Vélez and the anonymous but brutal banners at Estadio José Amalfitani | OneFootball

In an election year that is heating up, strong messages aimed at the club reappeared, targeting two controversial figures.

Vélez brought an otherwise ordinary football semester to an early end, but with the squad and coaching staff on vacation, things are far from calming down during the long World Cup break. The election year carries weight, and this Monday the streets of Liniers were covered with anonymous banners firing heavy shots at two very low-profile but controversial figures.

“Pait/Berman: this isn’t River, get out of Vélez,” “Pait corrupt” and “Pait/Berman: give back Sarco’s money” were the short but forceful messages reviving old and well-known conflicts.

The football director, Sebastián Pait, often finds himself at the center of the storm because of his football-related decisions, to the point that a year ago he even had to hold a press conference alongside manager Ricky Álvarez to clarify certain issues. A club scout between 2005 and 2012, and back since 2017 as head of methodology and scouting and youth coordinator, between 2022 and 2023 he was in charge of River’s youth teams and left after poor results. That is where the first grievance comes from.

A key ally of Fortín president Fabián Berlanga, he returned to Liniers alongside the restaurant businessman as soon as he won the election at the end of 2023, and since then his name has resurfaced with every move at La FáVrica. Some controversies at the time included mistreatment of successful reserve-team coach Marcelo Bravo—he said his coaching staff was dismantled and he was kept waiting over a renewal—changes to working groups despite positive results, and the departure of youth gems, sometimes with quick reversals, with the emblematic case of Jano Gordon, who almost left in a year with triple competition and ended up becoming a key player.

The harsh slogans against Pait and Berman (@sabadovelezok).

Now, one growing point of tension is the contrast between the current state of the reserve side and the few opportunities its standout players get in the first team, as in the case of playmaker Bautista Ramírez. But the fiery messages went further and brought back memories of Alejo Sarco’s unfortunate departure, the scorer in the failed final against Estudiantes who refused to renew in mid-2024 and ended up frozen out until December before leaving on a free transfer to Bayer Leverkusen. After scoring goals for Argentina’s U-20 team at the World Cup in Chile and getting few minutes at his club, he went on loan to Borussia Monchengladbach, also without much playing time.

At that breaking point, the club blasted the player and his representative Hernán Berman in a statement, although the agent still works with players in the squad such as Matías Pellegrini and Manuel Lanzini, as well as promising left back Simón Escobar. While he has dozens of clients, his ties to River are such that, besides representing eight players there (including Sebastián Driussi, Facundo Colidio, and Juan Cruz Meza), he even worked with Marcelo Gallardo and was even seen alongside the barra brava.

It remains to be seen how this saga of complaints over the handling of youth players—the gold mine that financially sustains the club—will continue. In any case, the green gardens flanking the Amalfitani on the Juan B. Justo side are usually ideal ground for banners as a form of protest: even without elections nearby, last year they directly targeted Berlanga demanding reinforcements, just like an advertising plane that flew over the Villa Olímpica last summer.

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