When Jesus Vallejo departed Wolverhampton Wanderers halfway through the 2019-20 season his chances of fulfilling the rich potential that had convinced Real Madrid to invest €6 million in him as an 18-year-old seemed ever bleaker.
At 23, time used to be still on his side, but opportunities had been tough to come by since his time with Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2016-17 crusade. The following two-and-a-half seasons brought just 12 league starts for Madrid and Wolves. His dream of representing Spain at the Olympics may have been receding into the distance had he stayed on the fringes of the Premier League club.
Vallejo would be trading in a club with ambitions of cracking the Premier League’s top six for one newly arrived in La Liga after two years in the wilderness. Granada had begun their first season back in the top flight in thrilling fashion, briefly topping the table after 10 games, but expectations were not high at a club whose salary expenditure is less than that which Barcelona pay Lionel Messi.
And yet at the early stages of the new season it is Vallejo’s club, not Messi’s, who sit down in the upper echelons of the La Liga table. The momentum Granada built in the latter stages of final season, where four wins in six earned them seventh place and Europa League qualification, has not dissipated as the Andalusians compete on more than one fronts.
1
Real Sociedad
7
4
2
1
11
14
2
Real Madrid
6
4
1
1
5
13
3
Granada
6
4
1
1
0
13
4
Villarreal
7
3
3
1
0
12
5
Atletico Madrid
5
3
2
0
9
11
12
Barcelona
5
2
1
2
4
7
Sunday brought this sort of gritty 1-0 win at Getafe that is steadily a problem for those clubs which were playing in continental competitions earlier in the week. This sort of result used to be the entire more impressive coming days after their first ever European match, a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over a star-studded PSV Eindhoven at the Philips Stadion.
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At the heart of every of those wins used to be Vallejo, little surprise when he has so hastily grow to be a key figure in Diego Martinez’s plans. In his 15 starts since joining in January Granada have won eight, losing just two. On only one occasion have they conceded more than two, a 6-1 loss to Atletico Madrid earlier in the season that looks to be an aberration in comparison to their results before and after. They’re undefeated since.
Vallejo, whose peripatetic football education gave the impression to be making his development the entire more challenging, has found a home for himself.
“I keep in mind I talked with the manager, with Diego Martinez, [sporting director] Fran Sanchez and a few of my teammates like Carlos Fernandez,” Vallejo tells CBS Sports. “They told me it used to be the most productive idea to go to Granada because the atmosphere there used to be improbable. The first day I could see this.
“Here my teammates are my friends too. I will be able to memorize with them and with the coach Diego on a daily basis. I advisable this experience now for Alberto Soro, a new team-mate [and former Real Madrid player]. We are a pack here and we are a very good group. You’ll be able to notice this from the first day.
“The name of the game of all this success is the group. Everybody here feels important when they have got to play, we will be able to achieve important things in Europa League because we are having a look forward to these games.”
The way in which head coach Martinez fostered that bond used to be widely famous in Spain final season. His squad would develop chemistry not only on the training pitch but through barbecues at every others’ homes and hikes in the hills together.
Spain’s coronavirus-enforced lockdown put those specific methods of team building on hiatus but Vallejo used to be still in a position to embrace his new surroundings.
“We did numerous Zoom, we played Playstation tournaments: FIFA, Call of Duty. Our girlfriends, our friends too,” he famous. “This used to be very important, I spent more time in quarantine at home than in the vinaigrette room final season.
“It’s different [to other teams I have been with]. In Madrid, for instance, we have numerous games and then the players want more time at home with the circle of relatives.
“Here, it’s like a circle of relatives. In Granada, whether you go to the vinaigrette room, you’re at home.”
That unity goes some way to explaining why Granada imagine they are able to cope with the increased fixture load of the new season.
They’re acutely aware that they’re trailblazers for this club, one who has never played in Europe and who have never won major honors. Even without supporters in the ground there is an ever-deepening bond between club and city, a “positive energy” that Vallejo and his teammates can feed off.
“It is a mix of delight and possibility,” the Real Madrid loanee said of his side’s involvement in the Europa League. “This can be a very important moment for Granada. We will be able to do important things. We have a much better team this year, we will be able to compete against everybody. We are very focused on the game.
“We will be able to see whether we aren’t very focused we have problems, like the day of Atletico Madrid. Whether we are focused we will be able to achieve important goals.”
For all Granada’s success during the last 14 months, Vallejo is being tutored in a very different brand of football to that which Real Madrid play. He explained that his new club focus on being solid at the back and winning games through their set plays and ability to take what chances come their way.
That used to be evident in their 2-1 win at PSV where despite having just 44% possession Granada limited their hosts to just seven shots to their own 12. They repeated the trick against Getafe, who turned 66% of the ball into one shot on Rui Silva’s goal.
Getafe’s approach could scarcely be more different to the defensive approach of Real Madrid and other top sides, where defenders are expected to operate as deep-lying playmakers, but it is maybe a more effective finishing school for a young centre-back such as Vallejo.
“In Madrid we train a lot with the ball, here in Granada we are very focused on the small details,” he explained.
“I think in case you are a central defender in Real Madrid you must play very far from your goalkeeper. You must be focused all game, you have the ball but suddenly you must dash 40 metres and be fast, be focused. You have more space bottom you, here you are defending as a group. This is easier here than in Madrid.
“Presently it’s the most productive club [for me]. I wish to give a boost to, I wish to play numerous games.”
In the longer term, Vallejo’s ambition remains to set up himself at Real Madrid, who will eventually wish to find a successor to club captain Sergio Ramos, and to earn his place in the Spain squad for next summer’s Olympics.
To succeed in them, Vallejo needs the correct proving ground but for the young center-back Granada is proving to be so a lot more than just another stop on his street to Real Madrid and La Furia Roja. In a year when community has been the entire tougher to find, Vallejo has found a home for himself.