“He came very focused and looks very good”

Two days before the debut in the Argentine tournament, Marcelo Gallardo gave a press conference this Thursday at noon at the RiverCamp from Ezeiza in which he gave his first impressions about the selection team he put together to face great challenges in 2025.

“We are very happy with the market we did, with the work we did to make that happen. It gave us the opportunity to start the preseason with five of those seven reinforcements arriving and we gained time. We have the chance to add one more in these hours (Lucas Esquivel) and then we have high expectations of having the possibility of generating a new construction to compete, with many challenges to play.”

“What I have to think about is what we needed to make the market we did. It was a market in which we had clearly defined the situations we had to face, with the players we had to target. Everything was given so that the club had the chance to bet on this team and have a team to compete in a good way. We managed to repatriate players with a great sense of belonging, whom I know well, they are at a very good age, so there is good energy and confidence that it will be transformed into a good performance. Have the best possible squad to have the best possible team. That is what we are trying to generate at this time.”

“I have always been committed to the club and to the players who have arrived. I don’t think it’s bad at all to make the arrival of a footballer official, being in the photo is something symbolic, it’s simply a photo. Yes, we had an effort to quickly get the players we wanted to have there.”

“He came very focused and looks very good,” said Gallardo about the Colombian Miguel Borja, who earned the coach’s trust and promises to have a leading role this year. “I see him very well, we are very happy with his preparation and willingness to put himself in his best version, which requires a lot of will and understanding, wanting to belong. He is evaluated as the goalscoring footballer that he is, and what happens if he doesn’t Does he score goals? He has stood out for that and has incredible numbers, but then there is the game. And there is the return of the players. When you have the opportunity to have players who want to belong and contribute other possibilities to the team, it is great. “, .

And he continued saying about Borja: “I like how he came to face the preseason. He knew that it was not going to be enough for him the way he had ended the year, that’s why he had left the team. Something normal because no one is guaranteed a position, unless they make merit. When things are clear, the players understand them. And he came very focused, it looks very good. What we saw in Patagonia, in our preparation, and in these first games, it’s great that it happens.”

“I don’t think I have any more obligation or prestige at stake because of the transfer market we did. I am not sitting because of what has happened, but because I want to be there and because of the demands I have on myself and the demands that this club has. I naturalize them. I am not afraid of losing prestige, of those things, I know what this club represents and I try to do my job in the best way possible. From that place I feel very complete. Last year was very hard personally. I also arrived at a time of need knowing what was at stake and I never hesitated, beyond my moment. When you take things naturally, the rest is related to passion and the way of working. I am like that. I move with energies. And this year has a renewal of energy. I am excited and I have good feelings that a restructuring can be put together. We are convinced of where we want to go and how we want to do it.”

“They are formats that have been decided to be executed this year and that’s it. Whether it’s right or wrong or I would like it or I wouldn’t like it doesn’t make any sense. We are prepared for the way in which it has to be faced. And if you are better or have greater possibilities than the rest, I am going to take a break. The Argentine championship is very difficult. It has a lot to do with the culture of how we live. There is a competitive spirit that does not exist in other places because of how we Argentines overcome other issues. Nobody gives you anything and when you have more tools you have to make them count. But we have to be mentally prepared for everything. In Argentine football nothing can surprise you anymore.”