–From my time at Oviedo? Few left, but here they are. From that Lucas already went up to train with us. I have Dani Bautista (delegate) next to me and I see Silvino (utilitarian) there. There is also the doctor. They are training very well, by the way. I think it will be an even match.
Héctor Font acts as an improvised correspondent for LA NUEVA ESPAÑA. He is in the sports city of Villarreal, his place of work since he retired from football. There he plays Oviedo today against the subsidiary of the “yellow submarine” (7:00 p.m., Movistar). And there will be very attentive Font, current deputy to the director of methodology of the Villarreal youth academy and in the retina of Oviedo as part of the squad that managed to return to professional football in 2015. “The people of Oviedo still love me very much, I notice it and I appreciate it. I have enormous affection for the club and I want it to do well,” says the ex-blue, with a broken collarbone due to an injury playing with the veterans.
Font was a midfielder and dazzled Tartiere with his quality in the 2014/2015 campaign. He then swelled to give assists and make dribbles. He still wore the Carbayona shirt one more time, in the Second Division. The man from Alicante gave a master’s degree at the Tartiere on everything a quality midfielder should have. Now he gives those classes at Villarreal. Literally. Because the quarry of the yellow team, envied at European level, has launched a new initiative with the former blue player as the protagonist. He explains it himself a few hours before the duel between the two teams of his love. “I am still in the position of director of methodology, but we have created a department dedicated to the players in which the coaches focus on the positions.” Font directs this department and is part of it. The objective is to squeeze the most out of each position. Namely: there are specific trainers for goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders… Something like private classes after the sessions. Font, of course, is the specific coach of the youth midfielders.
“The project covers the three youth teams and the C team. The subsidiary also has its own coaches. The people in the department are dedicated to seeing the player’s development in a specific way and then, once a week, we have individualized sessions, in the field and in the office. We show them videos and tell them where they can improve. We believe that it is a very innovative way and serves to focus on a specific performance. Here, at Villarreal, taking care of the academy is fundamental and it is seen in things like that”, sums up the former Oviedo player.
Font predicts a very close match between the Villarreal subsidiary, one of the sensations of the season, and Oviedo de Cervera, plagued by casualties. “We have a large wardrobe and the game will be very close. It will be decided by any detail, as usually happens in the Second Division. I see Oviedo as good, I think they need to have a bit of luck, win a couple of games in a row and he will go up. He has the wood to be better classified”.
