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It was the last days of September. La U had already returned to competition after the pandemic break, and Walter Montillo He showed that despite the months in between, he was still the most important player on the team. And that was why the leadership decided, finally, to start talking about a topic that had already been discussed in the corridors: the renewal of their contract.
The player was undecided, not because he did not want to remain on the team that he had identified with the most throughout his career and to which he returned after a decade and several failed attempts. But his initial plan was to close the curtain on his professional career this 2020, something that he postponed – and for which he made several family arrangements – just to be able to fulfill his pending task.
However, seeing the interest of the club, he was excited. He even dared to mention it publicly for the first time, anticipating that the U would be the last team of his career as a footballer. Everything seemed like a formality, supported by the fact that the person who approached him was neither Sergio Vargas nor Rodrigo Goldberg, the sports directors and “de facto” football managers, but the very president of Azul Azul, Cristian Aubert.
Although it was not the mandams with whom he achieved his delayed return to the U – the resigned Jos Luis Navarrete was the one in charge – he was someone who he had a lot of confidence in, since he had known him from his previous time at the club.
But the same one he blamed on Monday, stating that he had already made the decision not to continue in the team. What changed?
The famous “evaluation”
When it was leaked a few days ago that Azul Azul wanted to “evaluate” Montillo to decide whether to renew his contract or not, it was misunderstood that this order came from the new technician, Rafael Dudamel. But it came from above and, in fact, it was neither strange nor particular to the case of the Argentine.
In fact, the Venezuelan DT not only has not had an opinion on the matter, but has had to find out from the media how the Argentine’s last games could be living on his squad. A scholar who knew perfectly all the players on the squad before arriving in Chile, Dudamel was even aware of the “Montillodependencia” that affected the team throughout this season.
In the club they affirm that this type of evaluations, especially to veteran players, is a common practice. In fact, at this very moment, Jean Beausejour, Matas Rodríguez and Osvaldo Gonzlez also have private folders with their names.
The big difference, however, was that Montillo couldn’t keep waiting. To come to the U, he had to convince his wife and change schools to their two school-age children, Valentn (12) and Santino (10)The latter, who also has special needs and had to modify a couple of medical treatments and routines to come to Chile, the country where he was born.
“I live under evaluation … but I think that after 12 months in the team they already know how I am,” said Montillo on Radio ADN, in part pointing out that although it is a prerogative of the leadership, further evaluations were not necessary.
Different goals and lack of communication
To further exceed the glass, last week it was announced that the U had decided to buy half of Pablo Arnguiz’s pass. Something that, by the way, was only known because the American club full of his pass published it on social networks.
But at that point the situation between the club and Montillo was already reaching a near standstill. When your representative Sergio Irigoita -Who more than a simple agent is a friend and confidant- pointed out in the press that the player “was hurt”, the player had already decided not to continue. He was waiting for a last gesture from the leadership, a blank check not in terms of money, but in the interest of retaining it, which did not arrive.
The club, and Aubert, were shocked by the leak and there were no serious attempts over the weekend to fix the relationship. And so, Montillo decided to take the phone and make known what he himself recognized was a “bomb”, both for the institution and for the fans.
In the U they still believed they could keep the old “Flagship”. Only a catastrophic closure of the national tournament that would end up sending them to First B would have changed the intention somewhat and, even so, there would have been an intention to continue, although under new economic parameters.
The monetary, in any case, was never a problem. In this past, that was not even reached to talk. In the leadership they believed that they could treat their symbol and captain like any player, and Montillo needed a more determined and faster communication.
Deep down, both parties wanted to stay together, but a misunderstanding has the U on the verge of running out of its main reference for the next year.
