Junior had a semester full of ups and downs. Although the Barranquilla club sealed a great participation in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, ranking in first position, the performance at the local level was not as expected – they finished last in the group they shared with Atlético Bucaramanga, Millonarios and Deportivo Pereira. Andrés Colorado, Yani Quintero and Jhon Lerma, their only confirmed reinforcements so far.
Fuad Char, Junior’s largest shareholder, spoke with El Heraldo about the team’s sporting and economic present, as well as the new hires. “We are trying to strengthen a part that is criticized and pointed out a lot to us, the aerial game in defense and in the midfield. That’s why the arrival of Yani Quintero and Andrés Colorado…. silver, silver, we don’t have much, just enough to sustain this team. Here the players are paid on time, our prizes are the most generous in the championship, I think, if not ask the players“said the leader.
Regarding the attendance during the first half, Char criticized the fans and mentioned that, whether more reinforcements arrive or not, he hopes to see the Metropolitano full during the second part of the year. “Well, we hope that all those who participate in the rumors buy our season tickets. I want to see the stadium full. It makes me envious to see the El Campín stadium full with Santa Fe, full with Millonarios, the games in Pereira, full in Cali, full stadium in Bucaramanga, all the cities. What envy! “He mentioned.
The reinforcements: “Andrés Colorado and Yani Quintero are going to strengthen our midfield alongside Didier (Moreno) and Hómer Martínez, of all the guys we have there. They are two players with a completely proven track record. In the right back position we lost (Wálmer) Pacheco, his contract expired and we couldn’t, we didn’t have the possibility of reaching an agreement with him, so we brought in Lerma. Rafa Pérez is already running, he is already training, the same as the Argentine Zalazar, with Peña, Oliveira and Mena, we have a fairly strong group there, and with the full-backs Fuentes and Herrera.”
Will there be any hiring in attack?: “The top part remains more or less the same, Enamorado remains, he is with us, he has a contract with us. Bacca arranged a contract with us for one more year. There are the offensive midfielders: ‘Cariaco’ had his contract renewed for one more year, we have Hinojoza, we have Yimmi Chará. We still have to bring in an attacker (winger) on the left, which we have not been able to finish. The main objective is for Caicedo to come, we are behind that. They are thinking about some options if Caicedo does not happen. With that, practically, we would consider that we have the team assembled to face this second phase of the Copa Libertadores, and that we are confident of reaching the quarterfinals, and facing the Colombian championship.”
Deiber Caicedo: “It is not canceled with the team, with their team, they want to sell, we are asking them for the option of six more months (of loan) to make use of the option at the end of the year and we are with them on that. There are other possibilities if it doesn’t happen. We hope that this will be defined between tomorrow and, at the latest, Friday.”
Yairo Moreno: “We found out yesterday about Yairo Moreno that he did not pass the exams in the Mexican team, we are trying to contact him and find out if it is possible to review that possibility, that option is within the left wing player that we are looking for.”
Assistance to the Metropolitan: “Well, we hope that all those who participate in the rumors buy our season tickets. I want to see the stadium full. It makes me envious to see the El Campín stadium full with Santa Fe, full with Millonarios, the games in Pereira, full in Cali, full stadium in Bucaramanga, all the cities. What envy! It all depends on the answer, but neither. That is, we already have Bacca, Enamorado, Yimmi Chará, Víctor Cantillo, Didier Moreno, Rafa Pérez. We have a luxury payroll, a luxury payroll! With two players in each position, with similar football values.”
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