Máximo Perrone, from Vélez to the Sub 20 and from Colombia to Manchester City: "I am going to the place in the world where I am going to grow the most"

Máximo Perrone

speaks and is listened to as a mature guy who responds with the experience he treasures.

But he just turned 20 in the first week of 2023 and his professional starting point is right here on the timeline.

He has only 33 appearances with the

jersey distributed between the

, the

and his Cup, in addition to a single match for the 

.

All this the same year that the Argentine National Team won the

.

He insists, Perrone speaks as if there weren't 33 games and he has a prudence that is difficult to find in boys his age.

He is going to play for

- who paid 9.2 million euros to break his release clause - and will be

's teammate in 

's team .

But that still hasn't happened.

The midfielder is in

with the Under 20 team directed by

and that this Saturday, with the three official stars on the shirt, will debut in the South American against

for the second date of Group A.

Left-handed, with the elegance of the classic "five", the ability to step into the area as an insider and the versatility to play closer to the wings, Guardiola will polish him in any sector of the field.

, he says with freshness.

At a break in preparation for the match against Paraguay, Perrone answered the phone call from

and shared his feelings about a present that he tries to navigate without thinking about the future.

It is that if he thinks today about what he is going to do tomorrow, he believes that when it is his turn to play he will have his head elsewhere.

Maximo Perrone, the number 6 and the shirt with the three stars.

Photo: AFA Press

-After Qatar, people want to see the National Team again.

It's up to you.

How does it feel to wear the third star for the first time on the jersey?

-People are very, very, anxious, and I think that on our side we have to calm that anxiety.

Go game by game.

Yes, putting the Argentine National Team on high because it is world champion: you have to play as such, but we have to be calm.

- Do they have to talk about it to, among all, achieve that tranquility?

-We don't talk about it, we abstract ourselves.

We have to make our tournament.

The world champions are the greatest.

We have to do our thing from below, but playing like a world champion team.

-Recently, when you still had fewer games in the First Division, you said that you didn't feel pressure on the pitch, has that perspective changed now that it's routine?

-A little nerves come before the game, in the talk, when you change.

But I step on the court and forget about everything.

The concentration is on the first balls you touch... when you start playing, it's the most beautiful.

Those things are always there and have to be there.

They don't have to be lost.

Maximo Perrone in one of the last training sessions of the Under 20 National Team. Photo: AFA Press

-How do you live the changes?

-The truth is that the last year was very intense: everything happened.

I live it naturally.

Soccer is very fast and changeable.

If you're not prepared for those things, you don't have a good time.

Soccer is very changeable: you have to be prepared, nothing more.

-With that intensity, do you see yourself in a Lionel Scaloni citation, for the Major?

-Don't worry.

That's going to come.

I think it depends on what one does.

It is the dream that one has as a boy and it depends on one.

My head is in the Sub 20 and nothing else.

-But somehow you are supposed to be the natural replacement...

-Yes, let's see, we are a beautiful group and it would be very nice to continue together, obviously.

If everything goes well this tournament, we would have more tournaments together and then yes, the Major.

Would be beautiful.

But it's not what we have to think about today, it's about playing this South American and leaving the National Team as high as possible.

Javier Mascherano gives instructions to the group that is in Colombia.

Photo: AFA Press

-And what is the most complicated team in the South American?

-All.

The South Americans are very tough, very tough, you can't trust any of them.

-And after that dizzying year in which "everything happened", what are your dreams now?

- Oh, the dreams.

Dreams are beginning to be objective, at this point.

And today my biggest goals are in the short term: the South American, game by game.

I don't even think beyond Paraguay.

I think it's going to hurt us if we don't think about the following games before the first one.

The goal is to beat Paraguay on Saturday.

-Isn't there a maximum dream?

- Yes there are.

But I prefer to keep it to myself.

It's very personal.

-And what motivates you those short-term goals, then?

-There is no more motivation than wearing the National Team shirt.

-Two years ago you were a completely different boy from who you are today, how do you imagine yourself in two years?

- Not even two years ago you have to think, just a year ago.

The times, I don't know... We don't control the time, especially not in football.

It's all very changeable.

I hope it's going to be something good, but I don't know what.

Máximo Perrone celebrates a goal against Nacional.

Photo: EFE/ Raúl Martínez

-Are you looking for someone's advice for these moments: last year's boom, the sale to City, the South American, who are you talking to?

-Not only.

Only.

Soccer is now, today.

If one goes to what can come, he loses focus and things can go wrong.

It is a way of handling myself that I have, of being focused on today.

- And what did Pep tell you?

-I did not speak with Guardiola.

I did not have communication with him, but with someone from the club who was contacted.

-And with Julián Álvarez?

-I know Julián from before, we once did a photo session with the National Team's shirt, we crossed paths in the Vélez-River.

We have little relationship, but good.

-And did you ask him what day-to-day life was like at City?

-Honestly, I'm honest, I swear I don't think about anything other than this.

What has to come after the South American will come.

Máximo Perrone, in Vélez, with the captain's ribbon.

Photo: AP

-In Vélez you were a starter and captain... In City, no.

-I understand that it is always like that, when I was in Reserve I was a starter and when I went to first I was a substitute.

When you advance, you always start from behind.

I don't give importance to that.

I am going to the place in the world where I will grow the most.

So that's not something that worries me.

Doesn't it scare you or scare you?

-No.

And being afraid is not bad.

I am sure that fear will never stop me.

Fear, fear, some insecurity, will always appear, the issue is that this fear does not stop you and I am very calm.