Guti - the Cantera graduate who shone among Real Madrid’s Galacticos
SOME players seem destined to play for certain clubs. No matter the difficulty of breaking into a talented squad, there often seems to be a celestial hand guiding events along a particular pathway, ensuring that fate delivers. Such an argument could be raised for José María Gutiérrez Hernández, who was born on the last day of October in 1976 in the municipality of Torrejón de Ardoz, a mere 20 kilometres or so away from the Santiago Bernabéu stadium that, for so long, would be the centre of his life. A decade later, he would begin a relationship with Real Madrid that would last for 24 years, and lead to him being universally known by the simple abbreviated name of Guti.
The 10-year-old Guti that joined Los Blancos’ famous Cantera academy was originally a striker. It quickly became clear to the coaches that were so impressed as he advanced through the various under-age levels of the club’s teams however, that his vision, ability to read the game, passing accuracy and sheer tenacity to succeed would be far better suited to a midfield role. It quickly became his favoured position and, by the time he had progressed to the Castilla team – Real Madrid’s B team – his position was firmly established. His promotion to the first team squad would only cement that.
Standing on the brink of wearing the all-white strip for the club’s first team, any number of 19-year-olds may well have felt the pangs of self-doubt gnawing away at their confidence. At the time, Los Blancos were collecting the glitterati of the football world with the zeal of an obsessed Panini sticker book obsessive with money to burn. Finance certainly seemed little hinderance to the club as the magnetic lure of Real Madrid’s reputation attracted the cream of footballing talent. Only the truly outstanding of home-produced players would have a chance of joining the celestial host.
It was into this growing constellation of stars that Guti made his debut on December 2, 1995, in a 4-1 victory over Sevilla. Despite all the promise and potential exhibited by the young forward, it would have taken the most perceptive of visions to recognise the scrawny teenager as someone who would go on to have such a glittering career at the club and later be described on the club’s website as ‘the best example of homegrown talent from the youth academy’. He would play just nine games in that first season, delivering a single goal, but the first steps of a long career to come had been taken.
The following season brought steady progress and 17 first team appearances across all competitions as he grew into the squad and established himself as the provider of chances rather than the deliverer of goals. His success was rewarded with the first two of what would grow into a mammoth haul of 15 major trophies. A mere 23 league appearances into his career, Guti collected his first LaLiga winner’s medal and victory in the Supercopa de España. The triumphs fuelled a rapacious appetite for more of the same.
Perhaps even sweeter than the domestic glory, Guti’s third season brought continental success when Real Madrid defeated Juventus 1-0 to win the Champions League in Amsterdam. Guti failed to make the cut for the big game, but had contributed to the club’s success with a couple of appearances as they progressed towards the final. The same would happen two years later in the final as Los Blancos comfortably defeated domestic rivals Valencia 3-0. This time he would make three appearances in the competition. It wasn’t until the 2001-02 final that he would be included in the squad, but was an unused substitute in the win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Back in domestic football though, Guti’s progress was impressive. Established in what has become termed as the ‘number 10’ position, he prompted and probed for los Blancos creating chances for team-mates, and for a player who was never recognised as a goalscorer, when the club turned to him in a mini crisis, he delivered with typical aplomb. During the 2000-01 season, an injury to one of the club’s leading strikers, Fernando Morientes, threatened to derail the club’s season, but coach Vicente del Bosque was astute enough to push Guti into a more forward position to supplement the attacking talents of Raul. The move was handsomely rewarded.
Despite not having played as a striker for many years, as he progressed into the more exalted teams of the club, Guti delivered 14 goals in 32 LaLiga appearances. He added another four in the Champions
League as Real Madrid fought in vain to defend their continental title. It was an impressive strike rate by any measure but, in way of comparison, the previous year, Morientes had scored 12 in 29 appearances. Boosted by Guti’s tally, Los Blancos would secure another LaLiga title, one of five that would eventually come his way.
There are many players who, after a season such as that, would blanche at being returned to his supporting position in midfield, but Guti was the consummate club man and slotted back in as required without sacrificing any of his effectiveness. As the team developed around him, he would also be deployed in a deeper role, taking the ball from defenders to initiate attacks.
With tides of Galacticos continuing to arrive in each summer transfer window, there was always the danger of the less celebrated, but no less valuable Guti seeing his role in the team washed away by arriving star names as Ramón Calderón spent with abandon. The president’s stated desire was to bring in Brazilian playmaker Kaká with the idea of slotting the new arrival in, to replace the retiring Zinedine Zidane. With the Frenchman exiting the Bernabéu however and Kaká still wearing the Rossoneri of Milan in Italy, it was, of course, Guti who stepped in to fill the huge gap left by Zidane. Would he be up to such a task? Another LaLiga title suggested that he was.
Nothing, especially in football, is forever of course and, when the delayed transfer of Kaká went through and the Brazilian arrived for the 200910 season, the writing was clearly on the wall for Guti after 15 years of first team action. There was to be no clean break, and Guti would still make 30 appearances in the new term as injuries to the Brazilian playmaker and squad rotation offered minutes of action. The relationship with new coach Manuel Pellegrini was never comfortable however, and at 33 years of age Guti left the club he had joined more than two decades earlier to play out the last years of his career with Besiktas in Turkey.
When questioned about what it meant to him to be a young Real Madrid player setting out on his journey with the club, Guti provided the sort of answer that would firmly secure his place in the hearts Real Madrid fans. “For sure. I have always said it. (To be on) the bench of Real Madrid is the maximum, as it was as a player. To be there one day would be really significant. I know that I must achieve plenty to be there but it also took a great effort to be there as a player. I am not scared of that. The only thing I want is to have an opportunity to do things well and for my work to be known and to keep growing.”