From Barcelona s darling to Real Madrid s burden, geniuses seem to be delayed by transfers, but in fact they can t keep up with the trend of the times

At the request of a friend, let’s talk about Saviola, the once famous Argentine genius striker.

On December 11, 1981, Javier Pedro Saviola Fernandez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His congenital conditions were very bad. He was only 2.4 kilograms when he was born, and he was not even as good as some premature babies. This directly leads to his physical development being significantly less than that of children of the same age. Especially in height, the performance is particularly obvious.

Fortunately, the sport of football does not value height very much. Sometimes, short stature can even be an advantage for football players. Take Saviola for example. His pace frequency is fast enough to be able to perform smoothly in a small space and calmly complete extraordinary movements.

As we all know, Maradona, the king of football, is a typical short player. So in Argentina, people will never discriminate against short players. When he was a teenager, Saviola not only was not discriminated against, but became the focus of the training of the old Argentine club Riverbed. As early as 1998, he was promoted to the first team of Riverbed.

Saviola did not disappoint River Plate's expectations for him, and he scored a goal in his debut, giving his career a good start. In the following days, Saviola had more and more scenes in the River Plate team. He formed an offensive trident with Aimal and Angel. It was really powerful and made the South American heroes complain. By 1999, Saviola had been crowned South American Footballer and became a recognized superstar in football.

South American footballer level players, no matter which national youth team is placed in the national football power, are the cornerstones of the team building, and Argentina is no exception. In the World Youth Championship held in Argentina in 2011, Saviola became the offensive core of the Argentina National Youth Team without any controversy. He scored 11 goals in 6 games, not only winning the Golden Boot of the Tournament, but also leading the Argentina team to win the championship trophy.

At this time, Saviola was the first player of the same age who was undisputed, or the kind of cliff-like lead. This is destined to become a hot commodity in the transfer market, causing robbery from major wealthy families.

The former Maradona, the first stop to land in Europe was Barcelona. Saviola followed his predecessors and also chose Barcelona for his first stop in Europe. In the summer of 2001, the Argentine genius attacker landed at the Camp Nou Stadium for a transfer fee of 25 million euros.

You should know that the 25 million euros in 2001 still have strong purchasing power in the transfer market. From the transfer fee alone, it is not difficult to see how high Barcelona's expectations for Saviola are. In fact, the Barcelona management does see the Argentine genius as hope for the future. In order to get Saviola to wear her favorite No. 7 battle jersey, they did not hesitate to let Alfonso, the former owner of No. 7 battle jersey, change to No. 20. From any perspective, Saviola, who is a newcomer, is considered a favorite of Barcelona.

In the next 2001-02 season, Saviola showed himself as Barcelona's main striker. As for his forward partner, it is Dutch center Kruyvert. This combination is actually a traditional combination of one high and one fast. Cruivet was at the forefront to attract fire, while Saviora was waiting for an opportunity behind him. The combination of

is quite effective. Over the whole season, Cruyvit scored 18 goals in La Liga, while Saviola scored 17 goals, which is definitely a first-class forward combination.

It's a pity that Saviola and Cruivit's classic double striker combination did not last long, so Barcelona invited Rijkaard. Rijkald's tactical system directly abandoned the combination of double strikers and replaced it with an all-round center and an offensive combination of two wingers.

With Saviola's technical characteristics and physical conditions, he is destined to be unable to serve as a single striker. As for the winger position, Saviola is also limited by her physical fitness. Whether it is running or counter-attacking, it cannot reach the level of a major winger in the giants. This is destined that he cannot adapt to Rijkald's tactical system.

cannot adapt, so you have to leave the team. In the following days, Saviola played for Monaco and Sevilla as a loan player, and did not return to Camp Nou until the 2006-07 season. However, Saviola still cannot solve the problem of tactical adaptability, and can only show it as a substitute. In the summer of 2007, Saviola's contract with Barcelona expired. Just at this moment, Barcelona's old enemy Real Madrid extended an olive branch to him. Saviola almost did not hesitate and decisively accepted Real Madrid's invitation to go to the Bernabeu to continue his football career.

The result is that after Saviola joined Real Madrid, not to mention being the main striker, there is no way to even talk about the main rotation. After two seasons, he only represented Real Madrid in 17 La Liga games, and his situation was so embarrassing.

For Real Madrid, Saviola, whose annual salary is as high as 4 million euros (there is also the saying of 2.5 million euros), can only be regarded as a burden to the team. In the summer of 2009, Real Madrid dealt with the Argentine genius to Benfica.

Although Saviola was less than 30 years old at this time, his frustration at Barcelona and Real Madrid had already made him lose his energy. In the days to come, he never made any name for himself.

Looking at Saviola's career as a player, this Argentine genius seems to have been delayed by the transfer. Some people always think that if Saviola hadn't defected to Barcelona or Real Madrid back then. Instead, he went to other clubs and might become a Maradona-like emperor superstar.

But the reality is that Saviola's frustration has little to do with his transfer choice, mainly because he cannot keep up with the trend of the times.. You should know that shortly after Saviola entered the five major leagues, many strong teams abandoned the classic forward combination of one high and one fast, and instead used the configuration of one center and two wingers. With Saviola's technical characteristics and physical fitness, he is destined to be unable to adapt to the trend of the times...