Fernandez not a BVB player anymore
The still very young Argentinean ended his 18 month spell with the Blackyellows and returned to South America. Not the club he left for Borussia, Estudiantes de La Plata, is his destination but the “Millionarios” of River Plate Buenos Aires. Juan Ramon Fernandez who is still contracted to BVB till 2007 will be loaned out till the end of this year with an option for River to buy the player for an undisclosed fee.
In summer 2002, right after winning the Bundesliga title, a then 22-year old, small boy was introduced to the BVB fans. The young Argentinean who was praised as a technically sound player should have been an all-purpose weapon for Matthias Sammer. His strengths were that he was able to play on the right-back, left-back and also on the wings in midfield and attack. The perfect solution many thought back then.
Fernandez appeared in 24 Bundesliga, 2 DFB cup and 5 Champions League matches with the away match in Highbury maybe his best performance in blackyellow. He didn’t score for us but set up some goals for our strikers during the last 18 months.
What we keep in mind is a player with technical skills but also with a lack of defensive discipline which is so important when you play on a wing-back position. So it is no surprise that the match at Arsenal was maybe his best game when he played some kind of right-wing player with few defensive duty.
Another topic was his work discipline. Last summer Juan Ramon, being unhappy that he wasn’t a regular starter for Borussia, decided not to return from summer vacation in Argentina and tried to join River Plate. The only problem was that he hadn’t informed BVB und thus he stayed away from Dortmund for 3 weeks without excuse. After that weeks he realized that River Plate weren’t willing or able to sign and pay him and so he returned to Germany in a piped down way. The result was that almost every fan had done with Juan Ramon and he finally had to pay a fine of 100.000 Euro.
When the preparation for this Bundesliga season’s return leg started 3 players were missing: Evanilson, Dede and……Fernandez!!!. At least now the officials realized that it wouldn't make sense for now to have the player on the team roster. Juan was again fined (40.000 Euro) and some days later an offer by River Plate was on the table. In trainings camp in Marbella, Spain the deal was prepared and today finalized. The “Millionarios” will lent out the player till the end of 2004 and have an option to sign the player permanently for an undisclosed fee.
As we believe that Fernandez won’t return to Dortmund despite having a contract till 2007 with BVB all we have to say is:
Goodbye Juan Ramon and good luck in Buenos Aires!
Geschrieben von jonam
