Nacho Gonzalez was finally sent packing by Club Valencia to Levadiakos, a Greek team with little prospects and hopes. The reasons… There are no reasons, one of the best players ever produced by Danubio has been regurgitated by Valencia, which begs the question why would Valencia even want to buy a player like Nacho when there seems to exist an Anti-Uruguayan sentiment in the institution, the city and the fans. Why invest in a player and then not play him in one official game? Who can we blame for this farce? Unai Emery seems to be the best available scapegoat, maybe Nacho for getting injured all the time or if we dig deep we could always blame Paco Casal… but none of these reasons fit and I’ll tell you why.

Yes some Uruguayans succeeded at Valencia, most famously Fernando Morena but on the whole Valencia’s attitude towards Uruguayans seems to have the vindictive characteristics of a “Pendenciero” Institution… I looked for a valid reason why Nacho & before him, Estoyanoff have been cast off without even getting the opportunity to play for the so-called “Golden Institution.” Estoyanoff went through the same shabby treatment as Nacho did some 2 years ago. Valencia loaned him out to a succession of Spanish Teams, refusing to give the right winger a chance to play. Where is Estoyanoff today? In Greece… the same place where Nacho is headed to. So is Greece the country where Enganches go to die (Recoba, Estoyanoff and now Nacho)? Some of you will defend Valencia, because looking at Nacho, his injuries have prevented him from playing but how do you defend the way they treated Estoyanoff? Lolo was not injured but never figured in Valencia’s plans.

The answer to me stems from an ancient 5-0 shellacking courtesy of Daniel Fonseca in an UEFA Cup match (1992-1993 season) between Valencia & Napoli. What else could it be? Fonseca infamously scored all 5 goals by himself; it would seem to me that an embarrassed institution wanting some form of payback would then pick on Uruguayans, to embarrass them as being subpar when that is clearly not the issue. It sounds reactionary on my part but I do believe Valencia is acting like a two-year old throwing a tantrum, they refuse to play certain players and then defend “supporting” other players. Worst of all, Nacho’s possible return to Uruguayan football (Danubio or Peñarol) was hampered by Valencia’s insistence that he play only for Levadiakos.

In Saturday’s match with Real Madrid, Valencia insisted on Ever Banega, the young Argentinean prospect they believe will be their offensive distributor for many years. Never mind that Banega looked way over his head against an experienced Real Madrid side (playing without Kaká or Ronaldo), wouldn’t it be more beneficial for Valencia to play Banega alongside Nacho á la France in 2006 (Ribery & Zidane)? I’m not trying to downplay Banega’s talent but I find it somewhat ridiculous that a European team would entrust much of their offense to a young player who played in an Under-20 Championship this year? And whose team (Argentina) did not even qualify to the Under-20 World Cup. What will Banega learn right now… that when in doubt he should pass the ball to David Villa? What kind of confidence does Valencia hope to instill in Banega, if any creativity is dulled out of him?

Valencia seems to give Argentineans more support, perhaps because their greatest seasons were due to the excellent midfield work supplied by Pablo Aimar—yet they continue to treat Uruguayans as 2nd-Rate Citizens.

Considering the fact that they never played Nacho & before him Estoyanoff, an important question to ask is “why did they buy Nacho or Lolo in the first place?” ––– Another question is why the Casal Group even bothered with sending Nacho to Valencia considering the treatment shown to Estoyanoff?

Emery (the Pontius Pilate of this sad episode) may be able to defend his reasons for not playing Nacho, chalking it up to injuries and lack of consistency but I’m not buying it at all, I think Valencia likes to buy Uruguayans to “show them up.” Doesn’t it seem odd that ever since that game between Valencia & Napoli way back in the early 1990′s that no Uruguayan has been able to play for this “respected” institution?

   

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