Pablito Aimar

By: Cesar | May 9th, 2007

This week sees the return of old friend and former Che Pablo Aimar.
It’s his first visit to the Mestalla since his summer transfer and it’ll be strange to see Pablito strutting his stuff in Zaragoza’s shirt.
Many will be reminded of his impressive passing, his dazzling footwork and his crafty ability to find the goal.
Others will be reminded of what could have been, given his remarkable talents and obvious football intelligence.

Opinions differ on Aimar’s Valencia career. A recent poll on fan wesbite foroche.com found that 9 out of every 10 valencianistas thought recent revelation David Silva was a competent replacement and had made them forget El Pibe.
Regardless of popular opinion, one thing is certain: Aimar’s not forgotten.
Who doesn’t think we could use him right now? Could have used his cat-like abilities against the likes of Chelsea or Real Madrid?

El Payaso (The Clown, so called for his never-ending smile) signed with Valencia from River Plate of Argentina in 2001, at a price of 24 million euros. In his 5 years with the club, he logged 162 appearances, scoring 28 goals. His presence as an attacking midfielder made the defensive Valencia a force to be reckoned with. His signing was justified when Valencia captured the 2002 and 2004 La Liga Championships.

Crowds at the Mestalla loved Aimar. He became a quasi-legend, continuing a line of beloved Argentinians at the club. Here’s a chant sung by Valencian supporters about Aimar:

¡Vamos Pablito Aimar
que la gloria volverá
como Kempes y el Piojo
otro pibe inmortal!

In English, this translates to:
‘Go on Pablito Aimar
the glory comes back
like Kempes (Mario Kempes, star stiker in the ’70’s) and el Piojo (Claudio Lopez, striker in the late ’90’s)
another immortal pibe. (Pibe means a boy who through exceptional football skill, need never grow up on the field or off. Diego Maradona was El Pibe and many Argentinian successors after him have been deemed Pibe by the press, including Aimar.)

Through all these successes, there’s the empty feeling that more could have been accomplished. Aimar was an oft-injured player, spending large amounts of time in the medical wings. The talent was always there. It’s that he couldn’t stay healthy enough to contribute. After 5 years and countless waiting, Valencia had enough and sold him to La Liga rivals Real Zaragoza for 11 million euro. He’s played 23 games for his new club, scoring 4 times. By all indications, he’s doing well. But the injury bug hasn’t left him. He’s missed 10 games.

That brings me to David Silva (left, being hugged by Marchena). Silva’s been the revelation of the season. He’s taken the attacking midfielder role and made it his own this season. Silva’s style is versatile, capable of playing as a left winger, playmaker, and recently as a right winger (due to Vicente’s absence). He’s an exceptional passer and has amazing pace. A player of slight build, he is often compared to Aimar. In fact, Silva is wearing Aimar’s trademark number 21 shirt. He scored a sizzler against Chelsea in the Champions League and recently made his debut for the national team, making significant contributions.

Rumors abound this week that Barcelona and Real Madrid want the talented youngster. Fernando Morientes went out of his way to say that Silva’s wonderful and he fears Valencia may lose him. ‘When they asked me which young player was my favorite, I always said that the one that I liked most was Silva, even more so than (Lionel) Messi,’ Moro said.

‘Now it seems that others are realizing this. He is having an exceptional season and Valencia will have to hurry in renewing him because he is a tempting player for all the great clubs of Spain, Italy and England.’

In the wake of Silva’s season, is it fair to say that Aimar is a thought of the past?

I asked the question at a few soccer forums and these are some the responses I received:

From soccerpulse.com, Jeesh says:

Aimar never took his talent and abilities to the next level. Aimar and Riquelme were both really immensely talented when they broke into Argentine football with their respective clubs. Both were compared to Maradona, and with their respective clubs they never disappointed. Riquelmes career took a bit of a dip in the middle, but he matured really well with Villareal. And until this season he was considered one of the best in the World. Aimar never reached such heights. He just didnt do enough with the talent he had. He could have been bigger than Riquelme, but he didnt. The big difference between Silva and Aimar in my opinion is Silva’s hunger and desire to get better every match. I wish Aimar had it, but often he didnt demonstrate this. If Silva keeps improving the way he has this season he will definitely overtake Aimar. Sorry Aimar fans. I used to be a Pablo Aimar Number 21 fanatic at one point, but he dissapointed me a lot. He could have become twice or thrice the player he is now. I hope Silva doesnt let us down.

Valencianista, also from soccerpulse.com, had this to say:

No way, never. Silva is a good little player, I really like him. He has the ability to do whatever he wants in the attacking third and usually gets away with it and is versatile enough to play in various positions. imo the only place where he outshines Aimar is in finishing.

Pablitos on his day is one of the best number 10’s in the world. When he plays in that playmaking position the ball is always coming to him and he is always making things happen with great passes, throughballs and dribbles. It seems he can always get into a position to recieve the ball etc. Silva when he plays in this position is nowhere near as effective. He’ll fade out of games for longer periods of time, he’ll have some great touches then some poor ones, he’ll struggle to create the sheer amount of a player like Aimar could over the full 90.

I really like Silva, but apart from the 21 he isn’t Aimar and I don’t think he’ll ever make us forget about el Payaso. We may enjoy Silva’s talents in a different way, but they’ll never be the same as Aimars.

Both players are potentially brilliant though, I must say.

As you can see, opinions differ.
In my opinion, no one can replace Aimar. I’m still angry the Pibe’s over at Zaragoza and not with us. Imagine Aimar and Silva playing together, with a healthy Vicente (as if …) and an on-form Joaquin, providing balls to Morientes and Villa … ahh, what could have been.

Alas, it’s not to be. I wish Aimar the best. I only hope he gets the royal treatment at the Mestalla this weekend. A few cheers, a few chants and maybe some rousing play.

But let’s hope he doesn’t score. I don’t want to see that smile and ponder the what if’s anymore …