If you have been following football in the past year or so the name Erik Lamela can’t be foreign to you.
This 19 years old progressed from the River academy to a starting place in AS Roma in only a couple of years.
But Roma did not take any gambles by signing him, as he had at 18 played a full season in the Argentinean top division.
A gamble was what the boy from Carapachay, not too far away from River Plate’s stadium, when in 2004 at the age of 12, he said no to Barcelona and stayed with the Buenos Aires giants.
But the gamble paid off. He developed, he made a name for himself and slowly reached the senior team.
When Passarella won the elections to become president of River, he tied “Coco” to a 4 years contract with a €20m buy out clause, guaranteeing the club dividends after the many years they invested on the player.
And then came Roma…..
“Playing in Serie A, at my age was a huge opportunity that I did not want to miss. I have chosen River once, but it was time to move on and become a better player”
Was the adjustment easy?
Not at all. From my point of view, I was not used to the culture, to the language, etc. I was missing my friends. My team mates were very important to help me adapt. Gabriel (Heinze) took me under his wing, and suddenly things started going my way.
At the beginning you were not even named as part of the squads!
I know. Gaby kept telling me to work hard during the week. Stake my claim there, where the Manager had more time to see me and make his job difficult by leaving me out.
And then you got your chance
Yes, and I would have been mad to let it go without giving it my best shot.
Totti, who is not an easy guy to convince filled you with praise and can’t believ how much you have progressed in such little time.
It is good to hear people like Francesco, with his experience and the respect that he commands at the club say things like that. He has also been very supportive of me.
Did it surprise you being named by Sabella for the Switzerland game?
Off course it did. You always work with the hope that they will notice, but was not expecting to be called up so soon.
Are you ready to play if called upon?
I would not be here if I was not. But we should leave that to the Manager. At the moment I am delighted to be surrounded by all this amazing players. Even just training with them is like a dream come true.
He did not want to repeat himself about the incident with his team mate Osvaldo earlier in the season, but clarified that it is all in the past and there are no problems between them.
Humility, self belief and blessed with an incredible ability to play football.
This is just the start for Erik Lamela.
This 19 years old progressed from the River academy to a starting place in AS Roma in only a couple of years.
But Roma did not take any gambles by signing him, as he had at 18 played a full season in the Argentinean top division.
A gamble was what the boy from Carapachay, not too far away from River Plate’s stadium, when in 2004 at the age of 12, he said no to Barcelona and stayed with the Buenos Aires giants.
But the gamble paid off. He developed, he made a name for himself and slowly reached the senior team.
When Passarella won the elections to become president of River, he tied “Coco” to a 4 years contract with a €20m buy out clause, guaranteeing the club dividends after the many years they invested on the player.
And then came Roma…..
“Playing in Serie A, at my age was a huge opportunity that I did not want to miss. I have chosen River once, but it was time to move on and become a better player”
Was the adjustment easy?
Not at all. From my point of view, I was not used to the culture, to the language, etc. I was missing my friends. My team mates were very important to help me adapt. Gabriel (Heinze) took me under his wing, and suddenly things started going my way.
At the beginning you were not even named as part of the squads!
I know. Gaby kept telling me to work hard during the week. Stake my claim there, where the Manager had more time to see me and make his job difficult by leaving me out.
And then you got your chance
Yes, and I would have been mad to let it go without giving it my best shot.
Totti, who is not an easy guy to convince filled you with praise and can’t believ how much you have progressed in such little time.
It is good to hear people like Francesco, with his experience and the respect that he commands at the club say things like that. He has also been very supportive of me.
Did it surprise you being named by Sabella for the Switzerland game?
Off course it did. You always work with the hope that they will notice, but was not expecting to be called up so soon.
Are you ready to play if called upon?
I would not be here if I was not. But we should leave that to the Manager. At the moment I am delighted to be surrounded by all this amazing players. Even just training with them is like a dream come true.
He did not want to repeat himself about the incident with his team mate Osvaldo earlier in the season, but clarified that it is all in the past and there are no problems between them.
Humility, self belief and blessed with an incredible ability to play football.
This is just the start for Erik Lamela.