Mexico City /
He is an inexhaustible source of stories and anecdotes with almost four decades as a coach in Mexican soccer and in other latitudes. Few with the tour of Ricardo La Volpewho lived some of his best moments with the Tolucaclub of which uncovered alleged “business” with promoters to sign footballers that he did not ask for.
Helmsman of the Red Devils in two stagesthe first between 2001 and 2002 with a title before reaching the Mexican National Team (although he was no longer on the bench for the Final Phase), and the second less fortunate in 2019, La Volpe revealed the two players who hired him in Toluca that he did not ask forallegedly for prioritizing agreements with agents.
Which players imposed on La Volpe in Toluca?
Interviewed by Toño de Valdés on YouTube, Bigotón recalled that in 2019 he was close to negotiating the loan free of Uruguayan Leo Fernandezbefore the midfielder’s successful first stint with the Choriceros in January 2020, but allegedly the Toluca board denied it because already they had agreed other signings with third parties.
“In Toluca (second stage) I asked for an aggressive ’10’ and suddenly they bring you a flintstone that you say: ‘And who is this?’, but everything is business. Look, In Toluca I asked Leo Fernández and they gave it to me for freeI spoke with Tuca who was in Tigres and knew that they had to find an accommodation for him because they had not contemplated it,” said La Volpe.
“I spoke with (Jorge) Chijani, his representative, with whom I was a friend because he had taken Vicente Sánchez years before. Everything had already been arranged for Leo Fernández to arrive on loan, the 10 he needed, but In Toluca they told me no because the business was with Diego Rigonato“.
Puzzled that his coaching request was ignored, the Argentine was even more shocked when he realized that Brazilian Rigonato didn’t even fit the position he needed. and to top it off They brought him a second “negotiated” element, the Ecuadorian Aníbal Chaláunder the same conditions.
“The day Rigonato arrived, I spoke to him to ask him his characteristics and he replied: ‘I left Brazil as a full-back, I went to France and since the full-back they had was very good, they put me in the midfield.’ And I needed a 10, which turned out to be a side. And not only that, then they bring in Aníbal Chalá, who is also a winger and I told them: ‘You have to score the goals in that arc, not in this one'”, he said.
Listen to the story of La Volpe from 20:00