With two new faces and waiting for more, Costas began his era in Racing

Gustavo Costas This afternoon he began his third cycle as coach of Racing Clubwith the additions already confirmed attending practice in Avellaneda, while other footballers who will not continue did not participate in the rehearsal.

At the Tita Mattiussi property, which the same DT visited earlier to establish a relationship and contact with the entity’s workers who work there, the 2024 period began for an ‘Academy’, whose objectives are to try to appear as high as possible. possible in the triple competition that you will face this semester: League Cup, Argentine Cup and South American Cup.

The emblematic idol of the institution, 60 years old, took the helm to replace the duo composed of Sebastián Grazzini-Ezequiel Videla, who took charge of the albiceleste team when Fernando Gago stepped aside.

Forwards Maximiliano Salas (Palestino, from Chile) and Adrián Martínez (Instituto de Córdoba) were present and were at the opening practice.

Also attacker Santiago Solari (Defense and Justice), whose incorporation is already guaranteed, will join the roster once he completes the required medical exams.

On the other hand, the new news was announced after midday, when the attacker Nicolás Reniero, who had a brief loan spell at Tigre last semester, took note that he will not be taken into account by the coach and will have to report to training with the Reserve, starting Monday the 8th.

In identical tone, goalkeeper Gastón ‘Chila’ Gómez (who returned after a loan at Vélez Sarsfield) and midfielder Fabricio Domínguez (who ended his relationship with Argentinos Juniors) also did not practice and plan to negotiate their respective departures

The situation of the hitchhiker Nicolás Oroz is similar, because the player requested a few additional days of leave, by virtue of the fact that he intends to negotiate his connection to another football destination.

Midfielder Juan Ignacio Nardoni and forward Baltasar Rodríguez also did not attend, who are affected by the Argentine Under ’23 team led by coach Javier Mascherano and who will participate in the Venezuelan Pre-Olympic Championship (which begins on Saturday the 20th) and will be a qualifier for Paris 2024.

There was, although he probably completed one of his last tests, the forward Maximiliano Romero, who will be loaned to Argentinos Juniors, for one year and without a purchase option.

Colombian striker Roger Martínez, for his part, asked for a few more days of rest and will return to Argentina during the week, after having enjoyed a few fewer days of leave last December due to his participation in a friendly that the national team of his country beat Mexico 3-2, in the United States.

“Racing is a big club: it’s not enough to just enter the cups, you have to win them. The priority is not the South American, it’s everything. The last international title was with me as a player, imagine all the years that passed. It’s an obligation to win” Costas said at a press conference on the day of his presentation.

The “academic” coach achieved the first edition of the 1988 South American Super Cup as a Racing player, after beating Cruzeiro of Brazil in the final (2 to 1 in the first leg and 1 to 1 in the rematch) with the remembered team led by Alfio Basile and with figures of the stature of Ubaldo Fillol, Rubén Paz and Miguel Colombatti, among others.

The only international title that Costas won as a coach was the 2016 Suruga Bank with Independiente Santa Fe, Colombia, after beating Kashima Antlers, from Japan, 1-0.

Regarding the negotiations to continue strengthening the squad, the leadership, headed by president Victor Blanco, aims to try to close as soon as possible the arrivals of midfielder Bruno Zuculini, goalkeeper Facundo Cambeses and defender Emanuel Mammana.

Zuculini, who recently moved to River, also has an offer from Nacional de Montevideo, but his intention is to return to Racing, a team of which he is a fan and where he debuted in the 2010 season.

Cambeses, currently in Banfield, is also sought by Vélez, an institution that made a more tempting offer.

Mammana, with a past at River, was offered a two-year contract and is one of the priorities to join the defensive column.