Creating champions

I lied to Julián Álvarez’s father, but for a very good reason.

I called him on the phone, and I was surprised that he answered me from the cab of a truck. It turns out that Julián’s father drove trucks, transporting agricultural goods along different routes in Argentina.

I introduced myself. I told him I was the youth football co-ordinator at the River Plate academy, that I had seen his son play, and that I thought he was a very interesting player to have at the club.

Three messages, all delivered in a straightforward and direct manner.

Julián’s father couldn’t believe the conversation. I think he even doubted that what I was saying was really true. Two of the three messages were, though. The one that wasn’t true was me saying I had seen his son play. That was the lie.

The person who had seen Julián, and therefore discovered him for professional football, was Alfredo Alonso. I want to be honest with everyone, and I want Alfredo to get the credit.

Alfredo told me that he had gone to Embalse, in Córdoba, for a trial. It was there that he saw Julián. “He plays brilliantly,” he told me.

He told me some more about him, but I didn’t really need to know anything else to know that he was talking about a very different kind of player. Alfredo was no longer part of the River Plate scouting network by this time, but I had full confidence in him.

"julián came to the academy for a trial. within 10 minutes, i got him signed"

For management reasons – Daniel Passarella was president at the time – Alfredo had left River Plate some time before. I still had a very close relationship with him, though. And I trusted him because he was working for another great club, Argentinos Juniors. The breeding ground from which Diego Armando Maradona emerged doesn’t trust just anyone to discover talent out there. Only the best can do it, and Alfredo is one of them.

But why did Alfredo tell me about such an interesting player if he worked for Argentinos Juniors? Well, there’s an explanation for that.

Argentinos Juniors did not have the structure that River has in its youth football, nor the capacity to host Julián for at least a week of trials. Alfredo was angry because Argentinos Juniors could not provide for the boy’s maintenance. So I asked him for Julián’s father’s phone number. I was going to invite him for a trial at River without ever seeing him play.

Now, back to that conversation with his father. After my introduction and his disbelief, I went on to tell him that I would like Julian to come and see the academy, and train with our youth teams. “I have seen very good qualities in him,” I said. “And I really believe he could have a place within the institution.”

His father said he would talk it over at home, with both his wife and Julián. After that, he would call me. One day later, he did just that – and said yes to my offer.

Julián came to the academy for a trial. Within 10 minutes of it starting, I got him signed.

"the scouts try to visit every town and city in argentina to find that diamond in the rough"

I needed nothing more to confirm what Alfonso had told me. I told his father that he was staying and in 2016, at the age of 16, he arrived at River. In 2017, he had his first season in and around the first team.

In December 2018, Marcelo Gallardo gave him some minutes in a match as important as the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Boca Juniors in Madrid. Little over three years later, in January 2022, Julian signed for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City (below).

An incredible journey in such a short time.

However, not all youngsters make it to the River academy like him. Usually, it happens in another way, and mainly through the club’s scouts.

The scouting department at River is very well structured. For many, many years, it has been constantly renewed. New people arrive and others leave, but it always comprises around 25 people. Argentina is a very big country – it takes a lot of people to cover it.

The scouts try to visit every town and city to look for that diamond in the rough who could become part of our ranks. And then, logically, they bring that boy to Buenos Aires.

"enzo emerged from baby fútbol, where you can see the creativity of kids in a small space"

The academy has a very modern and structured way of working. We have a home, which we call the institution’s boarding house. It consists of 28 rooms, which allows us to take in a total of 80 boys.

In another part of the boarding house, we have 30 places to host the boys on trial. They come from all over Argentina, and are invited to do a week of training with us.

During that week, they are observed. Afterwards, as happened with Julián, I am the one who makes the final decision on whether or not they should join. If we have any doubts or if we are not totally convinced, we give them two more chances during the year. Why? We want to have a more complete and concrete idea of the performance of that player, and their possibility of coming to our club. Seeing such young players only once is not always enough.

The academy also has the advantage of having a school within the institution. Because it’s not just about playing; the club must also fulfil its academic obligations. We have everything that kids really need at such a young age, so that they can develop not only as players, but also as people. Many of them will also go to Europe to play – they have to be more than ready for that leap.

Enzo Fernández is a player who grew up within that slower process in the academy. Now, after a brilliant spell at Benfica, he is at Chelsea.

Enzo emerged from what we call ‘Baby Fútbol’ in Argentina. This is football played on a small pitch with five players: a goalkeeper and four outfield players.

"i've been fortunate to train many boys who have later been important for argentina"

Baby Fútbol gives you the possibility to see the quality, intelligence and creativity of the kids, and how they perform in a small space.

Enzo was a Baby Fútbol star at La Recova, a small neighbourhood club in San Martín, in the province of Buenos Aires. I invited him to come to River Plate when he was eight years old, so he started in the academy at a very young age. First at Parque Chas, a Baby Fútbol club run by Javier Saviola (who also trained at the academy), and with whom River Plate has an agreement.

Enzo made his way through the academy, although not without difficulties. He was a short and somewhat chubby boy, which prevented him from establishing himself in the starting XI until well into his teens. With that came a lot of doubts about staying at River. He made me aware once or twice that he wanted to leave the club – not because he wanted to leave, but because he wanted to play. I never wanted to lose him, though.

With Jorge Gordillo as coach to the club’s seventh team, he started to play more. After making it to the sixth team, he consolidated his position. Then, with Guillermo Rivarola as coach, Enzo made huge strides. He eventually made the jump to the reserve team, and then Gallardo took him to the first team.

I always trusted Enzo as a player, and I always knew that, in the long or short term, he was going to impose himself. And he has.

"seeing them win a world cup will stay with me until the last days of my life"

I've worked as the academy director, and in the last few years in youth football – I agreed with the club that this would be my final role. In all that time, I’ve been fortunate to train many boys who have later been of great importance to both the first team here and the Argentina national team.

Julián and Enzo are two of them, but there are more who came out of River’s academy and went on to win the 2022 World Cup with Argentina. Gonzalo Montiel (below), Exequiel Palacios, Guido Rodríguez and Germán Pezzella all, like Julián, came through the youth ranks.

They still remember me today, and remain in contact with me through messages. They have grown a lot professionally, but they are still the same boys I knew when they first came to the River academy.

Success hasn’t changed them.

That’s why seeing them win a World Cup, or compete at the highest level in the best leagues in the world, is something that will stay with me until the last days of my life.