Pasqualet’s nephew Josep Cabrera, Villarreal’s leading collector of historic shirts | OneFootball

Josep Cabrera has assembled Villarreal’s largest cache of vintage shirts, kept at home and rooted in his bond with Pasqualet, the club’s beloved former kitman and his father’s brother, who died in 2017.

According to El Periódico Mediterráneo, with under a month until LaLiga’s retro matchday he looks back before naming a favourite, highlighting promotion shirts from La Línea de la Concepción and from Compostela.

He was taken to the old Madrigal in a pushchair after his birth in 1988, and Pasqualet gave him one or two shirts every year, which sparked a hunt for the oldest pieces.

Helped by his uncle, he began contacting players. Some pieces were off limits out of sentiment, others he bought, and sometimes he was handed shirts that were no longer wanted.

He now holds around 40 shirts from the past 30 years. The total may look modest, but he believes these older pieces carry far more weight than 200 modern replicas.

Half-time at the old Madrigal brought rare access, as his uncle let him and friends play on the pitch. They also raced over to meet Riquelme before the playmaker left, posing for a photo.

On New Year’s Eve 1999, the family dined with new signing Diego Cagna, just arrived from Argentina, at Pasqualet’s invitation.

Cabrera’s grandfather helped found Club Atlético Foghetecaz, and he still keeps membership passes and a letter reproduced in the centenary book. In the early 2000s Pasqualet often drove a Ferrari or Jose Mari’s Hummer to be cleaned.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo