Last update 19 September, 2013 by Julio Muñoz
The presence for the first time in its history of Swansea in the Europa League leads us to talk about a phenomenon that is not very common but that does recur from time to time in the world of football: the presence of several players from the same country in a team of another nationality. And we have commented in some article that there are teams whose culture prevents them from signing foreigners, On the other hand, there are those who prefer to record outside what they are unable to find at home.. Once with more success than another here we present a series of clubs that once set their market in a certain country:
1- Swansea: the most recent and somewhat successful case. Last year the Welsh team won its first official title in England in the Capitan One Cup and in 2013 presents the not insignificant figure of up to eight Spaniards: Jordi Amat, Flower Boy, Michu, Pablo Hernandez, Alvaro Vazquez, angel Rangel, Pozuelo and Cañas. A real barbarity that represents a third of the squad and that raises the question of whether the club loses its Welsh identity.
2- Valencia: drawn in the same Europa League group as Michael Laudrup's, in his day and under the direction of Claudio Ranieri he had up to five Italians in the field. Namely: Moretti, Di Vaio, carbon, Corradi and Fiore who came to succeed the Lucarelli or Tavano on duty as Italian players at Valencia.
3- Barcelona: If Louis Van Gaal wanted to implement a style it was partly because he imported a series of trusted players who were also of his nationality.. horse, Traveler, Bogarde, Frank y Ronald de Boer, Send, Kluivert, Overmars, Cuckold. in the season 98-99, Barcelona looked more like the orange team with its nine representatives.
4- Valladolid: The signing of Colombian coach Pacho Maturana for the season 1990-91 gave way to a massive arrival of Colombians the following year: Valderrama and Higuita joined Álvarez, already present in the club. It was a bet on touch football, But it ended up becoming a major failure..
5- Liverpool: Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Luis Garcia, Miki Roque, Albert Riera, Fernando Morientes and shortly after Fernando Torres and Álvaro Arbeloa arrived at the team led by Rafa Benítez in the first wave of Spaniards through England. They marked the line that many other Hispanic players later followed..
6- Deportivo de la Coruña: For some years Depor was Superdepor and partly because it had a constellation of players from other countries., especially from Brazil, where Flavio, Luizao, Renaldo, Rivaldo, Djalminha, Mauro Silva and even Donato (who was a Spanish national) They made up an important part of the group.
7- Catania: The Italian team currently has up to 13 Argentines. It is one of the most notorious cases of colonization by a country. And we are talking about the fact that more than half of the squad is of Albiceleste origin. (13 of 25, there are only five italians), undoubtedly creating a somewhat peculiar precedent that not even the Inter de Milan with his nine Argentines he can overcome.
Is it good that this happens?
It is a difficult dilemma to answer. We have seen examples like Swansea or Liverpool where it has worked. Also in that mythical Osasuna of the Poles. However, if there is one thing clear, it is that identity is lost and that the fans are immediately with the magnifying glass on waiting for the slightest stumble. After all, the teams belong to the people, and the public if something wants, is to see their own winning with players from the house. Although every time this, sounds more like utopia.