Juan Sebastián Verón and the record-breaking sports center project: this is what it will be like

Will the new sports center being built in Miami be a cutting-edge centre, designed not only for competitive activity but for the complete training of children?

“It is a very important project that starts from what we have done in our career and the path we have undertaken to make our experience available and put our ideas on the ground with the desire to build a facility where kids can enter and not only play a sport, but train themselves as people. The project involves school, study, sport and has an important strength in the kids who have the opportunity to see the life of an athlete in general, they are just a footballer. The idea we have worked on is to create a tomorrow where I expect that kids come out, professionals or not, but they say ‘what a great experience we had’.

What if I will be actively involved in the Academy? “Yes, I think that all the champions involved will be there, some more and some less, because we put time and effort into creating it. I think the best thing of all is seeing the guys who pass through there and can have a complete training and maybe find them working in important places.”

A very important investment also for the Miami community?

“The impact will be important first for the creation of jobs and then for the community, because it is an important place. We are not setting up commercial places just linked to a business, but we are providing a service, as well as creating a sense of belonging, with futuristic systems as they are thought of today. In training you cannot leave out today topics such as artificial intelligence. There are many things that are important for young people and that can be binding for their education and which must be part of the project. So it was thought of from this point of view”.

What if I continue to follow Italian football? “Yes, even if I don’t see many matches, but I follow the teams that have been part of my life and my career. And then I like to see big matches like Juventus-Milan.”

In 1999 Veron was purchased by Lazio of president Cragnotti and coach Eriksson for around 60 billion lire and in the Biancoceleste jersey he played his best Italian seasons, managing to win a UEFA Super Cup, an Italian Cup, an Italian Super Cup and above all a scudetto, at the end of a gripping battle with Juventus in the 1999-2000 championship. Today as president of Estudiantes he has a more complete vision of the world of football.

How do I see this rift between the fans and the Lazio club? “I am of the opinion that the club must be well managed, but then there is one thing that you cannot leave aside, but must be put on the table: dreams. Those that the people have and also those that the club has, of building and seeing a good team. Because in the end the balance sheets are not celebrated. So I believe that what is there from the people is right, because it is difficult to say ‘don’t dream’. The people want a team that wins, they want a team that is protagonist, as they have had in past and wants to relive it again, while society perhaps has other ideas. That’s where the split lies.”

Presidential advice to Lazio president Claudio Lotito

“He must listen to the people and in addition to managing the club well and keeping the accounts in order. Today there are resources in the world to draw on, such as, for example, another investor or someone who will help you put in place a team that is up to the level of the club and the history that you have lived and that you want to live again. Because unfortunately you have a team and a club close to you, like Roma, which is investing and which is a protagonist. And Lazio by history has the ability to do so, as well as for the passion of the people who continue to push the team, but when you don’t have the same signals on the other side, people pronounce themselves this way.”

Has something like this ever happened in Argentina?

“Nothing like this has ever happened here. Other things happen in Argentina, perhaps worse, but not those…”.

How is the Argentine championship going?

“Well, even if yesterday we lost to Velez in the big match of the Argentine championship, but we are second in the table.”

Are there any Argentinian players I would recommend? “Today we have a boy, a centre-back like Tomas Palacios who is from Inter, we took him on loan and for me he is a player to follow carefully. A great talent who will have a great future. Then we have a midfielder for whom we have already had some surveys from Atletico Bilbao who is Mikel Amondarain. A good midfielder with a good physique, technically good, who is playing his first games. Left-back Gaston Benedetti is also doing well, then we have other players of perspective. Here in Argentina there is no shortage of talent.”

What is missing in Italy instead?

“I believe that the problem of Italian football, where the talent is there, in a country as we say ‘Futbolero’ by history, is the lack of modernity. The teams struggle to build the stadium but also to change the style of play. Italy has remained a little behind. It is necessary to invest in clubs and facilities, otherwise it is difficult to grow and make the teams competitive at the high level in Europe and keep the championship alive without reducing it to those who have more possibilities. It is a question of sporting project”.

Who is the favorite for the Serie A championship?

“Inter because in recent years they have maintained a base of players and a style of play, also maintaining the technical project, despite the change of coach.”

Veron was banned for six months after the now famous episode of the “pasillo de espaldas” before the match against Rosario Central. A disqualification that increases the climate of tension and criticism of AFA for having awarded a new title – that of “championship of the championship” a few days before the match between the two teams and without asking the opinion of the other clubs.

The six-month ban by the Argentine Football Federation?

“Things must be done well. In the end the truth comes above everything. In Argentina today we are in a moment in which there is too much talk about many issues that should not be seen light in football. It gives me a bit of nostalgia and anger. When you start in football you only think about playing, the shirt, the fantasy, the colors and the people, but then you get to other situations, there are other bigger things around that take over.”