Gracias, León!
Cagliari and Nahitan Nandez’s paths part: the Uruguayan midfielder is leaving the club after five seasons in the Rossoblù.
“Esta es tu casa”. On a hot day in August, summer 2019, Cagliari thus welcomed Nahitan Nandez da Maldonado, a young footballer arriving on the island in the great Uruguayan tradition. Welcoming him at the airport was all the warmth of the Rossoblù people, an overwhelming wave, the embrace of those who had already elected him as a darling and as an adoptee. “It’s a special feeling, from the beginning you made me feel like one of you, it was like feeling at home,” he would later confide.
Ready, set, immediately on the field to give battle. A true leader, a dragger, someone like him you would always want by your side. In his 165 appearances in the Rossoblù – topped by 6 goals and 18 assists – Nandez never spared himself: high or low outside, employed on the right or left, as a central or inside midfielder. A tireless “all-around midfielder,” always ready to grind out mile after mile, go up against every opponent, make that extra run to help his teammate.
Good moments, joys: there is always his contribution in achieving team goals. Such as when in Naples on May 2, 2021, as time expired, he scored the equalizing goal that was crucial for salvation. But also dark and sad days: a year after the tears of Venice, a sobbing sob, inconsolable. “But I’m staying, let’s go back to the Series A together.” In the front row leading the ascent-a goal achieved just 11 months later. Uncontainable joy, like last Sunday afternoon in Reggio Emilia with the achievement of salvation. Last night the embrace of “his” people, incorporated inside the Curve. “It is because of all of you, who have made me feel part of all this, of this wonderful Land, I feel Sardinian.”
To love each other again and say goodbye. But in the end it is only goodbye.
Thank you for everything, León!
