Víctor Camarasa arrived in Oviedo yesterday afternoon to stay in a central hotel and today will be the day chosen to pass the medical examination. The club announced the signing of him at midnight on Tuesday on the condition that the midfielder, who has suffered serious injuries in his career, pass a medical test, a procedure he hopes to complete today. With the team traveling to Malaga today, we will have to wait until the weekend or next week for him to join the group and meet those who will be his teammates until at least June.
For Víctor Camarasa, Oviedo’s is a second chance. It is a catwalk to show all the talent that made him in his day one of the budding promises of national football and a proven midfielder who even left a mark in the Premier. His injuries have not given him respite in recent times and the tough competition at Betis kept him from any attempt at continuity. Oviedo is willing to give him that opportunity. But as the operation raises some doubts about the footballer’s physical condition, the club has covered its back with the approval of the midfielder: Camarasa will receive the minimum salary as fixed and will have some variables depending on his performance in the coming months.
The formula agreed between the parties is the one that ended up convincing the club to face a transfer that was only closed in the last minutes of the market. It happened in an accelerated way, as Cervera recounted yesterday in El Requexón. “Late at night the club calls me and tells me about the possibility of Camarasa coming. They tell me that he would come with very advantageous conditions. I receive another call, from an acquaintance who tells me about the boy, and I tell him that I want to speak to him directly. Víctor tells me that he lacked rhythm, that he wasn’t there for 90 minutes but that he was fine”, said the blue coach, one of the promoters of the operation: “The conditions in which he records are very good and “We don’t lose anything, between quotes. If we get him to get well, he will be an outstanding player in the category. If we don’t, it’s a bet with which we don’t lose anything. The only thing he can do is add”.
Camarasa arrived in Oviedo yesterday and will have to pass a medical examination this morning so that his move to the blue club is technically closed. It won’t be until the return of the blue expedition in Malaga, he plays there on Friday, when he joins the group. “I really want to start, to meet my teammates, the people of the club… But above all to train and work to the maximum. I spoke with Cervera before the agreement and he told me that what he wants is for me to come help and to contribute my grain of sand to make everything go well”, the midfielder explained to the club’s official media yesterday.
For the soccer player, the bet also has its risk. Cheap, if any. Camarasa received close to 1.5 million euros at Betis and the first idea was for him to go on loan until June. He contacted several First and Second teams that, in these conditions, did not see the operation as clear. Even Oviedo ruled out a loan at first, paying a small part of his salary at the Betic club.
Things changed when the footballer took the step of accelerating his separation from the Sevillian entity to be able to freely negotiate a new destination. The conditions were suggestive for Oviedo. In addition, it meant strengthening a position, the media line, which had sparked some debate in the entity.
An ordeal of injuries
Thus, at 28 years old, Camarasa has the opportunity to reinvent himself. Returning to the level that he made him one of the most talented midfielders in national football. His injury drama is concentrated, above all, in his last stage at Betis, where he landed in the summer of 2017 in exchange for 7 million euros.
In 2020 his ordeal began, focused on the knees. He returned after an absence of more than a year in August 2021, but it was not the expected return, because five months later he fell again, after playing 7 minutes in an Espanyol-Betis. In April 2022, he underwent surgery due to discomfort in the patellar tendon of his right leg derived from the serious knee injury that had caused him to miss the previous season. One month after the operation, Betis announced his renewal for one more season so that he could recover with the club’s medical services.
The recovery was long again, but last October Camarasa began to play the ball in the sports city of the Verdiblanca entity. He was even able to feel like a footballer in the friendly that Betis played against Atalanta in Villamarín in December.
The next step is to demonstrate that his recovery is complete and that he is in a position to achieve continuity in a team. Oviedo is the chosen stop in his plan to return to the elite.
From the blue perspective, the operation does have a danger in the event that things go well. Camarasa has no connection beyond June 30. There is no clause by which Oviedo can extend that contract. To renew, an agreement between the parties would have to be reached. And it is not difficult to foresee that if the footballer’s performance is optimal and he recovers his pre-injury level, some important club may be interested in his services. That is where Oviedo has the support of Pachuca and its economic muscle to find formulas that could ensure the continuity of the midfielder beyond June 30. But the first thing is to adapt to El Requexón, his teammates and the coach. And start to show that playing football is one of those things that you never forget.
