"La Real made a great signing with Brais"

His signing for a European regular like Real was the logical step to the career and development of Brais Mendez Portela (Mos, Pontevedra, 1997) required. After two years of intense monitoring, the txuri urdin club launched this summer to take him, which achieved in exchange for 14 million euros, the second most powerful investment in its history, so the stakes are solid and made from faith. From Celta to the senior team, with an ephemeral past stint at Villarreal, the Galician did nothing but grow up and went to Donostia to continue doing so. Ruben Albeshis coach at Celta B who is now in Albacete, and Carlos Hugo BayonFootball Director of Celta’s Denomination of Origin, radiographs to MD the virtues and career of a baseball genius who is also a pressure specialist.

Ruben Albes (Vigo, 1985) in direction brais mendez in Celta subsidiary, a major stage in the growth of the new txuri urdin player. “I have a good relationship with him, I congratulated him the other day on his signing with Real”, he confesses. His first conclusion was “the Truly is right and Brais He has made a brave decision, to leave the club for the rest of his life. ”He does so after 10 years wearing a light blue jersey:“ Because of his club model and his abilities, he can more further exploit the level of football he has; its potential is enormous, ”he said.

The best, your first control

The description of his virtues as a footballer becomes a litany for the Albacete coach: “He’s a technician, he has the ability to interpret the game, he’s associative, he has a goal and a final pass.” Almost nothing. And in that jungle of contributions, one stands out above all: “The more that characterizes him is his first touch, his first contact with the ball gives him a huge advantage.”

And there he was able to incorporate aspects like commitment without the ball: “He understands pressure movements very well and has a great ability to intercept balls,” Albés said. Last season, without having to walk yet, Brais he is the second player in the League with the most pressures and the most fouls committed: “He is not the strongest in the rivalry itself, but he is in reading the passing lines. That is why he recovered so many balls ”, clarified the coach.

albesIn addition, he featured that it was “his will to be competitive and improve” that brought him to the national team. “He is ready to take this step of maturity, he is of great age and I see he is ready; It is a great signing by Real ”, he concluded.

ideal track record

Carlos Hugo Bayón (León, 1973), head of Celta’s academy, for his part, highlights that, after returning from Villarreal at the age of 15, he had “a very solid process” through of the lower categories. “We put him as an example of a youth squad at Celta,” he underlined, for the “good process he did” in this “very difficult transition” that involves transitioning to professional football. “There are talented players who don’t make the final cut, but with him it’s been very easy.”

They made it easy Juan Carlos Unzue, which led to his debut on the first team and the personality of the player and his relatives: “The kids thought they should be on top now, but he and his family were patient and he was able to complete all the years of youth in the Division of Honor “. The reserve team needed him, but they convinced the player, his parents and agents: “In Celta B he will be poor and the best thing for his development and his self-confidence is that he will continue to be youth benchmark.. “

So changes to the subsidiary

And in the subsidiary he also had a career: about 4,000 minutes: “He’s a very offensive player, but has little defensive capacity.” However, from youth and at B they did a particular job with him: “He had the humility to wear overalls and move from being a good player to a round player,” he said. Bayon. “Without that, with his quality for the pass and the first control and his humility to learn to defend and be better, he’s not playing, because he’s looking for pressure after a complete defeat”. In the opinion of the Leonese, “Brais took all the football he needed to be a top-level player.”

He wasn’t hurt by the clothes when he had to get off the subsidiary when he was already on the first team and he even had to deal with some whistles from Balaídos in his early days: “He looks like a very cool player, this is what his body language, but not really. Fans accused him of being a bit ‘bloodless’, but he also reversed that. “This is an episode from the past that Bayón saved.

The shot that doesn’t take

The man in charge of the Celtiña quarry had a recommendation for Brais: “I told him: he should get more out of his shot. In his youth he had an amazing shot. It had amazing action though. that from a halt. He scored goals even from midfield. It was an accurate and powerful shot “. Here is the advice.

Those who know him attest that Real have made a great contract: “Olabe doesn’t just sign, especially paying big bucks for him; the normal thing is it’s okay, ”Bayón said