Spaniard Hugo Novoa (Bertamiráns, 2003), the player of Real Madrid’s Champions League rival RB Leipzig, is a football player with opportunities. a skill that began to flourish with insidious targets on the streets of his townA bedroom in Santiago de Compostela resisted here as one of the last of his generation to score with jerseys.

She had stood out since she was little, but she knew how to grow up and wait. Bertamiráns FC, who won first place in his own municipality’s team. Later in one of her loves, Deportivo. Now in a team playing to pass the Champions League round of 16 and he bet too much on this under-21 national team. Ignoring the interest of the big teams in Spain, Novoa decided to pack at the age of 16 to join the German Red Bull lineup, a model based on young talents.

three minutes

He took advantage of this precious opportunity by scoring against Greuther Fürth (4-1) in his first game in October 2021. He barely needed three minutes to break Kimmich’s record and become the youngest goalscorer in the history of the German club (18 years, 8 months and 29 days). He did it again last weekend before taking on Real Madrid. He came out in the last section and scored a goal that allowed RB Leipzig to score a point against Augsburg (3-3).

“He has the potential and capacity for what he plans to do. It’s in a unique scenario and now needs to keep working to open more doors. This has only just begun,” says Deportivo core football coach Juan Villamisar, reassuring EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, who has followed him from Benjamin. “Even then, it was hard not to notice him,” says the coach of an entity that hooked him in his first year as a pup.

He combined his first year in blue and white with his still ‘home’ team futsal. “Since he was little, Hugo has handled the ball wonderfully. He was very generous to others. There is nothing divine. He played for fun. “He was still as humble and calm as he was,” Sergio Penas, sporting director of Bertamiráns FC, told this newspaper.

example at home

In fact, he served as a mentor on the last campus that organized his first club. “She had a conversation with an attention-grabbing boy like herself since she was a baby. She listened to him in surprise. It had such an effect on him that he changed his demeanor. He became calmer and more friendly with his teammates”, says Penas, who regretted not enjoying the talent of the RB Leipzig player more.

Only 19 years old, Novoa In addition to the German Cup, he accumulates meetings in the Bundesliga, Champions and Europa League. His career reference is Dani Olmo, who shares the dressing room at the Red Bull Arena and also stands out in the sub-categories of the Spanish team, where Novoa has been called up since he was a student. Other teammates on Luis de la Fuente’s roster are also abroad, a new wave of Spanish talent exports (Mario Gila in Lazio, Fontán on loan from Celta…).

2003 Generation

Novoa reflects with great care what he has learned in formative football. “We had some inconsistencies in the junior category because He said they kicked him a lot and it was deliberate.. But actually it was because players were late and it was hard to stop! His greatest virtue remains his ability to take down opponents while driving, as well as the power to enter space,” says Villamisar, who also lost control.

In his final year as a student, the winger entered the dynamics of sports youth, of which he was part of a generation that was crowned with the Champions Cup in 2003. Thus, Novoa has grown with the following players: Alvaro Carreras (On loan from Preston North End, Manchester United), Christmas (Real Madrid Castilla) or trill (in Deportivo first team).

“His big success was going to Leipzig, a club that keeps an eye on the quarry”assures that Penas and Villamisar agree with him: “This is a great showcase. Their results every year are admirable. I know the team’s commitment to Hugo has been brutal”. Novoa restored confidence overcoming language difficulties and being away from homehas always been his refuge and springboard. His father, a lover of athletics, instilled his passion in him since childhood. This allowed him to gain a boost of funding, making him a versatile player. This convinced, first Julian Nagelsmann and now Marco Rose.

“RB Leipzig stood out with goals and assists in his first season under 17. As of 2020/21, he started to enter the first team lists. A versatile player playing as a right winger, he can accompany a striker, or even as a striker,” explains Andrés Weiss, an expert in German football, who estimates that Rose is one of the leading schema he used, “here the winger. The actor is actually an interior.”

end or side

“He can play as both a winger and a right winger – something he’s already done at Deportivo according to his coach – two of his top positions lately. He stands out for his physique.. There’s a lot of travel, power, and the ability to keep your band long. They have good skills in overflowing with the ball and even finding and producing goals. These features fit perfectly into the context of German football,” says ‘scout’ and analyst Álex Gesto, who, like anyone who knows him, predicts: It won’t be long before Leipzig digs a hole for himself in the first team.It has a contract with until 2024.

“We will soon see it as an established startup. “And then, as long as football’s variables like luck or injury respect him, he’ll put the ceiling wherever he wants,” says Bertamiráns sporting director, sharing with Villamisar, his coach at Deportivo. “The pride of seeing you burn the stages to make a dream come true”.

It’s a goal the group has reached in full swing, but with the pause needed to mature each change with the timed precision of a street player who believes in the methodology. A modern footballer who bets on Leipzig but has deep respect for his origins. As evidenced by his dedication to Deportivo, where the teams remained loyal despite their siren song. Like Real Madrid, which he will try to overcome in order to prolong the European gallop Red Bulls.