be more accurate to say that Roque landed in Barcelona in an emergency since his incorporation, which was planned for the new year, was rushed because, apparently, Xavi could not cope with what he had at the top. “O Tigrinho” was, according to Sport, “Barça’s hope for a goal” because it must have been that the “noi” had lost steam. Barça paid thirty million fixed for Roque and another thirty-one in variables, and Deco, the sporting director, justified his hiring like this: “City has just paid twenty-five million for a 17-year-old player from Argentina.” But Barça already had that player, right? It was Guiu, right?… So Roque, whom the coach did not want, came to Barça to completely displace Marc Guiu, who was the new Barça pearl, another talent emerging from the inexhaustible La Masía quarry. And, since Xavi didn’t want Roque, the boy, who had just scored goals like hotcakes in Brazil, became depressed until he ended up on the substitutes’ bench blending in with the Red Cross stretcher. A dramatic two for one that, as I said, Deco justified under the very powerful argument that City, which has the money for punishment, had spent twenty-five million on another 17-year-old player.
And if the sporting operation seems disastrous, the economic one is not far behind. A year ago, Santos paid 16 million euros plus variables from Chelsea for Deivid Washington. Because of Guiu, Barça will only enter 6. Marc is not going to the Premier for fear of competition, no, what’s going on. In fact, at Chelsea he will meet five other forwards, Nicolás Jackson, Armando Broja, Lukaku, Nkunku and the aforementioned Washington. And, according to what they say, his new team is already negotiating to acquire the services of Isak and Jonathan David. If the “noi of Santa María de Palautordera” goes to London it is not because he is afraid to fight for a position but because he has felt ignored in that inexhaustible source of talent that is without a doubt the Barcelona Football Club, the team in which, according to his father, Manel, declared that his son had been working hard for “eleven years.” Leaving it in tatters to see how he was relegated to substitute for another footballer two years older than him and from Timóteo, in Minas Gerais, state of Brazil. And now, Laporta, if you like, tell me about the youth team. But slowly, do it slowly.
2024-06-26 17:59:19
#Guiu #miracle #culé #quarry #penultimate #living #raulista
