The last day at Espanyol de Melendo, the talent that has always fought against his height

The entity wants to apply a strict salary control for the next academic year, which explains the departures of Diego López, David López and Oier Olazábal, to whom the club announced this Wednesday that it will terminate the year of his contract. remained. The entity will only have to pay 30,000 euros in compensation. Víctor Gómez will not follow either, leaving on loan to Sporting de Braga, a club that reserves a purchase option of around 2 million euros. The announcement of Melendo’s discontinuity will be as follows.

Of the 161 games that Melendo has played with the first white-and-blue team, 98 have been as starters, 16 of which in a last year in which it has become clear that it was not a piece or for a long time indisputable. In fact, only Rubi and David Gallego knew how to create two contexts that allowed him to shine. With the former, he could be reunited with Almeria, one of the clubs that has been behind him for a long time, despite having denied any agreement in recent weeks. The second, with whom he won two leagues as a youth, prevented, along with Jordi Lardín, Melendo from leaving for Real Madrid. The one from Sant Adrià prioritized being able to reach the elite at the club where he grew up instead of the money and the media showcase of the white club.

St. Gabriel did not accept it from below

With Melendo goes a symbol of the nursery, the first and so far only child who has reached the first Spanish team from the RCDE School. The midfielder was one of 600 children under the age of seven who pay each year to wear the white-and-blue shirt. Melendo was burning stages at Espanyol, but before that he had experienced the rejection of Sant Gabriel, who at the age of five considered him too low to join. His height has been a disadvantage that he has had to overcome repeatedly throughout his career. “He has always had this handicap, but he has compensated by having more quality than his teammates. Many times he was questioned for his height, but thanks to the stubbornness of some people inside the club he had continuity “, remembers for ARA Àngel Morales, former player and until two years ago responsible for the economic management of white-and-blue grassroots football.

Melendo’s father, who had made several transports of players from the club with his taxi, was critical of the treatment given to him by some coaches: being small they did not trust him. He had to have a lot of patience, but we managed to keep him from the club “, commented Carles Casanova in 2019, son of the former coordinator of the white-and-blue youth team, Josep Manel Casanova, who currently works as an administrator of the Ciutat Esportiva Dani Jarque.

“Being small is a characteristic that I love,” admitted Melendo himself in an interview with ARA in 2019. The young striker had to follow a specific work with physical trainers of the club to acquire the strength needed to reach the first equipment. In the lower categories of Espanyol, however, there was no doubt: “Technically he was a gifted player, his first control and orientation are impressive, he has exceptional driving, he protects the ball well with his body and he associates well, he is very intelligent ”, praised him who was his coach in the youth B, Sebastián Herrera. Another coach, Dani Fernández, emphasized that “he loved going to training, he had great talent and he enjoyed it a lot; I was never in the circle. ”

Melendo was the last representative of a generation, that of 1997, which has not come to fruition at Espanyol: Pablo Maffeo, Pol Lirola, Edgar González and Marc Manchón did not make their debut in the first team, while Aarón Martín , Lluís López, Álex López and Víctor Campuzano had brief appearances. “It is a generation where many hopes were placed. It’s a pity that there is now such a big age jump between Darder and the next batch, that of Puado and Pedrosa “, laments Morales. Espanyol loses a symbol of the squad, as Darder acknowledged a few months ago: “I love Espanyol, but he loves me ten times more than I do. I would say that in the dressing room there is no one who is more parakeet than him ”.