Elche, who lost to Real Madrid on Sunday, wish they had a player like Saul Niguez, 20, helping them in their fight against relegation.
Born in Elche, the Atletico Madrid midfielder moved to Madrid with his family at 14 and was quickly picked up by Real Madrid, where he spent two years before being released.
They were reminded of that when he scored one and set up one for Atletico in the recent 4-0 Madrid derby victory.
Atletico had signed Saul for their youth set up at 16 and he progressed quickly, making his Spain under-16 debut in 2009.
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He has since played for Spain at every age group up to U23 and is tipped for full honours.
That he is establishing himself in the first team for Spain’s champions is a big achievement, but Diego Simeone showed with his midfield colleague and Saul’s fellow youth graduate Koke that he is prepared to promote players if they are good enough. Both are in Atletico’s squad for tonight’s Uefa Champions League last-16, first-leg match at Bayer Leverkusen.
European football is where Saul made his Atletico debut, at the age of 17 years and 108 days, when he came on for the last six minutes in a 2011 game against Besiktas.
Atletico have been intelligent in Saul’s development and loaned him to neighbours Rayo Vallecano last season, considering it more beneficial for him than playing a fourth season for their B team.
It was, as Saul played in 34 of Vallecano’s 38 league games, was their best player in a successful season, a fine distributor and wonderful passer.
Manchester United watched him several times. They were not sufficiently impressed to bid, but Saul’s stock continues to rise.
Simeone thought it wise to call Saul back to Atletico and he played in the Spanish Super Cup games against Real Madrid, which saw the champions win their first trophy of the season.
Saul has started only six league games this season, but three of those were in their past four league matches.
The one he did not was against Real Madrid, where he came on for the injured Koke after 10 minutes and scored eight minutes later with an overhead kick.
He also set up another goal before leaving the pitch through an injury after 70 minutes.
Saul was getting enough minutes to justify his return to the Calderon before becoming a starter in recent weeks.
He is a similar player to Sergio Busquets, breaking up play and starting attacks, another outstanding product of Atletico’s youth system.
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