There are stories that are marked by a coincidence that is hard to imagine in advance. The arrival of Rodrigo De Paul in Valencia in 2014 had just one of those peculiarities: the coach who had recommended his signing stopped being the team's coach on the same day that the then youth player from Racing arrived in Spain.
Juan Antonio Pizzi recounted that situation during an interview with Juan Pablo Varsky on Clank! and remembered how the arrival of the Argentine midfielder came about. "We had a good season, losing in the semifinals of the Europa League. They were talking about the sale of the team, but the bosses told me we were going to continue. They asked me about a midfielder and I said: ‘Bring De Paul’", the coach recounted.
The recommendation was finally taken into account and Valencia moved forward to sign the midfielder, who left Racing at just 19 years old to start his first experience in Europe. However, as the operation progressed, the institutional landscape of the Spanish club changed completely. The arrival of Peter Lim as the new owner led to modifications within the structure of the entity and Pizzi ended up out of the job. The most curious detail is that the coach's departure coincided with the arrival of the player whose signing he himself had requested.
Pizzi himself recounted that he was at a restaurant that day when he ran into De Paul. The Argentine player had arrived in Valencia without knowing that the coach he had spoken to before traveling was no longer in charge of the team. "He enters the restaurant and comes to greet me. ‘Juan, this, that, well…’. ‘No, I just got fired’", Pizzi said with a laugh as he recalled that encounter.
De Paul's version
Some time ago, the scene was also recounted by Motorcito himself. "I was very well at Racing. I was the captain of the team, I was 18 years old. Everything happened very quickly for me", explained the current player of Inter Miami. He then recalled the conversation he had with Pizzi: "At Valencia, there was a coach named Pizzi, an Argentine. He calls me and starts. You see? No, that I'm going to build a team around you, that this, that, that... I said, ‘no, well, this is my chance. I'm leaving’".
However, the reception turned out to be very different from what was expected. De Paul recounted that upon arriving in Spain, he entered the hotel and crossed paths with Pizzi as the coach was leaving with his suitcases. "The day I arrive, I enter the hotel and Pizzi comes out with the suitcases and says to me: ‘I got fired’", he recalled.
De Paul's time in Valencia did not have the expected impact and he later returned to Racing. There he regained prominence before making the leap back to European football with Udinese. His career continued with stints at Atlético de Madrid and the Argentine National Team, with which he became a key player in the cycle of Lionel Scaloni and two Copa América, the Finalissima, and the 2022 World Cup.
