The story of Franco Alfonso, the new River jewel who did everything to play for the club and dazzled Demichelis

Franco Alfonso He is fulfilling the dream of his life. Fan of River from the cradle, was the revelation of the team’s preseason Martin Demichelis in United States of Americain which he has earned his place and is already preparing to try to be the new jewel of the club.

Alfonso finished the North American tour as a starter over more experienced players like Boat Y parade. Micho has placed him as an attacking midfielder lying down on the left, although his versatility gives the coach options as the youth player can play on the right, in the center or as an insider.

In the Orlando, where River beat Vasco da Gama 3-0, Alfonso played 63 minutes in which he was encouraged to take a free kick that the Brazilian team’s goalkeeper took to his side, and tackled with confidence and beauty as in a match in the second half in which the goal ended. “When I have the hole, I try to take advantage of the moment and kick on goal,” he acknowledged after the match.

“Alfonso is a boy according to the formation of River and the history of the club. He is very vertical one-on-one and it is important to break the rival teams that will be waiting for us and I have no doubt that it will be useful for us. He felt confident from the first minute, I see him very loose, I think he showed what he is “, commented Demichelis. And I add:”He is a true River fan, eager to succeed and with a great drive to excel. I see him every day and that he played according to what he coaches makes me happy ”.

Alfonso is the son of the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Born in Hummocksthe heart of the West, on May 4, 2002, he grew up in the streets behind the Plaza Oeste shopping center, and between the ages of 4 and 5 he started playing in El Porvenir de Castelar child.

At the age of 10 he went to Velez. But he played in the third team, called “A”, which was behind the AFA and the League, to which he was sometimes promoted. Despite this, his head was in the river. That’s why she thought that if she was to play against her love club, he had to play “the game of her life”.

And the last year of Infantiles came this possibility. In a match in the Ezeiza property, Alfonso broke it with the Vélez shirt. “For me playing against River was an advantage because I wanted to show off”he admitted in an interview with the site “La Máquina Radio” in times of quarantine.

How did the story go? “Just that day I was re-motivated. Luckily I had a good game there and my old man spoke to Javier Alonso, and when the game ends Javier asks him who I was and tells him to go in November and test me. But I sent myself in October. i went to try. It was in Monumental and had never entered. I walked in and was in another world. I remember that Juanjo Borrelli was there as coordinator and Gustavo Fermani as coach”, says Alfonso.

And he continued: “Juanjo asks me: ‘Did you bring things? Yes, I answer him. I got dressed, went to train, we didn’t play football that day and I had to come back in two days. The next day I had to go to Vélez and I went to train. The day after I go back to the River, I played soccer, it went well and they told me that I had met. And from there I never went to Vélez. That’s where it all started with River. I was 13, it was at the end of the Pre-Ninth. And the following year I already started River.”

To go to Núñez, he took advantage of the trips of his father, who worked near the Monument, and then returned with some colleagues. I took the 28 to Liniers and another bus to Morón. And when he had to train at the Ezeiza, he went to the Monumental, he got into the van that the club had set up and had breakfast and lunch on site with his teammates. Then he got off at Liniers and took a single bus to his house. His father (employee in a high-altitude window washer company), his mother (a teacher) and his sister always accompanied him to the games.

admirer of Nicholas de la CruzAlfonso, of whom he says he is the same height and whom he loves for his great performance on the pitch as he “attacks and defends in the same way”, defines himself as “a fast player who likes to tackle and kick the goal, I can be a midfielder at right or left, but I like to play more on the left because being a right footer makes me hook up and the panorama of the pitch suits me better”.

Franco, who is represented by Nine Football, the agency he leads Fernando Cavenaghihe has already signed his first contract and he did it a termination clause of 15 million euros, although it has not yet officially debuted in Primera. He was only benched twice with Marcellus Gallardobefore the Workshops and the Board of Trustees.

Alfonso is living a dream that is now reality. Walk the path you have imagined so many times. “My dream was to play for Primera de River and now I want to establish myself and be successful in the club that we are all fans of in my family,” said the boy who shone in River’s preseason.