2/28/2024 0 Comments Ag club el reyI had two options: wait for him and lose my authority or go without him," recalled Lattek years later. "Once, he didn't turn up on time when the team were due to leave. Lattek would rather refer to his star player as ‘ este chico, Diego’ (‘this kid, Diego’) with the air of a man who was only too aware that putting up with Maradona’s rather erratic personality was the price to pay for having his genius out there on the field.Īt times, however, the Barça coach would assert his authority and one occasion, driven to distraction by the Argentine’s attitude to timekeeping, he ordered the team bus to drive off to an away fixture without their star player. Less impressed was the blaugranes’ pragmatic German coach Udo Lattek with whom Maradona had a relationship that was distant and at times overtly hostile. The form of ‘El Pelusa’ continued to impress the fans at Camp Nou with six goals in his first 13 league games at Barça. Nevertheless, the Club’s persistence, and that of Casaus in particular, finally bore fruit and after protracted negotiations, Boca Juniors agreed to allow Diego Maradona to become a blaugrana.įor me, Mr.Casaus was my sporting second father, after my manager, he is the person I love most and trust in most “ Diego Maradona Subsequent Barça attempts to sign Maradona were also hindered by financial demands and the reluctance of the Argentinian FA to see their star player move abroad ahead of the 1982 World Cup to be played in Spain. The Argentine’s precocious ability was by now no secret in the footballing world and an audacious bid by English Second Division club Sheffield United came close to being accepted until excessive financial demands by Maradona’s then club Argentinos Juniors led the Yorkshire side to sign Maradona’s countryman Alex Sabella instead. Intially, despite Casaus’ enthusiasm for ‘El Pelusa’ as Diego was known in Spanish due to his unkempt mop of hair, the FC Barcelona board thought him too raw a talent at just 17 years of age. It was there, in the midst of the country hosting the football World Cup, that the gregarious Barça director first came across Diego Maradona and soon the unlikely pairing had struck up a friendship that was to prove instrumental in bringing the talented midfielder to Barcelona. The long chaseĪfter becoming FC Barcelona vice president in 1978, one of Casaus’ first official trips was to the country of his birth, Argentina. Barça’s pursuit of the Argentinian had begun several years before at the instigation of man who was to play a vital role in bringing the tousled haired, barrel chested genius to Camp Nou: Nicolau Casaus. On 4 June 1982 Diego Armando Maradona put pen to paper on a contract with FC Barcelona the best player in the world was finally a blaugrana. With the Champions League last 16 tie between Barça and Italian club Napoli just around the corner, we take a look at a footballing colossus who represented both clubs during his spectacular, and at times controversial, career: Diego Armando Maradona. Hard as it may be to believe, Leo Messi is not the first Argentine superstar to wear the hallowed FC Barcelona shirt.
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