The left side Lucas Esquivel You haven't been in the field yet. Athletic in 2025 and also does not want to wear the red-black shirt, according to the channel Three Points. The club banks the permanence of the Argentine despite the proposal of River Plate, which is the athlete's heart team, but still does not enjoy the quality of the 23-year-old player.
One of the main promises of Argentine football in position, Esquivel was in the field 71 days ago. The last performance was in the defeat for Atlético-MG, on December 8, which sealed the lowering in the centennial rubro-negro.
Last season, Esquivel had the best career numbers with 53 games, with two goals and nine assists. Revealed by the Unión de Santa Fe, the side had never played and participated in so many goals.
Since then, the side has gone on vacation and performed for the preseason. According to Athletico, Esquivel has been left out for physical reasons – he suffers from pubalgia and had an ankle injury early this year.
Out of the entire first phase of the Paranaense Championship, Hurricane has counted with Fernando as holder in position and needs to make eventual improvisations, mainly due to ligament injury suffered by Léo Dérik, from the base categories.
The proposals of the River Plate and the desire of Lucas Esquivel
The negotiations between River Plate and Athletico have been taking place since the beginning of the year, but without realisation.
According to the newspaper Olé, the Argentine club met the demands of Hurricane and agreed to pay US$ 5 million for 80% of the player's rights in a single payment. Even so, the business did not advance because of the red-black president Mario Celso Petraglia.
The manager has already made it clear that he will not sell the athlete, which causes dissatisfaction of the player. According to Athletico, Esquivel fits as an asset that can give sports feedback and value even more, as well as half Bruno Zapelli. At this point, it makes no sense for the club to negotiate them, as did the attackers Tomás Cuello and Agustín Canobbio, for example.
In a social media publication, Esquivel published the song "Nadie Dijo", by Argentine artist Dread Mar I: ""Nobody said it would be easy, no one said you shouldn't fight... Always stay in your way", which reflects a little of the moment when he made clear the desire to leave Hurricane after the demotion.
However, according to Olé, Esquivel is "conscious and knows that today his desire to be River reinforcement depends exclusively on Mario Celso Petraglia radically modify his position of not letting him leave the Athletic in any way, situation that seems impossible“.
In addition, the publication points out that the River Plate can hire players from outside Argentina until March 12. However, the trend is for the club to seek alternatives to Esquivel with Athletico's refusal.
Athletic coach didn't notice Esquivel.
Technician Maurício Barbieri hardly has Esquivel. The only time the side was related was in the tie in front of the CyanorteBut the athlete didn't even come in for a minute.
"The idea was that he might be with the group. If he had a chance to get in, it would be very little time. 10 or 15 minutes for the internship he's in. But during the warm-up, he was still not feeling comfortable," Barbieri revealed.
The red-black commander still said he didn't even notice Esquivel was available. Even so, the Dudu right side had to be improvised.
"I even figured he didn't even go back to the bank in the second half, I didn't notice. That's why we had to use Dudu on the left side. I understand the question because you don't have the information and the fan doesn't. This is a bit of an encounter that the group is still in the process of structuring and gaps to fill," Barbieri completed.
