Real Madrid fans have long wanted a homegrown outfield hero.
They love their club buying the biggest names on the planet, but they have fond memories of their Quinta del Buitre, the Madrid side of the 1980s containing five homegrown players – Manolo Sanchis, Martin Vazquez, Emilio Butragueno, Michel and Miguel Pardeza.
They loved Raul and Guti, too, and Iker Casillas is not called “Saint” for nothing. He is the king of Madrid, although Jose Mourinho tried to take his crown.
But no homegrown player has established himself in a decade.
Barcelona showed Madrid that it can be more effective to create than buy, but while Madrid’s reserve team were promoted to Spain’s second division, Mourinho did not espouse the idea of promoting youth.
He let full-back Dani Carvajal go to Bayer Leverkusen, before Madrid bought him back. Alvaro Morata, Nacho and Juanfran also showed promise, but they received few opportunities.
Mourinho did give Jese Rodriguez Ruiz, a forward from Las Palmas – the Canary Island that gave the world Juan Carlos Valeron – his debut in a Copa del Rey match in 2011, when he was 18.
A league debut followed in 2012, but chances were few and Jese spoke of leaving to get minutes, just as former Madrid youngsters Juan Mata, Alvaro Negredo, Felipe Luis and Roberto Soldado had done.
Jese, 20, knew their story and was vocal about his own future, putting pressure on his club with outspoken comments about not getting the chance he felt he was worth.
A dream for a journalist, Jese is not short of confidence and said that he could see himself winning the Ballon d’Or in the next four or five years.
He is clever, too, for he has always praised club president Florentino Perez, the power at the Bernabeu, but not always someone naturally associated with promoting emerging talents.
After Mourinho’s departure, both Perez and sporting director Zinedine Zidane said Jese had a future at the Bernabeu. They gave him a new contract, too, but when Gareth Bale signed for a record fee, opportunities looked slim in a side stuffed with world-class attackers.
Jese can play wide left or right in manager Carlo Ancelotti’s 4-3-3 formation. He can also play as a centre forward in place of Karim Benzema, but wherever he plays, he has had to take what limited chances have been offered.
In December, with Madrid level at 2-2 and seven points off the league lead at Valencia, he came off the bench and scored a crucial winner at the Mestalla, which the visitors did not fully deserve. That he ran to celebrate with Zidane underscores the faith the Frenchman invested in him.
Ancelotti described him as a “crazy” talent, comparing him to Alexandre Pato, whom he coached at AC Milan.
Though he has started the last three games, Jese has played just 1,042 minutes in all competitions so far this season. He has scored more goals per minute than Bale and Benzema.
And yet his demeanour on the pitch is one of an established star, as he demands the ball and runs at defenders. Like a young Wayne Rooney or Cristiano Ronaldo, he has self-assured arrogance and the talent to back it up.
Ronaldo’s three-game absence has opened the door for Jese to start the recent matches, and he has scored in all three. With his goal against Getafe last weekend, he became the first Spaniard to score for Madrid in three straight games since Raul in 2009.
He has impressed so much that many Madrid fans want to see him become a starter, even if it is at the expense of Bale or Benzema. In a poll by AS, 40 per cent said to drop the Frenchman, who is having an excellent season, 38 per cent picked the Welshman and only 22 per cent would have Jese on the bench.
Former Madrid legend Jorge Valdano thinks Bale is “downcast” at his fee and the threat from Jese – the latter is certainly Bale’s greatest problem.
sports@thenational ae
