Pedro Aquino, for two years, was tried by the Blue Cross and now it will be up to them to face it wearing the colors of America
MEXICO CITY – Pedro Aquino has established himself in his first tournament with America as one of the best footballers not only in the team, but in the MX League, and the Peruvian midfielder is ready to prove himself this Saturday in the most difficult test for the Eagles so far this semester, when they receive the Blue Cross of the mark of 12 consecutive victories.
This is certainly not new, but what few know is that Pere Aquino became for two years the object of desire of the Cement Machine, And although several different managers negotiated, showed interest, made offers and / or simply had the Inca player as a reinforcement option, the reality is that Aquino became a kind of “frustrated dream”. For Blue Cross.
Multiple sources confirmed by ESPN they counted details about the interest that existed in signing Aquino since early 2018, When he came from a very good tournament with BUAP Wolves, after that the Club Rayados de Monterrey, owner of his federal rights at the time, would decide whether to add him to the team or sell him to another interested team .
This was the first time that La Màquina had it in its portfolio, with the sporting director Eduardo de la Torre in his last months of management, although the first formal talks were given just when Ricardo Peláez arrived at the celestial club as a replacement for the ‘Yayo’ of the Tower on May 7, 2018, sources told ESPN.
“In fact there was a pre-contract, dated May 14, 2018, in which Aquino was already practically fixed with Blue Cross, There were the signatures and even the copy of the player’s passport in a document stapled inside a folder, but something happened that León managed to close the negotiation with Rayados first “, assured a consulted source by this means.
Blue Cross was ready to file the Peruvian steering wheel like the first reinforcement “bomb” of Peláez, but something blocked the operation between Blue Cross and Monterrey, so that the then soccer player of 23 years and his surroundings considered that he was a good leap in his career going to Club León, so on May 17 he signed the contract and the next day he was announced as the new player of La Fera.
Almost two weeks later, on May 31, La Màquina made the signing of the Argentine Iván Marcone official, in a summer where it would invest very heavily in also hiring elements such as Pablo Aguilar, Roberto Alvarado, Elías Hernández, Misael Domínguez, Igor Lichnovsky and Milton Caraglio, among others.
Nevertheless, during all the stage of sport director Ricardo Peláez and of the technician Pedro Caixinha, that is to say, from early 2018 to September 2019, Blue Cross kept Aquino in his portfolio as he was considered an AAA player (Of the best in its position in Liga MX) within the scale of possible reinforcements in the celestial institution.
For the second half of 2019, the cement board would make a new effort to hire Pedro Aquino, when he was already considered one of the best center-backs in the MX League, but this time the economic factor was an impediment, as less of half of his three-year contract with Leon, Emerald President Jesus Martinez Jr. put a starting value close to $ 8 million, “something the Blue Cross was unwilling to pay,” a source told ESPN.
“In fact there were new meetings and talks, there was formal interest, it was just in the transition of the departure of Ricardo Peláez (September 2019) and the arrival of Jaume Ordiales (December 2019),” he added another informant. “However, there were some intermediaries from the club and the negotiation did not take place directly with President ‘Billy’ Alvarez, so there was only talk that there was a maximum budget figure and not would pay more for the player “.
Once again, the Blue Cross covered this impossibility of signing Aquino with another very talented player, Luis Romo, who signed with La Màquina in December 2019 for about 6.5 million USD and has since been one of the its most prominent players.
For the summer of 2020 and the end of the year, the Blue Cross had a small budget and could not compete with America, Who signed the Peruvian midfielder last December and has finally managed to find the replacement for Guido Rodríguez, who left in January 2020 at Betis in Seville.
This Saturday at the Estadio Azteca, Pedro Aquino will play his first Clásico Jove, although by chance he will be dressed in yellow and not blue, as may have happened.