He's gone from untouchable, indulged superstar to unwanted outcast booted from the squad; the midfielder whose absence used to be a manager's death warrant but is now a symbol of a new age - and a dream come true for photographers and cameramen. His coach has grown tired of his caprices and insists he lacks commitment, his president has attacked him in public, and his team-mates loudly claim they're backing him all the way, only to take a rather less effusive turn when the microphones are switched off.

 

He's won nothing since coming to Spain and isn't going to, either. After 3½ years at his dream club, the end is in sight - and it's a bitter end too, full of recrimination and regret. All that's left for him to do now is make a public show of watching the team-mates he's no longer allowed to line up with, all too aware that the cameras are constantly turned on him. Never mind that he's bored to tears and deep down probably wants them to lose, it's his job to get excited, to get nervous and to get seen. To prove that he is committed, really.

 

No, not David Beckham. Juan Román Riquelme. The Argentinian with the deep eyes, the wonderful touch and the happy-go-lucky charm of Eeyore at a wake, is no more. The man who topped the assists charts, scored 12 and had the league's second best average rating last season can't get a game these days. In fact, he can't even get into the squad any more after Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini dumped him for the opening match of 2007. It was the first time Riquelme had been dropped since joining the club and he hasn't been called back. Nor is he about to be.

 

"No club in the world would leave Riquelme out," insists team-mate Diego Forlán and the last time a Villarreal coach clashed with the Argentinian it cost him his job. When Benito Floro asked Riquelme to arrive half an hour early to work on an injury, he turned up 20 minutes later and ignored the physios, making a point of doing the ground staff's job instead - sweeping the floor before theatrically polishing his boots until it was time to join the others. When he repeated the trick three days later and the coach said he'd leave him out, Riquelme rang the club's director general and demanded to play. A divide opened and before long, Floro was the ex-coach.

 

But this time is different. This time, Villarreal have had enough. This time, the coach has the president's backing. This time, Riquelme is no longer untouchable - his contribution no longer warrants indulgence. When he stepped up to take that penalty against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-final last season, you knew he would miss. It was like he was staring into the abyss, which, as it turns out, he was. He has never recovered, retiring from the Argentina squad and scoring just once for Villarreal. The slow-motion genius is half the player he was; these days, he's just slow. It's like he has given up, at 28.

 

Maybe he has. After all, Riquelme has played a lot of football and been subjected to an enormous amount of pressure. The game has taken its toll, physically and emotionally. At the age of 10 he used to turn up shattered for training with Argentinos Juniors, the coaches later discovering that his father was a violent local gang leader, a Mafioso who hit his 10-year-old son and obliged him to play in matches that provided the basis for illegal gambling rings in the shanty-town neighbourhood of Don Torcuato in Buenos Aires. When he pulled out of the Argentinian squad this summer, he said it was because his mother was getting ill with the stress.

 

Riquelme is a difficult, introverted character, porcupine-prickly, a man who needs constant reassurance and has to live entirely on his own terms, who utterly lacks the normal trappings of vanity but is vain nonetheless. Villarreal knew that and created the perfect environment for him. They surrounded him with Argentinians, said nothing when he brought a plane-load of friends over from Don Torcuato, never questioned his "injuries", and turned a blind eye when he didn't fancy training. They even turned a blind eye when he didn't fancy playing, even though they'd built a team around him and made him ever-present, whatever his physical condition. If Riquelme wanted to play, he played: in the last two seasons he has not started a single game as sub.

 

They also allowed him to travel back to Argentina for the birth of his son. And he didn't even say thanks. When he returned from that extended stay, he announced his intention not to train and Pellegrini decided it was the final straw. Likewise, president Fernando Roig, who announced: "He will obey the club and fulfil his obligations - or else he'll have problems with me." The club had given him everything. Never again.

 

And so it was that Riquelme spent Saturday night watching Villarreal play Sevilla from the stands while the rest of the country spent Saturday night watching Riquelme spend Saturday night watching Villarreal play Sevilla from the stands. Riquelme looks pensive! Riquelme bites his lip! Riquelme puts his head in his hands! Riquelme does nothing in particular!

 

Mind you, it was better than actually watching the game as the two sides played out a 0-0 draw that ushered in the worst weekend in Primera División history: one that had four 0-0s, four 1-0s and just nine goals, of which, Barça apart, only two came from open play - and one of those was thanks to a defensive error. A weekend which left Real Madrid - four 1-0s in their last five wins - level with newly-crowned winter champions Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid just three points off the top. And still it's the Italians who are boring.

 

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6780/juanromanriquelmevillareu8.jpg

 

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/499/riquelmelq8.jpg

 

 

A move back to Boca Jnrs looks on the cards, yet i'd have him at United any day of the week. He was a magician at the world cup, but has lost the love for the game, ala Cantona but he was 31.

 

Sad, sad day when he leaves football.

Most clubs throughout the world would still take him though. :lol:

Yeah :(

 

He'd have Gabi at United lol

Yeah :(

 

He'd have Gabi at United lol

 

Well he'd fit right in with Liverpool at the moment with the amount of Argies they're getting on board! :lol:

Villarreal agree to loan Riquelme to Boca

 

By Simon Baskett

 

MADRID, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Villarreal have agreed to loan Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme to his former club Boca Juniors until the end of the season, the Primera Liga side said on Friday.

 

Spanish media reported that the midfielder would receive $2 million to play for Boca in the Clausura championship, which starts this weekend, and the Libertadores Cup.

 

Boca president Mauricio Macri told reporters on Thursday: "To find anyone better than him you have to go way back in the history of the club. Boca is his home."

 

Riquelme has been sidelined by Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini since the start of the year because the club has been unhappy with his level of commitment despite being given privileges not enjoyed by other squad members.

 

He made his last appearance for Villarreal in a 4-1 defeat by Osasuna on Dec. 17, while the club's new Chilean midfielder Matias Fernandez has taken his place in the starting line-up.

 

The 28-year-old is one of the Primera Liga's most talented players and helped lead Villarreal to the semi-finals of the Champions League last season but he struggled to recover after missing a last gasp penalty in their defeat against Arsenal.

 

He played an instrumental role in steering Boca to a host of trophies between 1996 and 2002, winning three league titles and two Libertadores Cups.

 

A masterful display in Boca's victory over Real Madrid in the World Club Cup in 2000 helped persuade Barcelona to buy the Argentine for 11 million euros ($14.28 million) in 2002, but he never won a regular place in the first team.

 

He was loaned out to Villarreal the following season when Barca signed Ronaldinho and there the team was effectively built around his elegant, unhurried playmaking skills.

 

An introverted and softly-spoken character, he retired from international football last September after winning 37 caps, saying that criticisms of his performances in the 2006 World Cup in Germany had affected his mother's health.

Well I hope the move to Boca can re-light his career as it would be a shame to see all that talent go to waste.

 

But I think he may have lost it completley in his head now so I doubt he'll ever to return to the player he was.

Anelka can be added to the lists of players with egos bigger than their talents

Anelka can be added to the lists of players with egos bigger than their talents

 

Yes Anelka does have a huge ego. :lol: Mind you when he puts his mind to it, he can actually show what a decent player he actually is.

 

Most footballers have an ego of some sort though.

Scholes doesn't ^_^

 

but some players are un-manageable, ala Anelka and Riquelme. It's why both are at relatively small clubs, as the big clubs don't have the time of day for either

Scholes doesn't ^_^

 

but some players are un-manageable, ala Anelka and Riquelme. It's why both are at relatively small clubs, as the big clubs don't have the time of day for either

 

Yeah there are your exceptions. :D

 

I guess the same could be said for Barton as well. :lol: He's a good player but he does have an ego on him like saying either Lampard or Gerrard should be dropped for himself, or something along those lines.

 

 

He did lol as he thinks he is better at doing ''the dirty work'', yet he's rubbish. I'd have Beckham back tomorrow!