Javier Saviola: The Forgotten Argentine

Subhankar Mondal looks at the rise and fall of Javier Saviola, whose future at Real Madrid looks just as bleak as ever as he enters his second season in the capital...

It's the second half between Real Madrid and BATE Borisov in the UEFA Champions League at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night. Royston Drenthe, Gonzalo Higuain and Javier Saviola all are limbering up on the touchline for possible call-ups as substitutes. When Drenthe and Higuain are thrown onto the pitch, Saviola carries on, oblivious to the fact that all three substitutes have been used. 

And then Jerzy Dudek and Miguel Torres play a trick on him by indicating that the coach wants him to come on. Saviola gleefully moves towards Manolo Ruiz, only to be informed that that no more substitutions are possible. He turns around disappointed as the rest of the bench enjoys a group chuckle at his expense...

Funny? Yes, but ruthlessly bitter, too, if you were in Javier Saviola’s rusty boots. The kid who was once thought of as a New Maradona, who took Argentine powerhouse River Plate to domestic glory, has developed into the butt of jokes both on the bench and, one feels, in the stands. From the sidelines, weathering the smirks, he scavenges for morsels of matches here and there.

Feeding On Morsels 

And that is precisely what Javier Pedro Saviola has been doing for the past couple of years: feeding on the crusts and crumbs of Liga minutes. When he arrived at FC Barcelona in 2001, he was a young, promising flamboyant and energetic youth, one of few sensible signings of the Joan Gaspart era - a New Maradona. But now? He's a nobody.

He is regarded as irrelevant so much that Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has openly declared his desire for a new striker, indirectly implying that he doesn’t rate Saviola too much, or at least not enough to be merited with a regular slot in his plans.  

Of course, Saviola was already out of the picture at Barcelona before he arrived at the Bernabeu on a free transfer at the end of the 2006-2007 season. But if he had fostered the belief that he would be able to play regular football at Real Madrid, then he must have been either ridiculously optimistic or naively complacent. It has become as clear as day that he was not signed to play regular first team football; he was smuggled in to add some cover for injuries that might creep in during the course of the season. 

But in fact he's offered far less than cover: he is cover for cover. Even in the absence of Ruud van Nistelrooy, coach Schuster was more apt to field Gonzalo Higuaín, or even change the formation entirely, rather than field Saviola. In 2007-2008, Saviola started just 5 matches in La Liga and scored 3 goals. In short, El Conejo’s treatment at Real under Schuster has been like that of a kid who has to be satisfied with half a candy while his mates have two jars each. 

Not that Saviola is not used to not playing regularly. A success in his first couple of seasons at Camp Nou, when the Frank Rijkaard era kicked in, he was booted out of the squad altogether. Whether it was something personal between Rijkaard and Saviola shall probably never be known but it was, and is, certain that the duo’s footballing mentality and philosophy didn’t coincide. 

Every time the Rabbit tried to burrow itself back into the Camp Nou, it was ejected. At the end of the 2004-2005 season, after a decent-ish loan stint at AS Monaco when he returned to Barça, Saviola was again shooed off, this time to Sevilla FC. And even after playing a considerable role in Sevilla’s triumph in the UEFA Cup in 2005-2006, he was only reluctantly accepted by Rijkaard in a pathological exhibition of lack of faith. 

Same Old, Same Old

But Saviola’s decline into relative obscurity owes as much to the circumstantial factors as to his own idiosyncrasy. In the summer of 2006, he rejected no fewer than 14 offers and stayed on at Barcelona to score 5 goals in 18 league matches. And when his contract with Barça expired in the summer of 2007, there was hardly anyone who gave a second thought to his contract renewal. The likes of Sylvinho were kept on: Saviola's departure was a foregone conclusion.

And now the same old track is being played at the Bernabeu. So far this season, Saviola has played just one league match (as a substitute) and there is hardly any sign that he will get too many starts this season. And if certain transfer reports are to be trusted, then Real were willing to offload him as early as last winter to sign another striker - a blunt indication that Saviola is not at all rated by the club’s management. 

What Now? 

So what now for a player whose talent and quality are undisputed, a player who won the South American Footballer of the Year award when he was just 18? Saviola goes on insisting that he shall carry on fighting for a place in the team, statements that he frequently mouthed while Rijkaard kept on ignoring him at Barcelona.  

There are many who feel that Javier Saviola doesn’t go to a ‘lesser’ club because he does not want to decimate his earnings. While this could be overly simplistic, there may be some truth in it. After all, what could possibly be the reason of him turning down 14 offers when he must have known in his heart of hearts that displacing Samuel Eto’o at the time was out of question? 

Javier Saviola is 26 and still has some time to resurrect himself. He still possesses the pace and the qualities but months of decaying on the bench have certainly corroded him and now whenever he is on the pitch, he looks rusty and often lost, a pale and rapidly disappearing shadow of his old self. 

Logic suggests that Saviola should move on and play at a club where he shall be guaranteed of playing week in and week out, even if that club be not in the UEFA Champions League. Only then can he have the last laugh. But logic, like laughter, seems to be thin on the ground for El Conejo.