Esteban "Il Cuchu" Cambiasso

Bluenine said:

I would prefer he takes on a small team as head coach. He needs experience of managing on his own, building something exciting. He already has a lot of experience working with top coaches.

If he is successful, and he does look like someone who will, then he can come over and coach us.

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Yeah, I agree with you. But there always a chance maybe one in millions If he got the assistant position, Cambie become the next Guardiola or Zidane.

https://www.football-italia.net/115988/cambiasso-inter-signed-barca-reserve

Hmmm...wasn't there another player who was a reserve for a Spanish giant and then came here to become a superstar? I can't seem to remember who it was....


You would think Cambiasso would show some more optimism since his situation was very similar!

vitomins said:

https://www.football-italia.net/115988/cambiasso-inter-signed-barca-reserve

Hmmm...wasn't there another player who was a reserve for a Spanish giant and then came here to become a superstar? I can't seem to remember who it was....


You would think Cambiasso would show some more optimism since his situation was very similar!

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Yep, kind of stupid comment coming from him.

Cambiasso was a first team player for Real Madrid. Not a regular starter, but definitely a first team player. Some of us back then wanted to sign him because we saw how good he was at Real Madrid, he was not a huge surprise really. The surprise was Davids being so average. That's similar to calling players like Chivu, Cordoba, Balotelli or Pandev a "reserve" in the 2009-10 season. I think many Real Madrid fans were pissed to see him go, especially on a free.

Cambiasso averaged 60 minutes per game in two seasons at Real Madrid before joining us and he had Makelele as competition along with Celades, Flavio, Guti and a few others who were rotated. He played in 67 out of 90something games and that includes a month's injury iirc.

Rafinha has been tormented by injuries but it's true that he's been relegated to a reserve role. Deulofeu is also a reserve. And he's basically saying that Inter can only sign a player Barcelona has no need for and they're using us to utlize him.

Just because he isn't starting for Barca doesnt mean he is a bad player. He has been limited mainly due to the injuries and some of the starters still playing at Barca.

Cambiasso is not talking about quality here but at our evident issues with attracting talents that enjoy playing time at a top team. Instead we are targetting players that their teams have zero use for.

brehme1989 said:

Cambiasso is not talking about quality here but at our evident issues with attracting talents that enjoy playing time at a top team. Instead we are targetting players that their teams have zero use for.

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Well.. Cambi himself was one of those players. Unwanted and a bench player in Real. So his analogy sucks.

Well he played and was in rotation , they were betting on him being their future starting DM [they signed him when he was 15] but then the Galacticos era came so Real wanted to play them along with some of the popular players that came up through their youth system. He just didn't fit there from a technical or commercial aspect from their point of view and he wasnt gonna stay and warm the bench like most players now do so he made the best choice possible.

I think his comment was more a reference to Serie A teams and Inter not being able to attract / or keep big players. He was a DM while Rafinha is an AM who if was playing regularly wouldnt have come here. Its good to see a player want to come to Inter regardless so its just a comment really.

He's ultimate legend of this club and Suning is trying so he shouldn't be too harsh towards them because his words have weight in Inter family.

If anything, he's not helping to lift our morale and that is so much needed at the moment.

K.I. said:

Well he played but he wasn't a starter , they were betting on him being their future starting DM [they signed him when he was 15] but then the Galacticos era came so Real wanted to play them along with some of the popular players that came up through their youth system. He just didn't fit there from a technical or commercial aspect from their point of view and he wasnt gonna stay and warm the bench like most players now do so he made the best choice possible.

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The same exact words, literally can be said for Rafinha, also as "an argument plus" on Rafinas side ( i know this will sound dumb) is that he got injured, the talent and skill set or whatever it may be, was never a problem for him, only the injuries.

Thats why i said his analogy isnt right.

Anyway, we all can hope that rafinha has an cambi future here...

Jane The Virgin said:

Well.. Cambi himself was one of those players. Unwanted and a bench player in Real. So his analogy sucks.

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He made no analogy.

As for him being "one of those players".

He started at the Euro Super Cup of 2002 and was subbed right before injury time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-nY4hI0O5A Involved somewhat in all 3 Real Madrid goals in that game.
Started the first 11 Liga games and was only subbed off once iirc. He then started another 7 games for Real Madrid in the league and appeared a few times late in the game. Meaning, he was a starter for the Real Madrid galacticos for half of the season and he appeared in 6-7 other games, meaning he appeared in 2/3 of the games. He had some muscle issues as well during his time at Real Madrid so he missed a few games because of that. In the Champions League season 2002-2003 he was a starter in the first 5 games of the group stage. Only 3 starters featured in the starting eleven in the 6th game. He appeared two more times in the 2nd group stage and then was relegated to the bench because Del Bosque switched formations too often. He also started in that semi final vs Juventus when they lost 3-1. Quite a full season for a reserve.

He was a starter at the beginning of 2003-4 as well but then got slight injury issues and Del Bosque had to figure out how to fit Beckham in his midfield. Cambiasso got injured as well but he had already decided to leave Real Madrid. He was slowly frozen out of the squad because it was Real's new policy. He wasn' pretty enough. Still got 3 CL group stage starts and 5 starts in the first 8 league games.

That's like calling Vieira a reserve during his time at Inter. A way off statement.

P.S: Here's one of the first full Cambiasso games I've watched and thought he was going to become an elite player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_yEoQxXBg

brehme1989 said:

He made no analogy.

As for him being "one of those players".

He started at the Euro Super Cup of 2002 and was subbed right before injury time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-nY4hI0O5A Involved somewhat in all 3 Real Madrid goals in that game.
Started the first 11 Liga games and was only subbed off once iirc. He then started another 7 games for Real Madrid in the league and appeared a few times late in the game. Meaning, he was a starter for the Real Madrid galacticos for half of the season and he appeared in 6-7 other games, meaning he appeared in 2/3 of the games. He had some muscle issues as well during his time at Real Madrid so he missed a few games because of that. In the Champions League season 2002-2003 he was a starter in the first 5 games of the group stage. Only 3 starters featured in the starting eleven in the 6th game. He appeared two more times in the 2nd group stage and then was relegated to the bench because Del Bosque switched formations too often. He also started in that semi final vs Juventus when they lost 3-1. Quite a full season for a reserve.

He was a starter at the beginning of 2003-4 as well but then got slight injury issues and Del Bosque had to figure out how to fit Beckham in his midfield. Cambiasso got injured as well but he had already decided to leave Real Madrid. He was slowly frozen out of the squad because it was Real's new policy. He wasn' pretty enough. Still got 3 CL group stage starts and 5 starts in the first 8 league games.

That's like calling Vieira a reserve during his time at Inter. A way off statement.

P.S: Here's one of the first full Cambiasso games I've watched and thought he was going to become an elite player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_yEoQxXBg

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Dude, no need for stats and stuff. I remember Cambi. He wasnt considered good enough for real. Thats why we got him. Its not like Man Utd, Milan, Juve, etc were on a race with us for him. He wasnt nearly good as he became for us at his prime. Thats all i said. He didnt come here as an BOOM transfer. He was mediocre real madrid player. Thats all there is to it.

He became one of the best in his positions after few seasons as a starter here. We didnt buy a world class player when we bought him. We took a real madrid resevrve.

Not hating. Just saying the truth.

Again, he was not a reserve. A reserve is someone like Trent Sainsbury.
Cambiasso was an important player for Real Madrid when they used him for the first time (2002-3) and they dropped him only to accommodate David Beckham and create a team that made no sense and he LEFT.

You say no one else wanted him. You realize what Inter was during that time? And who the alternatives were? The EPL had only 3 teams with serious money and one of them didn't want to spend it. The German league was still recovering. There was no French league to consider. You wouldn't move to Barcelona and Valencia was the best club in Spain and had Albelda-Baraja in midfield which was top class. So Cambiasso's best career choice would have been something between Juventus, Milan, Inter and Roma.

Can we stop rewriting history please and learn some facts? Stop calling Cambiasso a reserve because he wasn't one.
It's similar with Mateo Kovacic at Real Madrid actually. He's not a reserve, there's just too much competition for him to be considered a regular. And even that's a stretch. Cambiasso was an important Real Madrid player in 2002-3 when they also signed Ronaldo and had Zidane and Figo with Raul up front. He wasn't a "reserve". I think my previous post refutes that pretty much so it's naive to keep saying it.

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Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso has joined Inter Milan after being released by Real Madrid, the player said on his personal website cuchu.com. Cambiasso, who became a free agent on June 30 after two seasons at Real, signed a four-year contract with

"I chose Inter because they are one of the biggest clubs in the world," the 23-year-old said.

"It wasn't easy to find a club that would fulfil my expectations after playing for Real Madrid but when Inter spoke to me I had no doubts."
The defensive midfielder, who has seven caps, was not included in Argentina's squad for the Copa America starting on Tuesday. He has been recovering from an ankle injury.

----------------------------

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=204659.html


FC Internazionale have signed Real Madrid CF midfield player Esteban Cambiasso on a free transfer.
Bosman free
The 23-year-old Argentinian has signed a four-year deal with the Italian side after leaving deposed Spanish champions Madrid on a free transfer. Having spent eight years on the books at the Santiago Bernabéu, his contract at the club finally expired on 30 June.
Official presentation
"I am very happy and excited," said the player after completing a medical on Friday. "It is a professional dream come true." Inter's third signing of the summer following the arrivals of Giuseppe Favalli and Juan Sebastián Veron, Cambiasso will be officially presented to the media on Saturday morning.Long association
Cambiasso came to the Bernabéu with his brother in 1996 and spent two seasons in the reserve team before being farmed out to gain experience in Argentina with CA Independiente and then CA River Plate. He was restored to Madrid's first team by Vicente Del Bosque for their title-winning 2002/03 campaign.
Few options
However with a surplus of midfield players competing for first-team places at Madrid, Cambiasso saw his chances of making a mark at the club diminish over the past 12 months and Madrid allowed the player to walk free from the club after his contract expired.


- - - Updated - - -

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/09/11/a-journey-through-time-the-career-of-esteban-cambiasso/

Here's another interesting read on Cambiasso.

Some parts:

And materialise it did, in the form of the game’s great behemoth, Real Madrid. Offered the chance to adorn the iconic Los Blancos shirt without any language barriers proved too good an opportunity to dismiss. So, bags packed, a young Cambiasso travelled to the Spanish capital. “A few months before I had also looked at Ajax but the Dutch culture was so different from Argentina that my family and I were scared. I made the decision to follow a dream: Real Madrid,” Cambiasso recalled in an interview with Marca. “At the age of 15 I found myself surrounded by the biggest stars and they treated me very well, especially Sánchez, Hierro, Redondo, Alkorta and Chendo.”
Two years brought with them 41 appearances and two goals for Castilla, yet cultural barriers or not, spending his adolescent years miles away from loved ones took its toll. Indeed, Cambiasso was unsettled, and was also lacking the level of competition his budding development craved. “I was given the chance to return to Argentina after two years in Madrid B because I needed more competition. Already in the first team, the politics of the moment meant that most of the side were made up of academy players and Galácticos, and I wasn’t either of those.”

---

As his reputation grew, so too did Real’s re-kindled interest, and this time Cuchu would take the opportunity with both hands. The 2002/03 campaign saw Cambiasso attain major titles, first winning the Intercontinental and UEFA Super Cups, before adding the coveted La Liga crown. Sitting at the base of midfield whilst rotating seamlessly with the maestro Claude Makélélé, the duo added much-needed balance to Madrid’s attacking flair.


Unfortunately, this was not an opinion shared by club president Florentino Pérez whose acrimonious sale of Makélélé after his request of a pay rise brought about a period of decline. The obdurate Pérez did not see the benefit of the deep-lying midfielder and lambasted both Makélélé and Cambiasso for their “lack of technical ability and pace.”

Another two years in Spain had drawn to a bitter end and once again Cambiasso was on the move. It is here where Inter and Moratti made their move. The Lombardy outfit had been long-term admirers of Cambiasso and negotiated with Madrid about a possible transfer when their Brazilian jewel Ronaldo moved in the opposite direction. At the time, the deal wasn’t feasible but now thanks to the tireless research of Vassallo, the Argentine of Italian decent was officially unveiled as an Inter player.

brehme1989 said:

Again, he was not a reserve. A reserve is someone like Trent Sainsbury.
Cambiasso was an important player for Real Madrid when they used him for the first time (2002-3) and they dropped him only to accommodate David Beckham and create a team that made no sense and he LEFT.

You say no one else wanted him. You realize what Inter was during that time? And who the alternatives were? The EPL had only 3 teams with serious money and one of them didn't want to spend it. The German league was still recovering. There was no French league to consider. You wouldn't move to Barcelona and Valencia was the best club in Spain and had Albelda-Baraja in midfield which was top class. So Cambiasso's best career choice would have been something between Juventus, Milan, Inter and Roma.

Can we stop rewriting history please and learn some facts? Stop calling Cambiasso a reserve because he wasn't one.
It's similar with Mateo Kovacic at Real Madrid actually. He's not a reserve, there's just too much competition for him to be considered a regular. And even that's a stretch. Cambiasso was an important Real Madrid player in 2002-3 when they also signed Ronaldo and had Zidane and Figo with Raul up front. He wasn't a "reserve". I think my previous post refutes that pretty much so it's naive to keep saying it.

-----------


Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso has joined Inter Milan after being released by Real Madrid, the player said on his personal website cuchu.com. Cambiasso, who became a free agent on June 30 after two seasons at Real, signed a four-year contract with

"I chose Inter because they are one of the biggest clubs in the world," the 23-year-old said.

"It wasn't easy to find a club that would fulfil my expectations after playing for Real Madrid but when Inter spoke to me I had no doubts."
The defensive midfielder, who has seven caps, was not included in Argentina's squad for the Copa America starting on Tuesday. He has been recovering from an ankle injury.

----------------------------

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=204659.html


FC Internazionale have signed Real Madrid CF midfield player Esteban Cambiasso on a free transfer.
Bosman free
The 23-year-old Argentinian has signed a four-year deal with the Italian side after leaving deposed Spanish champions Madrid on a free transfer. Having spent eight years on the books at the Santiago Bernabéu, his contract at the club finally expired on 30 June.
Official presentation
"I am very happy and excited," said the player after completing a medical on Friday. "It is a professional dream come true." Inter's third signing of the summer following the arrivals of Giuseppe Favalli and Juan Sebastián Veron, Cambiasso will be officially presented to the media on Saturday morning.Long association
Cambiasso came to the Bernabéu with his brother in 1996 and spent two seasons in the reserve team before being farmed out to gain experience in Argentina with CA Independiente and then CA River Plate. He was restored to Madrid's first team by Vicente Del Bosque for their title-winning 2002/03 campaign.
Few options
However with a surplus of midfield players competing for first-team places at Madrid, Cambiasso saw his chances of making a mark at the club diminish over the past 12 months and Madrid allowed the player to walk free from the club after his contract expired.


- - - Updated - - -

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/09/11/a-journey-through-time-the-career-of-esteban-cambiasso/

Here's another interesting read on Cambiasso.

Some parts:

And materialise it did, in the form of the game’s great behemoth, Real Madrid. Offered the chance to adorn the iconic Los Blancos shirt without any language barriers proved too good an opportunity to dismiss. So, bags packed, a young Cambiasso travelled to the Spanish capital. “A few months before I had also looked at Ajax but the Dutch culture was so different from Argentina that my family and I were scared. I made the decision to follow a dream: Real Madrid,” Cambiasso recalled in an interview with Marca. “At the age of 15 I found myself surrounded by the biggest stars and they treated me very well, especially Sánchez, Hierro, Redondo, Alkorta and Chendo.”
Two years brought with them 41 appearances and two goals for Castilla, yet cultural barriers or not, spending his adolescent years miles away from loved ones took its toll. Indeed, Cambiasso was unsettled, and was also lacking the level of competition his budding development craved. “I was given the chance to return to Argentina after two years in Madrid B because I needed more competition. Already in the first team, the politics of the moment meant that most of the side were made up of academy players and Galácticos, and I wasn’t either of those.”

---

As his reputation grew, so too did Real’s re-kindled interest, and this time Cuchu would take the opportunity with both hands. The 2002/03 campaign saw Cambiasso attain major titles, first winning the Intercontinental and UEFA Super Cups, before adding the coveted La Liga crown. Sitting at the base of midfield whilst rotating seamlessly with the maestro Claude Makélélé, the duo added much-needed balance to Madrid’s attacking flair.


Unfortunately, this was not an opinion shared by club president Florentino Pérez whose acrimonious sale of Makélélé after his request of a pay rise brought about a period of decline. The obdurate Pérez did not see the benefit of the deep-lying midfielder and lambasted both Makélélé and Cambiasso for their “lack of technical ability and pace.”

Another two years in Spain had drawn to a bitter end and once again Cambiasso was on the move. It is here where Inter and Moratti made their move. The Lombardy outfit had been long-term admirers of Cambiasso and negotiated with Madrid about a possible transfer when their Brazilian jewel Ronaldo moved in the opposite direction. At the time, the deal wasn’t feasible but now thanks to the tireless research of Vassallo, the Argentine of Italian decent was officially unveiled as an Inter player.

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Wow.

Man chill. And admit that he wasnt good enough for them to be a starter back in the days - THEREFORE he was a reserve. Dont mention austealian players just to prove a point which is not true at all. He wasnt a reserve. Eder is a reserve, brozo, nagashit.... and so on. The australian dude has nothing to do in your argument. So just stop.

Bottom line - if he was goooooooood as you make him to be, why the fuck they let him go for free... come on. Get serious. Nobody is arguing with what he became here. Im jst saying that he wasnt smth you make him to be at 22/23 when they let him go.

Also. Asado fucking clan was ruling here, so all the romantic sentences aside. Its cleae why he chose us.

Im done replying to you. If you still think that we stole a world class 23 year old DM from real madrid. Go on. Believethat.

Lol, I'm chilled. And I never said he was world class, I said he was not a RESERVE. And I mentioned Trent Sainsbury because that is the definition of a reserve. And this is what Rafinha (and Deulofeu) are to Barcelona now. Reserves. They will not get any minutes unless it's an absolute emergency. They're not part of the rotation. The rotation = first team player. Doesn't need to be a starter to be considered part of the first team. Brozovic is part of our first team. Eder is part of our first team. Pinamonti = a reserve. Gnoukouri = a reserve. See the difference?

As for why they let him go for free. This is the same club that let Luis Figo go on a free. Real Madrid doesn't need to sell players. This transfer frenzy is a very modern trend.

Cambiasso 2002-2003: 39 appearances, 30 starts, 66m per game. With some muscle problems at the end of the season which meant his playing time was reduced and since he was a kid he was slotted in for a few minutes on occasion which dropped his minute:game ratio.
Makelele 2002-2003: 42 appearances, 42 starts

Sure, he was no Makelele, but a player who has 30 starts in arguably Real Madrid's most glorified season in the 2000s deserves more credit than being called a freaking reserve.

Brheme...are you forgetting his final season at Real Madrid?

Played in only 17 of the 38 La Liga matches...only started 9 of them...5 of those appearances were substitutions after the 85th minute. He started only 3 of the final 25 matches that season. He was definitely not a rotation player by the end of his career there.

Rafinha, when healthy, played in 18 of 27 La Liga matches and started 14 of them. Who was more of a reserve?

Cambiasso got injured for a month in his final season with Real Madrid. That's when we actually signed him with the Bosman. Real Madrid weren't going to use him much after that so it didn't really matter, but they did utlize him a bit later on (he got injured again). Anyone who remembers Real Madrid vividly back then knows that Cambiasso was an important player for them.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/raf...3/plus/0/saison/2014/wettbewerb/CL/verein/131
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/raf...3/plus/0/saison/2016/wettbewerb/CL/verein/131

Doesn't seem very important enough for them to feature in the games that matter most. Barcelona rotates a lot in the league because they can.

He actually started 12 games only and only featured in one important game (vs Atletico). Rafinha was part of the team but he was mostly there to substitute for a shitload of injuries. Iniesta was out a lot, he even played in the spot of Messi at times iirc.
No one will deny that he's not a talented player but he really is a reserve for Barcelona. And they have a thin roster, so being a reserve there means you get to play when others are out.
His competition was Iniesta, Rakitic, Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes. For 2 spots. And he could also play up front, where they had Messi, Neymar, Suarez and then it was pretty much Arda (another reserve) and Alcacer.
Does his playing time merit anything other than 'reserve'? The only players he featured more than were Jeremy Mathieu, Paco Alcacer and Aleix Vidal. 16 players got more playing time than him and it was a very thin roster. In 2014-15 which was his best season and most complete, Barcelona had more depth and he only appeared more than Adriano, Sergi Roberto, Douglas and Vermaelen. Only Adriano would have been considered a rotation player. And like 2016-17, there were 16 players at Barcelona that featured more than him. No direct positional rival featured less than him.

Cambiasso 2002-3 had more minutes than McManaman, Flavio Conceicao (direct rival for position), Celades (direct rival for position), Solari and Morientes. 13th with more minutes for Real Madrid, equivalent of 2nd sub.
Cambiasso 2003-4 was 14th in playing time for Real Madrid. That means on average, he was the 3rd sub.

Compared to last season's Inter, 12th and 13th in minutes were Kondogbia and Banega respectively. And 17th would be Santon/Palacio [Gagliardini is 16th ahead of both but he was here for half a season only].

Would anyone really say that Kondogbia or Banega had the same role as Santon or Palacio last year?

What about Wesley? He was not utilised very much at Real Madrid.

He was pretty good at Inter.

Puma said:

What about Wesley? He was not utilised very much at Real Madrid.

He was pretty good at Inter.

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9th in minutes played 2007-2008 and 13th in minutes played just before signing with us (which was more than Guti's and if you ask Real Madrid fans they probably have the same love for him as we have for Recoba).

Sneijder's issue wasn't being underused or as much as Perez decided to change his approach again and sign Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Robben's case was similar but he hadn't fallen out of a starting spot in 2008-9. He still felt surplus and wanted to leave.

I don't know why people confuse transfer strategies with what was actually occurring before the transfers took place. Neither Sneijder nor Robben were "reserves" for Real Madrid, yet they are treated as if they were Real's garbage in media and fanbases.

Walter Samuel, too. Fifth in minutes played at Real Madrid before signing for Inter. I remember we were all fucking ecstatic about that transfer.

Sure, these numbers/stats aren't concrete about much other than they were utilised first team players. A player may have been under-utilised but he still was utilised and not just a glorified training cone like Gabriel Barbosa was for us last season. I would argue that 13-14th in minutes makes you a definite first team player and the rest depends on depth and rotation and actual minutes played.

SMH comments not helpful. Club legend but he needs to STFU if he has nothing positive to say. Rafinha is definitely a step in the right direction.