Valentine’s Day

On Valentine’s day of 2001, a skinny boy with luxuriant hair, who could easily play the role of Harry Potter in a Hollywood flick, started his European football journey at the Mestalla against the mighty Manchester United. Pablo César Aimar, a boy whose middle name was after César Menotti- the legendary Argentinian coach, was introduced to the world!

As it is with many young talented Argentines of his time, Pablo was dubbed as the next Diego Maradona when he was just starting his career at River Plate. Maradona himself ranked Aimar higher than Riquelme and Saviola, who ironically were also tagged as Maradona’s second comings.

From Los Millonarios, he joined the lineage of Argentinians- Mario Kempes, Claudio Lopez and Roberto Ayala- to Valencia in Spain.

On that night in Valencia, Aimar’s skills were full on display. This was no fluke. Aimar shone through his time in Valencia and went on to win La Liga two times. He was inevitably called upon in the national team. Aimar would be capped 52 times with the Albiceleste.  

Another one bites the dust

Aimar had many attributes to be a successful footballer and probably his potential was already something that was unrealistic to achieve. Going by the nickname of the little clown, he was a highly technical player who can suddenly burst into pace with incredible ball control. By the way, does that description remind you of another Argentinian name? Yes, Lionel Messi! Messi was influenced a lot by Aimar and considered him as an idol. Aimar may even be known to many Messi fans only on that capacity.

With a small stature and a lean body, Aimar struggled with injuries throughout his career and it did not let him flourish. In modern day football, if you are injured many times, it is almost always due to poor load management and playing too many demanding games within a short span of time. We can only imagine if Aimar was properly managed.

After his spell at Valencia, he went to Real Zaragoza and later to Benfica. But his career graph never resurrected, and the potential he had was too much to achieve.

Second Chance

After a decent career where he displayed the true Argentinian way of playing, Aimar’s story was far from over. He started his coaching career with the vision of teaching the same way of playing to the young and upcoming talents.

After the 2018 World Cup debacle, the AFA was then looking for a new coach, even though they were not in a good financial position to hire a high profile coach. Untested and unproven Lionel Scaloni with Pablo Aimar and Co. were given the task of handling the national team for two friendlies. That raised some eyebrows! But that whole technical team was fresh, young and full of ideas and enthusiasm. They took it rather as a great opportunity and expected a new coach to come soon. With AFA being crippled financially, ultimately La Scaloneta was born and Aimar played a crucial part in it. Life came a full circle as César Luis Menotti played played a role in selecting Lionel Scaloni and friends to manage the national team. And, Aimar’s story continued.

Coaching Philosophy/ Philosophical Coach

Aimar is a breathing example of La Nuestra– our way of playing to Argentinians. It means many things to many people. Aimar explains in an interview what it means to him. In his view, La Nuestra is neither the flamboyant style how Brazil plays football nor as purely physical as Uruguay likes to play. It is something in between, a blend if you would like. He thinks La Nuestra is clearly visible form how Argentina plays now.

Like Scaloni, he too shares the sentiment that in modern times the joy of playing football is getting lost. From a very early age, kids are taught to play football with tactics, one touch and all that in mind. There is not so much room for the Portero style (a typical freestyle dribbling as done by kids on the streets). But Aimar believes in free-touch training to help players learn this aspect of playing football. Here are three insights from Aimar which shows his clear philosophy as a coach.

Insight 1. An insightful point he made in that same interview is the bassist metaphor. In a band set-up, the bassist is not as much noticed as the lead singer or guitarist, but they are crucial to the process. This metaphor he used for those players who train but do not get to play as much, nevertheless show up and do their training sessions perfectly and encourage others. They are the ones who make up the team in his opinion.

Insight 2. The philosophy is to enjoy the process, and not taking it too seriously. The environment plays the key role. Aimar elaborates further, “In my case, I transmit that nothing is that serious. Nothing is too grave, except for things that truly are, like health. To reach that conclusion, I’m now 45. I understand the 18-year-old who sinks because he misses a pass.”

Insight 3. Another lesson shared by Aimar was the importance of mutual trust within the team. According to the former River and Valencia player, collective commitment allows footballers to take risks on the field: “If everyone who is playing commits to quickly recovering the ball, I, who have it, feel encouraged to do more things, to be creative, because I can lose it.

Aimar’s mother used to give young Aimar some life lessons when he was growing up. One thing that stuck with him is “Todo Ilega”- everything comes in time. This philosophy is ingrained in his way of coaching. His great insights make us hopeful of getting a great coach in future. Until then, we wait.