New Year New Life. The phrase, although already too eroded, does not lose its validity. And applies perfectly to Boca that begins this Tuesday in Ezeiza a new cycle with Juan roman riquelme as president – although he was already the strong man at the head of the Football Council – and with Diego Martinez as DT.
It will be a 2024 reconstruction for the club after a 2023 as turbulent as it is inconsequential that ended with just one Olympic return – the Argentine Super Cup – and the blow of the final of Libertadores Cup lost in the Maracana.
The top continental tournament will not be a “carrot” – it only managed to qualify for the Sudamericana -, but the challenge of leaving irregularity behind will be. The initial step will be the last weekend of January when I visit Platense, in Vicente López, for the first date of the Professional League Cup.
The backbone of the new Boca will be its brand new coach. The thing is that Martínez was the man that Riquelme always wanted to lead the team since the departure of Miguel Ángel Russo. The bet on a defined style of playsimilar to the one that the now leader always proclaimed, will be the fundamental stone on which he will try to build a competitive team that will maintain the base of last year –Sergio Romero, Nicolás Figal, Marcos Rojo, Guillermo Pol Fernández and Edinson Cavaniamong others- and which it will seek to strengthen through the reinforcements it will seek to secure during the transfer market.
An invisible advantage is that the coach has knowledge of a good part of the squad. It is because he worked with many of his current players in his time as a youth coach – he was between 2011 and 2015 -. It is the case of Marcelo Weigandt, Vicente Taborda, Ezequiel Equi Fernandez, Christian Medina, Exequiel Zeballos, Luca Langoni, Valentin Barco and Luciano Di Lollo.
And the links do not end there, given that Martínez also coincided with Ezekiel Bullaude y Miguel Merentiel in Godoy Cruz and with Lucas Blondel in Tigre. In addition, they will meet again with three other old men known as Aaron Molinas, Agustín Obando y Gabriel Vega, who this Tuesday will also be present at the Boca Predio for the return to training. This is no small piece of information and will shorten knowledge times to reach objectives faster. Also returning are Renzo Giampaoli, a defender who was in Quilmes; Maximiliano Zalazar, from Platense; and Gonzalo Maroni, midfielder who alternated ownership in San Lorenzo.
Riquelme and company have been working in the transfer market for the last few days. The return of Éver Banega is almost sealed, who only has to resolve his departure from Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia, where he has a contract until June.
They also sound loud Cristian Lemalast time in Lanús, and the former Independiente Alan Franco, to be the replacements for Figal and Rojo in the rear. In addition, the leaders are on the hunt for a midfielder who moves through the left sector of the midfield and there they go in front. Matias Rojas (Corinthians), Kevin Zenon (Union) and Rubén Botta (comes from descending with Columbus).
And the lows? They already left Facundo Roncaglia y Diego Pulpo González. Rojo rejected a million-dollar proposal to go to Inter Miami, but there are offers for Medina and polls for Valentini y Equi Fernandez. And the DT must define if they continue Frank Fabra, Dario Benedetto, Norberto Briasco, Jorman Campuzano y Juan Ramirez.
Diego Martínez’s coaching staff
The coaching staff that will accompany Diego Martínez in this adventure in Boca is made up of his field assistants Cristian Bardaro, Adrián González and Gustavo Rodríguez; the physical trainers Juan Manuel Conte and Leandro Mazziotti; coaching Patricio Ciavarella; goalkeeping coach Pablo Campodónico; and the video analyst Omar Mateo.
Fernando Gayoso, goalkeeper coach and Boca employee, will also be on the coaching staff.
Day 1 at Boca Predio
This Tuesday will be a day for medical studies to begin actively on Wednesday a 12-day preseason, some with triple shifts in Ezeiza, and concentration at a nearby hotel.
It has not yet been notified by the Boca press area if there is a possibility that Diego Martínez will be presented in the afternoon in the new conference room at the Predio, or in the Bombonera.