Javier Gonzales Mendez

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Dynamo_ZahnZee

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Javier Gonzales Mendéz

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I grew up about 6 blocks from La Masia. It was only a stone throws away so I

grew up only one way. Every weekend my father would take me to church:
The Camp Nou was our temple; los culés would be our choir.

Football after school was a must. I'd run out onto the side streets, still
wearing my school uniform and play with the local kids. Each street had
it's own 'team'. A group who knew each other and played together.
Sometimes if we could find them, we'd play against the kids on another
street. It was a kind of territory battle; the honour of the street mattered
to us.

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I remember arriving home from school when I was eight. Christ, I remember
it like it was yesterday. My father was already home, which was strange
since he usually didn't get off work until 6pm on a weekday. Both my parents
stood in the main room of our small house, wide smiles on their face as they
handed me a open letter... a letter with the Barcelona F.C. seal on the cover.

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I couldn't believe it... I got in.


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That was probably the hardest year of my life; and I had only moved up
the street. Some of the boys had flown over entire continents to sleep
in the bunk next to mine and they were naturally more lonely than me.
Though we were all home-sick, each one of us had people we left behind.
So we we all bonded together. We became each others family.

Training in the morning, school in the afternoon, Training in the evening...
It was ****** hard work. If our school work slacked off, we wouldn't be
allowed train for the weekend matches so we all pulled together and helped
each other out. I think that may have made the difference. Getting both an
academic and football education.

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I just wept. I buried myself into my mothers arms and just wept. I might have been 17
years old but when you are devastated, sometimes all you can do is cry. My contract
at Barcelona expired today... and they had not offered me a senior development deal.


"You're a good kid Javier, but you haven't developed enough. I don't think you'll
get games here. If you want a career as a footballer... It's not going to be here"


I mean yeah, they're honest words, but they stung. Barcelona was my home..
and after 9 years in the academy... I was so close. Though I think loosing it
only made me want it more.



My time at Barcelona did however attract some attention. My agent told me
of a few clubs enquiring about my availability.


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Villarreal offered my a development deal with their 'B' team. They are a huge
club but I wasn't sure if I wanted to play a bit part in their reserves.


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Cádiz offered me a senior contract in their 1st team. Though they play in the third tier
of Spanish football, I was flattered they wanted me as a starter.


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Las Palmas offered me a 2 year deal but I wasn't keen on moving that far form home.
The island of Grand Canaria was a long way from home.

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So in the end I too the offer from Cádiz. They may be playing in the lower league but they
were offering me a starting role in their squad. I ended up staying there for 10 years.

Aged 26, I had worked my way up through the squad and had earned the captain's
armband. I can honestly say I grew to love Cádiz... but I still missed Barcelona.
They were the one that got away and I pushed myself everyday to hopefully
get a call to return. I knew it was a long shot but what else could I do.


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Though my hard work did pay off. I earned a transfer to R.C. Deportivo.
Now playing in La Liga, I was excited as I would get to fulfil a lifelong dream.
I would walk out onto the Camp Nou as a professional player. It didn't matter
to me that I would be wearing the opposition colours.

I knew I would be jeered and hissed at. That was nothing personal, I was the enemy.
I understood... But that only made me want it even more. If I couldn't play for them;
then I'll beat them.... We lost 4-1 but the fight was in me. I knew I was where I
wanted to be!


I stayed at Deportivo for 5 years and hung up my boots at 31 years of age.
In total, I made 385 career appearances, scoring 102 goals over 15 years.


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I never did achieve that dream of playing for Barcelona.
But I'm not done yet..

Maybe one day!
I could one day
I'll manage them!
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Good luck with this mate! Should be interesting to see you do a journeyman!
 
xJamieWilliams said:
Good luck with this mate! Should be interesting to see you do a journeyman!
Click to expand...

Cheers mate. I was very keen on doing a Chelsea save but the drama 2 pages in killed the save for me.
I thought it'd be fun to go on an adventure with Javier Gonzalez Mendez rather than just go with one club.
 
Brendn said:
Cheers mate. I was very keen on doing a Chelsea save but the drama 2 pages in killed the save for me.
I thought it'd be fun to go on an adventure with Javier Gonzalez Mendez rather than just go with one club.
Click to expand...

Yeah I did see that :p

It's worked well for Carragher! haha, looking forward to seeing your first club.
 
xJamieWilliams said:
Yeah I did see that :p

It's worked well for Carragher! haha, looking forward to seeing your first club.
Click to expand...

Aye, I've been well impressed with your story. Going back to Valencia was a great idea. Fair play to ya for keeping it going so long as I know how hard it is.
 
Brendn said:
Aye, I've been well impressed with your story. Going back to Valencia was a great idea. Fair play to ya for keeping it going so long as I know how hard it is.
Click to expand...

Sometimes you just hit dead ends don't you, I felt that if I did not leave A.C. Milan the story would have ended soon! So it's nice and refreshing!

Anyway, I will stop clogging this up now :p Good luck! I'm following :)
 
Bredn stuff is always good.

Specially with Professor Oak!

Following mate :)
 
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I guess I never really stood a chance. Rijkaard is a Legend of Dutch
Football and the ex-Barcelona Manager was always favorite for the
job. I did get the meet the man though and we shared a great
conversation in while waiting to be interviewed.
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Look forward to this, usually read your stories once you are x amount of pages in. Will be good to follow from the start!
 
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