Pum, pum, pum, pum. The ball does not stop bouncing against the wall of Laura’s business, located in Caballito. The little boy who kicks her and pushes her forward with unusual mastery for her age never tires. The sidewalk acts as an imaginary court full time while her mother works. In free time, when obligations allow it, in the park, without the limits of the cordon, Pocho dribbles. He dribbles everything in front of him, legs, stones, pits. Her ability surprises casual viewers, who approach her mother to congratulate her and warn her: “She plays very well.”
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For this reason, Laura decides at the age of 5 to take him to Western club, on José María Moreno avenue, also in Caballito, to channel their skill and energy into baby soccer. Of course, at that age, he doesn’t want rules. His desire is to keep the ball close to the boots and keep dodging. Because he gets bored, sometimes he ends up in the bow. A curious destination considering its precocious qualities. Those that led him at the age of 18 to jump out of the First National, the second category of Argentine soccer, with West Carril Iron to train side by side with Robert Lewandowski in it Barcelonaand be taken into account by Xavi Hernandez.
Pocho is Lucas Roman, the jewel that was in the news in recent weeks because he landed in the culé team, which paid 1,200,000 dollars for 85% of the pass (the rest was retained by the purslane cast) and shielded him with an exit clause of 400 million euros. euro. The youngster has already made his presentation at Barcelona B with the number 34 (he entered the complement of the 3-4 against Cornella), but he is under the permanent magnifying glass of the elite coach, who praised him after few practices in his orbit: “He has a good left and he has talent. We will follow it. He is a very interesting player and he can be very useful to us.”.
But let’s go back to the other Pocho, the unknown, the one we tried to unravel, long before the neon lights. In the West club he already exploded with those feints at pure power and speed, he came out champion in the baby. The coach Mauro Baldini decided to take the complete team and put together the 2004 category in Ferro. And on the Train he found his takeoff platform, with the group of friends with whom he grew up to the point of forming a fraternity that includes his parents. For example, Verónica Rodríguez Szalich, the archer’s mother who acted as photographer and cameraman. Many of the images that exist of the player and went viral were based on her contribution. Some of those children who became adolescents, added to those from the Marcelo T de Alvear primary school, were the ones who came to say goodbye to him when he left on the adventure to Barcelona.
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Lucas lived in the same house as his grandparents until 2020, when due to the pandemic they moved with his mother for prevention, fearing they would infect them with COVID-19. At that point, he, in addition to the emotions in Caballito, and he had been summoned to the Sub 13 Selection, when he was 12 years old. And he followed the path in the Sub 15, Sub 17 and Sub 20. He went through the boards of Diego Placente, Pablo Aimar and Javier Mascherano.
He did not make the list of the last South American, but he did play the L’Alcudia tournament that the Albiceleste won in 2022: the medal is hanging at his home in Buenos Aires, along with the one he received for being champion with his category in Ferro. His growth was also premature at the Caballito institution. It is that his transit on the Ezeiza property with the national teams set off alarm bells at the club, where he was promoted to the professional squad.
It happened when training returned as soon as the restrictions due to the pandemic began to be relaxed. During the break, in order not to lose rhythm, he trained daily on the terrace of his home, with the help of his mother, following the recommendations of the coaching staff. And, when he crossed gate 6 of the club on Avellaneda avenue, he did it to work with the Primera.
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The family did (and does) a lot so that the vertigo in his career does not make him dizzy. One of the keys: in his house there is little or no talk about football. They are fans of Pocho Román. And respectful of those who gave him the opportunities, like Ferro. That is why in 2022 they accompanied him so that he did not close the cycle as a free player, when his contract ended. “The affection of the people is very important, it was the finishing touch after so many years of sacrifice, the recognition of perseverance, the sense of belonging,” they stressed close to the footballer.
At Ferro he was close to promotion to the First Division in 2021, gained continuity with a couple of very high-profile goals showing off his punch (against Chacarita and Agropecuario, for example) and earned the respect of the most experienced, who adopted him for his conditions, but above all for his people skills and his personality. One of those who was always on top of him was Hernán Granaexperienced winger with a past in Boca Juniors, in Lanús, All Boys and the MLS.
Until three days after New Years, a special interested party knocked on the door. Or, actually, it made the phone ring. The representative told Laura that a “very strong” proposal had come from a club abroad. The family felt that perhaps the time had come to leave, something that they had always tried to stretch out in time so as not to interrupt Pocho’s evolution and to have the “most normal” life possible.
The day of the meeting arrived. With Barcelona’s offer on the table, Lucas and his mom got in the car. The juvenile looked at her and released the phrase that prompted the move: “We can’t say no to this, right?”. There was an inescapable connecting link: Lionel Messiwho from La Masía built an empire in the history of football. “He loves it. He watches football all the time, and if he’s not looking at notes with players telling anecdotes”described someone who knows him in depth.
The transfer to Barca contemplated a start at Barcelona B, as a logical adaptation. There he found another Argentine, Roman Vega (former Argentines), a support, but everyone received it well. However, one Sunday afternoon, the phone once again offered news that was as good as it was unexpected: the call to work under Xavi’s orders.
The person in charge of welcoming him was the Uruguayan Ronald Araujo, who immediately asked him if he drank mate and even gave him advice on places where he could buy yerba. Despite his embarrassment and his low profile, he managed to converse with several of his new classmates. “I was happy,” highlighted the same source. And there he is, waiting for a new challenge, with the naturalness of that boy who kicked dreams against the wall of his mother’s business in Caballito, but 10,500 kilometers away.
He does not lose his habits: when he is not watching soccer, he gets hooked on the episodes of the Argentine version of Casados con Hijos that he has seen dozens of times. And, although he eats super healthy, he is always willing to taste his grandmother’s meatballs, or on winter nights to fulfill the rite of soup with his grandfather. After all, he’s the same kid who loved dribbling booties more than following the rules, but wearing a Barcelona jersey and surrounded by legends.
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