Nelson Insfrán returns to the club after a new loan / Gimnasia press
Rodrigo Rey’s departure creates a headache for Néstor Gorosito, because he loses a key piece of the team. Rey was essential on the pitch and also very important off it. But in this moment of austerity, of using what he has and not being able to wait for reinforcements because the club is inhibited, he will have to reach out to many players who have come from the youth academy.
And one of the places to occupy is the arch. In recent years Gimnasia knew how to “hit” (as they say in the stands) with the goalkeepers. Diego Maradona at the beginning of 2020 brought Jorge Broun; a year later, with the duo made up of Mariano Messera and Leandro Martini, Rodrigo Rey arrived. That is why the club’s goalkeepers were practically unable to play.
At the end of 2019, Diego decided to take out who was the starter until then, Alexis Martín Arias (who would end up leaving weeks later), and made Nelson Insfrán debut.
From then on, the aforementioned, first Broun and Rey later performed well and left no room for the youth players. Insfrán would go on loan some time later, and Tomás Durso made his Primera debut in April 2021 when Rey and Insfrán had Covid.
The truth is that it is not easy for a goalkeeper to reach First Division, because only one plays, it is not like other positions. Today a striker can play a midfielder or a winger can be a midfielder… The goalkeeper must be very patient and not miss “the” day he is due, otherwise he may be destined for long seasons on the bench. But today, it seems that the goal will be disputed by Insfrán (27 years old, he comes from being on loan at Central Córdoba de Santiago del Estero and San Martín de Tucumán) and Durso (23 years old, who watched Rey’s back the last time) .
It seems that it is never easy for the club’s goalkeepers to prevail, and in the case of Lobo in recent decades it has been very difficult for them.
At the beginning of the ’90s, Hernán Cristante and Enzo Noce appeared, the former was transferred but Leo spent more than a decade in the goal, and Guillermo Hernando and Javier Lavallén waited behind him.
In the following decade, Club goalkeepers appeared, but in many cases they had to wait for goalkeepers who came from abroad for a season, as happened with Olave, Bobadilla, Navarro Montoya, Cejas, Sessa, among others. That’s why some kids from the Club played a handful of games and had to leave.
Times where the internationally recognized goalkeeper coach, Gustavo Piñero (until a few days ago he participated in the World Cup with the Mexico National Team), prepared lots of kids.
And there were special cases of goalkeepers who became substitutes and members of the squad but could not even debut as Daniel Bertoya (he was from 1997 to 2001); Juan Cupertino (from 2006 to 2009); Juan Pablo Noce (in 2015); Pablo Torres (was from 2016 to 2018). And there Durso appears, from 2018 in the squad to the present in Reserve and First bench.
Many got tired of waiting and had to leave; to others when the chance came, it was not the best context and that moment devoured them. It also depends on the character of each one and the “wood” that is made to withstand the pressure and responsibility of a bow. Monetti was relegated at 22, promoted at 24, and then won titles, for example at Lanús and Atlético Nacional (Colombia).
Later, after waiting behind Bologna, Navarro, Manuel García and a youth player from the club like Yair Bonnín, it was time for Martín Arias to make his debut since May 2016, until December 2019, where in the last two dates Maradona gave the bow to Monkey Insfran. But this would not last long, since Broun would arrive in January 2020 and a year later, Rey.
Today there seems to be no room for anything other than his own goalkeeper, with almost no other choice. Insfrán returns with experience after passing through two clubs, but Durso has the advantage of having been in the Gorosito cycle and having worked daily with Pipo’s goalkeeping coach, Marcelo Villasanti. Behind come other kids like Nahuel Manganelli and Francisco Vergara (both category 2001).
Beyond this, clubs cannot spend millions on a goalkeeper, they have to do it, they must come out of their guts and give them everything to improve them. Today seems to be the time for inferior goalkeepers again with Insfrán and Durso, fighting to see who will make the save in the debut of the next tournament in just over a month, on January 29 against Vélez, at Liniers.
But if there is a kid from the Club in the goal, let there be no doubt, he will be in good hands.
