Merquelanz: the joy of seeing a recovered talent

The most pleasant thing about this Friday’s training, apart from the excitement that could be seen in the children’s eyes, was the confirmation of the recovery, apparently happily complete, of Martin Merquelanz. This is the first visible training session in its entirety since MD exclusively reported that he was training with others, so it appears that the 28-year-old winger from Irunda completed the session in full and did so in a high level. . With confidence when it came to putting his foot down and going into disputes, he worked with the same intensity as everyone else. And it doesn’t seem to have a bit of gear. Furthermore, he drives the ball quickly and shows his talent in hitting and passing.

With no record so far, everything indicates that he will return in 2024 after spending 2022 and 2023 blank. In fact, he has not played since September 2021, when he suffered his most serious injury to his left knee while playing on loan at Rayo Vallecano. 27 months and three operations on that joint later, Merquelanz it is back. He couldn’t help but smile during practice and when it was his turn to sign autographs and take pictures with the younger players. La Real must decide whether to keep him this January or sell him. The need of Imanol complicating his stay and it should be considered that the Oriotarra hardly count on him to be in perfect condition in the 2020/21 campaign, with the return of Mirandés, although the original idea used was his recovery precisely in Zubieta , considering that many thought that he had to leave football early. The txuri urdin team urgently needs wingers, including hut heading to Qatar to play in the Asian Cup after playing against Alavés and barren, for the moment, out of battle; but perhaps daring to think that he might return and contribute soon.

Logically, after so much time out of battle, perhaps he needs to take the final step, resuming training and perhaps some specific tests to celebrate his return in style.