Pedro Aquino was wanted by Cruz Azul for two years and now they will have to face him in the colors of America
MEXICO – Pedro Aquino has established himself in his first tournament with America as one of the best footballers not only on the team, but also in Liga MX, and the Peruvian midfielder is ready to prove this Saturday in the toughest test for the Eagles in so far this semester, when she received Cruz Azul from the figure of 12 consecutive wins.
That is certainly nothing new, but what few know is that Pedro Aquino became the object of longing for La Máquina Cementera for two yearsWhile several executives negotiated, expressed interest, made offers, and / or simply had the Inca player as a backup option, the reality is that Aquino became something of a “frustrated dream” for Cruz Azul.
Multiple sources confirmed by ESPN they counted details of the interest in attracting Aquino since early 2018, when he came from a very good tournament with Lobos BUAP, after which the Club Rayados de Monterrey, owner of his federated rights at the time, would decide whether to add him to the team or sell him to another interested team.
That was the first moment that La Maquina had it in portfolio, with the sports director Eduardo de la Torre in his last months of management, although the first formal talks were just given when Ricardo Peláez arrived at the heavenly club as a replacement for ‘Yayo’ de la Torre, on May 7, 2018, sources said ESPN
“In fact there was a pre-contract, dated May 14, 2018, in which Aquino was already practically settled with Cruz AzulThere were the signatures and even the copy of the player’s passport in a document stapled in a folder, but something happened that caused León to close the negotiation with Rayados first, ”said a source consulted by this medium.
Cruz Azul was willing to sign the Peruvian midfielder as Peláez’s first “bomb” fortification, but something blocked the operation between Cruz Azul and Monterrey, so the then 23-year-old footballer and his circle considered it a good jump in his career. career to move to Club León, for which he signed the contract on May 17 and was announced the next day as the new La Fiera player.
Nearly two weeks later, on May 31, La Maquina formalized the signing of Argentinian Iván Marcone, in a summer he would invest heavily by also hiring elements such as Pablo Aguilar, Roberto Alvarado, Elías Hernández, Misael Domínguez, Igor Lichnovsky and Milton Caraglio. , among other things.
However, throughout the stage of the sports director Ricardo Peláez and the coach Pedro Caixinha, that is, From early 2018 to September 2019, Cruz Azul kept Aquino in the portfolio as he was considered a AAA player (one of the best in his position in Liga MX) within the scale of possible reinforcements in the heavenly institution.
For the second half of 2019, the cement board would make another attempt to hire Pedro Aquino, when he was already considered one of the best central midfielders in the MX League, but this time the economic factor was a drag as, for less than half of his three-year contract with León, President Esmeralda Jesús Martínez Jr. an exit value of nearly $ 8 million, “something Cruz Azul was unwilling to pay,” a source said. ESPN
“In fact there were new meetings and talks, there was formal interest, it was precisely the transition between the departure of Ricardo Peláez (September 2019) and the arrival of Jaime Ordiales (December 2019),” added another informant. “However, there were some middlemen on the side of the club and the negotiations did not take place directly with the President ‘Billy’ Álvarez, for which they only discussed a maximum budget amount and no more would be paid for the player.”
Once again, Cruz Azul addressed that inability to sign Aquino with another very talented player, Luis Romo, who signed with La Maquina in December 2019 for around $ 6.5 million and has been one of the most prominent players ever since.
For the summer of 2020 and the end of the year, Cruz Azul was on a tight budget and could not compete with America, who signed the Peruvian midfielder last December and has finally found a replacement for Guido Rodríguez, who left Betis de Sevilla in January 2020.
This Saturday, Pedro Aquino will play his first Young Classic at the Azteca Stadium, although by chance he will do it in yellow and not blue, as it might have happened.