Guardiola to Argentina?

By South American Football
July 12 2005

The two most important teams in Argentina have had a very bad last season, and now are reconstructing their squad to change their luck for next season. While Boca is already working with a new great squad, River is trying to add quality too, and they have set their eyes on Josep Guardiola. The player is interested with the move, since he likes the Argentine style and thinks it could be a great experience. José María Orobitg, his manager, stated:

“The interest from the Argentine team to sign Guardiola is real, as well as interest from other teams. The economic part is secondary in importance, otherwise we wouldn’t be speaking with this team because there are much higher offers than theirs.”

Meanwhile, River Plate had to build up their entire defense again, since Carlos Diogo joined Real Madrid, and both center backs, Eduardo Tuzzio and Horacio Ameli, were forced to leave because they had a huge fight that harmed the whole team (they had been best friends for more than 7 years, and Ameli had been sleeping with Tuzzio’s wife for the last 6 months; nice fellow, don’t you agree?). That’s why they signed Lazio’s defender Leonardo Talamonti as well as Gabriel Loeschbor and Leandro Fernández, that were playing in other local teams. Also, the team backbone is gone, since Javier Mascherano was bought by Corinthians and Luis González by Porto.

Boca Juniors, with a whole new better atmosphere with Maradona’s arrival, got a new trainer, Argentina’s World Cup 1994 national team coach Alfio Basile, and quickly signed many quality players. Federico Insúa, former Málaga playmaker, and full back Hugo Ibarra, who had recently been playing for Expanyol and returns to Boca for the third time, are the most important ones. The rest of the signings are local and highly rated: three midfielders (former Villarreal Sebastián Battaglia is back too) and a center back, as well as a young full back. This new team will be shown in tours in South Korea and Holland.

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