Some madridista must shake corroded by an indecipherable feeling, nothing good, when he sees the collection of boys that Barça is taking from a quarry that seems, is, inexhaustible. emerged Fermin Lopez Marin an unknown also for the mass culé, and not only dynamited the classic with an appearance that will last, but it extended the complex that feels in Madrid on the unequal production of soccer players.
It was Fermín in Dallas, but it was Gavi a couple of years ago along with Nico, sold this weekend to Porto. It was Pedri, emerging from Las Palmas, it was Abde discovered in Alicante, it was Pablo Torre detected in Cantabria, it was Ronald Araujo captured in Uruguay, it was Alejandro Balde throwing out Jordi Alba… Oriol Romeu has returned, Eric Garcia returned and, opposite, representing La Fábrica, homologates it to La Masia, They still live on the thirty-year-olds Carvajal, Nacho and Lucas Vázquez plus Joselu and Fran García recovered this season.
From the Huelva town of El Campillo, one hour by car from Huelva, comes Fermín López, born on May 11, 2003, of late physical growth but talented from very early on. Because of how meteoric his football progression was as a kid.
He spent one season at El Campillo, one at Recre, four at Betis and from the age of 13 he lived at La Masia.
Party at home and in Dallas
He began playing in the street, with no pretensions other than having a good time with friends, but at the age of eight he was already enrolled in the El Campillo grassroots football school. One year lasted. He was detected by Recreativo, “the club of my city”, Fermín has said as many times as “I’ve been culé since I was little”.
He repeated it in Dallas, in the exciting afternoon that has catapulted him to glory, through the great goal he scored, with the intrinsic revaluation of having endorsed it to Madrid (and to Courtois, not to Lunin) and the addition of a spectacular assist for Ferran that left the Valencian alone in front of the Belgian goal. The goal with his left foot, the pass with his right hand.
“It is a dream and a privilege to do the preseason; I have been a culé since I was little and it is my dream to reach the first team,” he said after the match, recovered from the emotion that made him shed a few tears. From Dallas, he spoke with the El Campillo family, who experienced an unexpectedly beautiful and festive summer night. The images of the celebration of the goal and the success of the assistance corroborate that Barcelona feeling.
Barça saw Fermín when they recruited Gavi but left him under control at Betis for three years.
bad times away from home
One year Fermín endured at Recre, playing with Benjamín A despite the fact that he was still prebenjamín. The Betis network, more powerful and extensive, captured him and dressed him in verdiblanco for four seasons, until the scouts of Barça, who they had recruited Gavi in the Sevillian ranks, they also saw Fermín. They let some time pass out of prudence before taking it away. “We had it under control since I was a Benjamin and we saw him in a tournament in which Barça participated”, says a Barça coach.
At the age of 13, the little footballer entered to reside in La Masia. He was childish, but he hadn’t grown up. Astonished and with his mouth open – “I saw in person what I had seen on television until then,” Fermín acknowledged in a chat on YouTube -, he spent the usual bad times longing for family, friends, and the childhood he imagined with his friends. But, at the same time, he was where he wanted to be.
Overcome the darkroom hazing -newcomers are locked in a room blindfolded and must avoid or recognize the perpetrators of the slaps- he has lived for nothing more than to be a footballer. With the difficulties that he was unaware of then.
Fermín knew how to take advantage of his physical weakness to exploit other virtues.
The physical handicap
Added to the greater competition he found at Barça was the difficulty of his late growth, which placed him in a delicate situation when he made the leap from cadet to youth. His smallness was already striking. “He was very weak, but he has developed until now obtaining a very solid physical structure,” explains one of the coaches he had in the lower ranks of Barça.
“He is a boy who during his formative stage has had that physical handicap, but that at the same time has given it extra resources to now execute many actions thanks to intelligence and mental speed that he has had to cultivate”, another technician abounds. He never raised doubts about his quality – “he is a very competitive, very daring and dynamic boy who handles himself very well in small spaces”, but rather his adaptation to an increasingly harsh habitat.
The assignment to Linares was the ultimate test: they were waiting for him to give him 10 and he contributed 12 goals and 9 assists.
training completed
Nothing like Linares to pass the ultimate test. In the First RFEF, on loan after finishing the youth category (nine goals with Barça, the last in the Cup final won against Athletic), with no space in the subsidiary. The Jaén club was waiting for him to give him the number 10 and collaborate in the promotion to Segunda. Fermín contributed 12 goals and 4 assists. He returned as an adult with the unexpected reward of joining the first team’s training sessions.
He trained in Sant Joan Despí as inside left, and also played winger. The position of the fourth midfielder that Xavi devised to fill the center of the field and cede the band to Balde, one of Fermín’s fifth who, however, in his American appearances against Arsenal and Madrid has occupied the position like a glove Right Lane.
Reasonable resemblance to Gavi
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“He moves very well between the lines and is not as positional as the traditional interior. He is quick to move, vertical and has a pass and a shot,” two of the consulted technicians agree, as was corroborated in the two actions that underpinned the classic. What has not been seen yet is another feature that makes it similar to Gavi. They have the same competitive character and passion for football that you can already see in training. “Despite his short stature, Fermín was one of the kids who finished off better with a header”, explain.
Xavi copied almost the same description at the end of the classic. What the technician was able to add is the perception of him with daily contact.”He is 20 years old, but he has personality and he is also hungry. That is very important. When I see that in a training session, I see that I have to give him minutes”. He gave them to them and Xavi, Fermín and the culés were rewarded.
2023-07-31 05:00:08
#boy #grew #late #Barça #spied #Gavi
