Real Madrid made official this Tuesday in a statement the departure of its captain Nacho Fernández, who leaves as one of the five players who equaled Paco Gento’s six European Cups less than a month ago at Wembley, like Carvajal, Kroos and Modric. The 34-year-old defender is going to the Saudi League, to Al-Qadisiyah, a newly promoted team, coached by Míchel, directed in the offices by several Spaniards and which has the economic power of Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. . He will sign for two seasons, as this newspaper reported last Saturday.
Nacho, who is now concentrating with the national team in the Euro Cup, closes a 23-year period in Madrid, where he arrived when he was 10. Since his debut with the first team one April afternoon in Mestalla, he has accumulated 364 games and 26 titles with the white team. Always in a substitute role, the central defender threatened to leave several times in recent seasons to find the continuity in minutes that he never found at the Bernabéu, although the final decision always ended up anchoring him to his training home. Until now, after lifting the League and Champions League titles in Cibeles as captain, he chose to take the step.
“It has been months of reflection, indecision and doubts, but today I come to tell you that I need to live one last and different experience with my family, and this is the perfect time,” Nacho explained in his farewell letter. “It is very difficult for me, but now it is time to leave with the confidence and peace of mind of knowing that I have always given my best to represent this shield, on and off the field. I always wanted my ending as a Real Madrid player to be beautiful and at the top, and I can tell you that having a better one than this is impossible,” he added in his letter of goodbye and gratitude. “I would like you to remember me as a youth player who gave everything for his club,” he closed the letter.
The defender’s career at Madrid is an exception to the usual path followed in the last decade by youth players who have established themselves in the first team. He did not need to go on loan to another club after finishing his time at Castilla. The unwritten rule that has taken root in the club says that to enter the Bernabéu’s big dressing room with force, you must first roll and succeed in another team to alleviate the gap between the white reserve team and Madrid. Carvajal (on loan at Leverkusen) and Lucas Vázquez (Espanyol) are the most obvious cases of this policy.
(Breaking news. There will be an extension soon.)
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