There were bodies that were no longer the same after the summer. It was curious to feel how the status in a football dressing room at 15 years old was completely shaken just by the mere passage of time, from June to September. Suddenly, the clumsy midfielder who spent the second year of cadets on the bench had grown four sizes in his feet and was now a potential centre-back. That chubby goalkeeper who played the rubbish minutes no longer had a belly and in addition to saving shots from below he now also reached the crossbar. For some, growth accelerated so much that they continued to suffer from knee problems, and for many others, the majority, their physique never gave them any advantage.
In one of those Septembers, a boy called Chema Moreno was kicked out of Alcorcón’s Juvenil C team. A tall striker and finisher who had always played in the secondary teams of the most important club in the municipality. From there he went to Trival Valderas, a lower category, and there, one September later, at the age of 17, he mutated into another football player. In three months, his quadriceps, his height, his movements and his precision were more similar to those of the players in the first team – then in the Third Division – than to those of the kids who were around there. It was like a snowball that grew bigger and bigger until it took him to another dimension.
15 years later, Chema is the only one who has managed to make a living from football and have a professional career, almost always in First Division teams. When I hear about his existence again, like the day when he scored for Badalona to eliminate Getafe in the Copa del Rey, I ask myself what would have happened to him if he had sprained his ankle that September, for example.
The fact is that football is said to be dynamic and in football, due to a calendar issue, all of them start in September. If we stick to the first month of competition, one cannot understand the future of certain elite players. Because there are football careers that are incomprehensible. That of Mariano Díaz, for example, who arrived at the Bernabéu on September 19, 2018 to score a goal against Roma with Cristiano’s number 7 on his back, in an incomparable display of self-confidence. And that’s as far as good old Mariano went. He lived happily and ate partridges for five more seasons at Real Madrid from the greatest ostracism. Then he left for Sevilla – where he did not score a single goal – and now he finds himself without a team.
There are players who, if they lived in the end of summer, would be the best in history for the rest of their lives. Another illustrious player like Robinho made his debut in the 65th minute of the first matchday of the League against Cádiz at the Ramón de Carranza on August 28, 2005, and it seemed like the end of the world. If you look at the front pages the next day, you can find memorable statements like that of: AS newspaper: “God created Robinho.” Or this opening line in one of many chronicles: “Robinho’s debut in the Spanish League leaves the feeling of a historic event, like that of Emilio Butragueño —also in Cádiz 20 years ago— or the devastating appearance of Ronaldo in Barcelona 1996-97.” After a disappointing career, Robinho is currently in a Brazilian prison serving a nine-year sentence for a sexual abuse crime committed in Milan. They say he has taken a basic electronics course and participates in reading programs.
Atlético de Madrid’s Jackson Martínez also stood out in his early stages with another fine goal against Sevilla on 30 August, which Simeone celebrated more than he did. There was no more from the Colombian, who has now reinvented himself as a rapper.
Several friends have started to compile a list of these dazzling stars from the first few days of the championship, who fade away like a light that has burned out until, on the last day of the league, you have even forgotten that they are still in your team. There are few things that these geniuses who never again lived up to their former selves are more useful for than feeling less mediocre.
Meanwhile, Chema Moreno faced Barcelona in July in a friendly with Unió Esportiva Olot. Chema Moreno, who would have thought, that player from September.
