‘Who signed Demetradze?’

Georgi Demetradze (Tbilisi, Georgia, 1976) is among the elite club of Real Sociedad horrors, whose group of footballers signed in different contexts a disaster. The Georgian was a sporting mistake and also left an economic sinkhole that was very difficult to solve, because the club then led by Luis Uranga, in desperation because of its terrible situation in the table – it was at the bottom – , spent 800 million pesetas – 4.8 million euros – for this football player, a figure that was very rich in those times. Surely more than one ‘realzale’ will remember ‘Deme’ when he stands in front of the television today to watch Spain take on Georgia in the Euro round of 16.

The absurdity of that acquisition is the question ‘Who signed Demetradze‘ It ran through Real forums, meetings and groups for almost five years and was used as a weapon against the club’s managers and officials. He arrived as a prominent scorer in Russia and his endorsement was 21 goals scored in 25 games in a campaign with Alania of Vladikavkaz, which was like a joke, to make him the top scorer in the Russian league. Before arriving as the supposed savior in Donostia, he signed for Dynamo kyiv in exchange for the legend. Shchevchenko. And he also drowned.

‘Mr. Wolf’ with a bomber jacket

All related to Demetradze in La Real it was surreal, like something from a vaudeville, from its presentation to its farewell, including its debut. He arrived in Donostia on December 20, 2000. While Real fell to Malaga (3-0 loss) in the last game of a Periko Alonso Distraught that he did not return to training, the Georgian took pictures of a Christmas tree at the Aranzazu Hotel and promised to be ‘Mr. Wolf’ of the Real: he came to fix his problems. Nothing could be further from reality. He was wearing a bomber jacket that he hadn’t taken off all that cold San Sebastian winter.

Debut overweight and injured

It debuted on January 7, 2001, incl Toshack on command, and lasted only 20 minutes on the field: from 55′ to 75′, when he was replaced by collet -another gem of a collection-. George I can’t even breathe. Some time later he admitted to this newspaper, in the only interview he gave in Donostia, that he was overweight. It was obvious when he was seen wearing shorts. Shortly afterwards, perhaps as a consequence, he suffered a complicated double injury: a fracture of the outer meniscus of his right knee and a ‘Balker’s cyst in the popliteal fossa’ of the same joint. A funny one

Ultra motivated by ‘biscotto’

But in that same campaign he still had time to star in one of the most absurd and funny episodes in realist history. In the last Liga game, Real did little to try to score points against an Osasuna playing for relegation in Anoeta. At 0-1, a Demetradze ultra-motivated and clueless at all about what it is. He was on the verge of blowing the ‘biscotto’ with a header that almost made it 1-1.

The following year, he scored his only goal in 14 games for Real, against Sevilla at Anoeta, but he was little pleased to continue. The ‘via crucis’ began with unsuccessful stints at Lokomotiv Moscow, Alania Vladikavkaz and Metalurg Donetsk, after which Real sold him without recouping nearly anything he invested.

In 2011, Demetradze He was sentenced to six years in prison in his country for an ugly case of extortion and gambling, but he was rehabilitated for some time and in 2023 he was appointed sports director of Shukura Kobuleti, a club in his country. Perhaps the question now changes and is: ‘Who did he sign? Demetradze?’