When Valencia hired former midfielder Ruben Baraja as coach last February, the atmosphere was not good at the club.
A squad with too many beloved veterans and less motivated loan players slid down the La Liga table, while the Mestalla Stadium shook with angry protests against the club’s majority shareholder, Peter Lim.
At the end of April, Baraja’s side drew 1-1 at home to relegation chasers Real Valladolid after a point had left them in the bottom three. After 93 minutes of play, 19-year-old midfielder Javi Guerra, who only scored in his third senior appearance, scored the winning goal from 20 yards.
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A few weeks later, 21-year-old Alberto Mari scored the winning goal with a header in the 88th minute and Valencia took three more very important goals from Celta Vigo. In the next match, 20-year-old Diego Lopez scored Real Madrid’s only goal. Lopez scored twice more in the final two weeks of the season, in decisive draws against Espanyol and Real Betis, while Valencia finally secured their defence on the final matchday.
“When you are not getting results, you have to look for solutions,” ‘El Pipo’ Baraja tells The Athletic. “We needed freshness, energy, bravery, and sometimes the players from the youth system give you that. When you realise you have things to lose, it hobbles you, but these younger players had nothing to lose. And the team saved itself in the final hour.”
Two other local products of Valencia’s academy – centre-back Cristhian Mosquera and winger Fran Pérez – also played a significant role in escaping a relegation that could have been disastrous given the club’s historical debts of more than €300 million ( 256 million pounds; 322 dollars). m to existing types) and the still unresolved challenge of the two stages.
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This new generation, nicknamed “El Quinto del Pipo”, has given Valencia more confidence in their club’s long history.
“The scenario was complicated, but those of us who came from the youth team arrived with a lot of motivation to place ourselves in the team, in Valencia, at the highest level,” says the young winger López. The other players helped us a lot and we were able to do well.
In Valencia it is accepted that if the senior team had not had problems last season, Baraja would not have run so many dangers by bringing in so many youngsters. However, many at the club argue that it’s not just luck that so many talented young players have taken advantage of those opportunities and compete.
“Valencia owes a lot to its academy, which is why it has to take care of it,” says corporate director Javier Solís. “Often, a need can become a distinctive feature. But this distinctive feature does not appear without wonderful work. ” Three, four, five, six young players acting at this point are not the result of chance. . . Our academy is one of the most productive in Europe.
Valencia first bought the land in the district of Paterna where its educational plant is located in 1974. In the 1980s, players used to intentionally kick the ball out of play so they could jump over the wall and catch an orange from the trees.
Now surrounded by a business park and two highways, the 180,000 square meters include 8 pitches (six natural, two artificial), conversion rooms, club offices, a press center, a university residence, a dining area and the 2,250-seat stadium. seats. Antonio Puchades, where the Valencia Mestalla youth team and the women’s senior team play.
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Around 80 per cent of all players in the academy are from Valencia, while almost a portion of the existing senior squad also has deep ties to the region. The club’s captain, Jose Gaya, arrived at the age of 11, left-back Jesus Vazquez, five, the midfielder. Hugo Guillamón six, Yarek Gasiorowski seven, Pérez nine, Mosquera 12. Guerra arrived in 2019 from neighboring Villarreal, when he was 16 years old. López was born at 19 when he joined Barcelona’s youth system, after having played for Real Madrid.
“We know each other from Valencia, from the city and from the region, we feel like its great ambassador in the world,” says Luis Martínez, director of the academy. “That emotional component may seem romantic, however, a child who knows that their parents dream of seeing them play at Mestalla will have to be important again here and do it.
“We also want those who come from outside, from Granada or Madrid, to feel part of our family too, and have that same dream. And they know we will give them the opportunity to do that here.”
The club’s other 33 men’s and women’s teams, from the U-6 “cherubs” to the two senior teams, train in the Paterna complex, decorated with explanations of the 3 core values of the academy: sentiment, bravery and germanor. (fraternity).
Martinez says that tactics and inflexible formulas are not imposed on young players because “we, like other coaches, bet on other formulas, we increase the richness of a player’s progression. “with comments from colleagues from the departments of medicine, physiotherapy and nutrition, and objectives set for the progression of each of them. The club will pay the tuition fees of many players at the training center of the Mas Camarena personal school, near the school grounds. There are courses for parents, as parents of the most sensible applicants also need education and support.
There is also a focus on internal development for coaches and staff at today’s Valencia. Baraja himself had his first coaching job at Paterna after retiring as a player. Seven of his nine staff members, including assistant Chema Sanz, also worked their way through youth levels. Another club legend, Miguel Angel Angulo, is the coach of the Valencia Mestalla youth team, who play in Spain’s third tier (Primera Federacion).
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“You can see how the first team benefits from the good work done at the academy,” says sporting director Miguel Angel Corona. “Fifty per cent of our first team were previously with our youth side. Today’s Valencia wants to be a club built up from its roots. It is no coincidence that those who are really helping the team now have a deep connection to ‘Valencianismo.’”
The recruitment coordinator for Valencia’s youth academy is José Jiménez, who has been at the club for 27 years. In his time, Raúl Albiol, David Silva, Isco, Pablo Hernández, Jordi Alba, Juan Bernat, Paco Alcacer, Ferran Torres and Carlos Soler. all of them passed through Paterna to become full-fledged internationals in Spain. Its sales had a turnover of more than 200 million euros.
“The current regime is very involved with academia and has invested more money than ever before,” Jimenez says. “They have a counterpart: local products that, under Baraja, have shaped an organization that generates a lot of enthusiasm and results. It’s about getting players for the first team, so that the club doesn’t have to sign millions of euros.
When Lim took charge of Valencia in 2014, club president Layhoon Chan (now back in charge) said the progression of young players would be a priority. A broader technique includes targeting global talent. USMNT midfielder Yunus Musah and Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili have joined the Paterna club. apartment at 16 years old.
Musah was sold last summer to AC Milan for 20 million euros. Mamardashvili, now 22, is currently Valencia’s number one goalkeeper and, according to local media, has attracted interest from Premier League clubs Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur.
According to the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), 29 players from Valencia’s youth academy have recently played in the five most important European leagues. Corona claims that the club spends around €10 million a year on its youth system, which he sees as an investment in the club’s future, either for transfer benefits or first-team performance.
“The sales of Alcácer, Soler and many other players have been a source of income for our club,” says sporting director Corona. “Yunus arrived here at the age of 16 and went through a whole process of progression and learning with Us. We have no qualms in saying that this is an advantage of the paintings made within the academy. This is helping to create a greater Valencia, especially because we all know the delicate monetary situation of the club.
After the ‘Quinta del Pipo’ helped Valencia beat relegation last season, Baraja signed a two-year contract in June. His hand was evident in the club’s transfers last summer, as was the hierarchy’s desire to cut the wage bill.
Senior team members Edinson Cavani and Samu Castillejo have been cleared to leave. Lopez, Mosquera, Guerra and Perez are now normal starters and are among the team’s top players.
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“The club realized that it was more important to have young, committed, powerful and hungry players,” Baraja said. “It’s an opportunity for them. They know we’re here to protect them, to take care of them. “It can be five games where they play really well, and then in the next one they say what they have to do. But we will have to keep repeating it with them, insisting a lot. We’ve done a lot of paintings with them, they still deserve all the credit.
Baraja has had to fill the gaps in his small squad by selling more players from the club’s youth ranks. Defenders Gasiorowski (19) and Cesar Tarrega (22), midfielders Pablo Gozalbez (22) and Hugo Gonzalez (20) and forward Mario Dominguez (19) have all played minutes in La Liga this season. In the Copa del Rey match against Cartagena in January, winger David Otorbi became the club’s youngest player at 16 years, two months and 19 days.
“This season has been even more brutal,” says Baraja. “Instead of 3 or 4 local players, there were games with seven or eight. The average age of the team has been incredible.
This means that Valencia have the youngest team in La Liga, and if we look at the average age weighted by the minutes played in the five most sensible European lives, theirs is the youngest with Toulouse.
An early sign that this season could go well came when nine players evolved in Paterna contributed to the 3-0 La Liga win over Atletico Madrid in September, with Guerra sealing the win with another goal from the outside.
“When you start playing as a kid, you still have that dream, but not everyone can achieve it,” Guerra says now. “The game against Atlético showed us that we are capable of competing with the largest groups at the most reasonable levels. The table. So it motivates you to continue improving. We know that we have the privilege of being on the field and we have to continue running to make sure it’s not the most sensible thing there.
The January transfer window is a reminder of the reality of Valencia. With the team out of the relegation zone, Lim punished the departure of his top experienced defender, Gabriel Paulista, 33, to Atlético de Madrid. Only one player has been signed: 21 Winger Peter Federico, 20 years old, on loan from the Real Madrid youth team. The signing of Sevilla centre-forward Rafa Mir, who spent six years in Paterna as a teenager, failed acrimoniously.
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“Experience is very important,” Baraja says. Veteran players have a lot more wisdom about the game. There’s a bigger risk, with so many young players. We protect them. These are our players, our assets and everyone knows the monetary situation of the club. This means that we will have to expand them, involve them.
Still, last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Almería allowed Baraja’s team to make it five wins out of six in La Liga, a run that propelled Baraja’s team to seventh position in the table. The atmosphere at Mestalla is much more positive than it has been in recent years, with the idea that ‘Quinto del Pipo’ may play in the UEFA festival next season.
Baraja is well aware that his young team will inevitably suffer dips in form and effects, but he admits to hope that this generation of Paterna graduates can form a first team that can compete for trophies again.
“These are things you want to consolidate,” Baraja says. I would like this to be the start of something beautiful for the future. That this team, in two or three years’ time, can return to the point where Valencia traditionally is. That’s my dream, that’s what we aspire to.
“They’re betting well now, so we think in a few years’ time, with more ambition, they’ll be able to improve. “
(Top photo: Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto Getty Images)