In La Plata, Nicolás Fernández’s lacklustre spell at Colón gets attention | OneFootball

The story of Nicolás Fernández, a left back who came up through the youth divisions of Estudiantes de La Plata, is just one more within the turbulent year that Colón experienced, in which individual projects were swept away by a complex sporting and institutional context.

The 22-year-old defender had joined the Sabalero in mid-2024 on an 18-month loan, with the approval of Eduardo Domínguez himself, the current coach of Pincha and someone who knew him from his time at the club in La Plata. However, the gamble never really paid off: his stint in Santa Fe was brief, inconsistent, and with little participation.

In his first spell, Fernández played just four official matches during 2024, accumulating just over 200 minutes on the field. At Colón, they tried to convert him into a central defender, a position he had already played in as a youth, but in which he did not feel comfortable. Despite his willingness, the team’s performance, coaching changes, and internal competition worked against him.

The start of 2025 offered him a new opportunity: he had completed a good preseason and seemed to have a secured spot in a five-man defensive line. However, an untimely injury kept him out at the start of the tournament and, during that time, the arrival of reinforcements further reduced his chances.

From then on, things became increasingly difficult. Fernández was dropped from the first team and ended up training alongside other players who had been sidelined from the group. This situation led him to reflect on the differences with his time at Estudiantes, where, according to those close to him, “everything depended on effort and internal competition.” In Santa Fe, on the other hand, the institutional and sporting climate did not allow him to sustain his development. The only match he played was on March 2, 2025, against Chaco For Ever, totaling just 12 minutes.

With the year coming to a close and his loan nearing its end, the footballer born in 2002 will return to City Bell, where he will look to rebuild his career and regain lost ground. He has a contract with Estudiantes until December 2026, and his future will depend on the decisions of Domínguez’s coaching staff.

The case of Nicolás Fernández has not gone unnoticed in Santa Fe. It reflects a symptom that Colón has been carrying: the difficulty in developing young players who arrive seeking minutes, in the midst of a club still trying to rebuild after two turbulent years, with coaching changes, shifting objectives, and an institutional renewal expected in the coming weeks.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.