The meteoric rise of Enzo Fernández: from the boy who dazzled in the 2001 San Martín to the best youth player of the World Cup

There was Enzo FernándezEl Gordo, on one side of Lionel Messi, joking, feeling like a world champion. In the distance, his fellow adventurers cheered him. Enzo was called to center stage, he walked shyly, received a slap in the face from Leo and lifted the trophy for the best young player (under 23) of the World Cup. Senseless pampering for the born in River, who has completed a dream tournament. He entered the team through the back door and became the master of midfield. All at just 21 years old.

“We are fucking champions. There are no words to describe how it feels. It’s crazy. It is a unique moment that I will never erase and will carry with me“, assured an excited Fernández. And he added:” This group deserved it. They suffered an injustice in this match, we too felt bad after losing against Arabia in the opening match. We are happy because we are bringing the cup to all the Argentine people.”

On January 17, 2001, when Enzo Fernández was born, Argentina was beginning to experience one of the worst years in its history, with a social and economic crisis that broke out in December and many workers lost their jobs. One of them was Raúl, Enzo’s father, when the factory where he worked closed and he had to scavenge doing odd jobs on Maciel Island. Meanwhile, Messi was already installed in Barcelona, ​​looking for a better future after which no club could take care of the treatment of him.

Enzo grew up in a very humble family in San Martín, where he shared a roof with his father Raúl, his mother Marta and his four brothers, Maxi, Rodrigo, Sebastián and Gonzalo. And immediately he began to have a ball at his feet. He started playing as a child in the baby soccer club La Recova.

And when I was just starting elementary school, Pablo Esquivel, a talent scout at River, saw it, who currently continues to work at the Núñez club. “I ran a club from Villa Ballester and had to deal with him. And he broke everything. I’ve seen him very intelligent from such a young age,” said Esquivel clarion.

And his narrative continued on how Fernández got to River. “I told Gabriel Rodríguez and the junior league coaches that there was a 2001 San Martín player who played great and they told me to go find him. So, I started looking into where she lived, found the house and introduced myself to her parents. I spoke to Raúl and Marta, their parents, who are phenomenal. At that time they told me that they prefer to wait because she was very young and I told them that it was better from then on because it takes a while to adjust to the big field. After many twists and turns, we managed to convince the parents and brought him to the club” Esquivel said.

“We’ve had Enzo since high school. I invited him to play at Parque Chas and Pablo Esquivel and Luis Pereyra contacted me. And at the same time that he played the child, at 7, 8 years old, we used to take him to the River ”, recalled Gabriel Rodríguez, coordinator of the Infantiles of the Núñez club.

But Enzo’s fairy tale will have its difficulties, which will begin with the entrance into adolescence. “He had ups and downs and irregularities that had to do with physical development, which is normal for boys. Especially as they enter adolescence. He was short, a bit chubby and needed to be styled and when that growth occurred he grew faster. But the passage through the Ninth, the Octave and the Seventh cost him. So much so that in the conversations I had with him he hinted that he wanted to leave. He played in the Metropolitan League, not in the AFA and understood his discomfort. But I was confident I could fight him and I convinced him” said Rodríguez, who today sees in Enzo a player with “a game perspective and a refined touch, very similar to Modric”.

Enzo was convinced that he would become a professional player. That’s why he followed the advice and started training in double shifts, with a personal trainer. And for his head to be calm, the accompaniment of “Tapón” Jorge Gordillo, who had him in the minor divisions and trusted him a lot, was fundamental. In the seventh he started playing and in the sixth he exploded with Guillermo Rivarola as coach and from there he made the leap to reserve.

After a preseason in the Reserve, at the beginning of 2019, Marcelo Gallardo asked Luigi Villalba which player stood out. The response from the former coach of the preliminary team was quick and decisive: “Enzo Fernández”. Thus, the Doll relaunched him and brought him to the bench in a match with Patronato at the Monumental in which the midfielder did not enter. He returned to reserve and just made his debut a year later, against Liga de Quito for the Copa Libertadores.

But again obstacles appeared. There were a lot of central midfielders in River, so the possibility of being loaned arose. Fernández took it and it ended up being vital for his take off. In Defense and Justice he stepped up his game. Hand in hand with Hernán Crespo, as a coach, Enzo was champion of the Copa Sudamericana, at a high level. And then, with Sebastián Beccacece in the lead, he won the Recopa. And in June 2021 he turned River upside down.

He started from behind, but started to show his talent when it was his turn to come in. And due to Nicolás De La Cruz’s injury, he started starting in October of that year. And what came was magical. With River he came out champion in the League and Champions Trophy, titles for which his contribution was fundamental and he was called up by Scaloni for the double round of the Qualifiers against Uruguay and Brazil.

It was assumed that this call-up had more to do with the post-World Cup future than the present. Not for Enzo. Fernández took the opportunity to show up for training and remain on the radar of the national team’s coaching staff. And while it wasn’t in the final days of qualifying this year, the possibility was simmering.

Is that the midfielder has grown a lot in the River. He had outstanding performances and showed a lot of personality even to take over the team. And in the middle of the year, Benfica from Portugal appeared and took him away. Adaptation? It wasn’t necessary. Enzo quickly entered the dynamic and became one of the figures of the Portuguese team. With amazing goals and productions, one of these against the PSG of Messi, Mbappé and Neymar, no less, in the Champions League.

So Scaloni took him to the last tour before the World Cup, in the United States. And Enzo took advantage of it. He broke against Jamaica and Honduras, to such an extent that the stats recorded that he didn’t give a bad pass. He is included in the list of 26 to play in Qatar, as well as in the starting team.

Is that after a good collection in the defeat against Saudi Arabia, Scaloni has taken him into consideration as one of the substitutions against Mexico, in which Enzo had a consecratory meeting. After receiving a ball from Messi, he tackled, simulated, hooked and pinned the ball almost for a corner to seal the 2-0 victory against the Mexicans, in a vital match for the Argentine team.

Any mortal would have given Messi the ball back, but Enzo had the personality to take charge and define. Like him he also had to assist Julián Álvarez in the next match against Poland, match in which he started for the first time not starting more than eleven. Not even having missed the penalty in the series against the Netherlands, a game in which he played a collection recovery, in which he came close to scoring, didn’t even make him collapse.

Enzo, as happens to all the younger players who are in the national team, lives with the dream of playing alongside his idol. The one they’ve admired since they were little. When Messi made his Barcelona debut, Fernández was starting kindergarten.

And the love he professes for Leo is so much that when the “10” said he would no longer come to the national team after the Copa América final loss with Chile in the United States in 2016, Enzo wrote a letter on his Facebook account , which recently went viral, in which with great maturity, among other things, he said: “Let’s look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we demand from ourselves 1% of what we demand from this guy who I really don’t even know”.

From that chaotic December to this joyful December, two decades have passed. Enzo embraces Leo today and weeps with happiness with him.