River Plate: one goes, one stays... for now

Ex-River Plate keeper German Lux has signed a 4-year deal with Mallorca after his contract with Buenos Aires-based club came to an end on June 30th. Amazingly, Lux went from being on the verge of signing a 10-year contract with River before last year's World Cup to relegated to the bench and, finally, allowed to leave on a Bosman in the space of about a year, through no real fault of his own.

Inexplicably left off Argentina's World Cup team in favor of Independiente's Ustari, even Diego Maradona felt that there had been a conspiracy against the then-24 year old GK. By December of 2006, River manager Daniel Passarella had relegated Lux to the bench and told him to find a new club. At that point, a move to Mallorca was rumored, but it took until the summer to come to fruition.

Another River keeper, current starter Juan Pablo Carrizo, was also in the news, thanks to the fact that River rejected a 5 million euro bid from Lazio for his services. River wants at least double that amount.

There is no denying that Carrizo is a great goalkeeper, and he was almost certainly River's best player throughout most of the just finished Clausura 2007. But the real story here is Lux, River's forgotten man. Considered a lock for the World Cup before Pekerman announced the line-up, he was ignored for reasons nobody has really been able to figure out.

Passarella then decided that Carrizo was a better option for the Apertura 2006, and Lux hasn't played since. River has now gone 3 years with no titles to speak of, and to add insult to injury, we have a manager who has done nothing but alienate our best players and anger the vast majority of supporters.

Lux deserved better from Passarella, he deserved better from River Plate, and I can only hope that he goes on to become one of La Liga's best keepers, which he certainly has the ability to do.

A situation such as Lux's should never happen at a club with the history and tradition of River Plate. Daniel Passarella is not solely responsible for the rot that has gripped the club, but he certainly must shoulder a large part of the blame. The sooner he goes, the better.