Nery Castillo
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| Nery Castillo | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nery Alberto Castillo | |
| Date of birth | June 13, 1984 | |
| Place of birth | San Luis Potosi, Mexico | |
| Height | 170 cm (5'9") | |
| Nickname | Nintendo | |
| Playing position | Forward Midfielder (football) |
|
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Olympiacos CFP | |
| Number | 7 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1999-2000 2001- |
 Danubio Olympiacos CFP |
2 (0) 83 (27) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Nery Alberto Castillo Jr. (born June 13, 1984 in San Luis Potosí, Mexico) is a Mexican-Uruguayan footballer. Castillo Jr. currently plays for Olympiacos of Greece.
[edit] Biography
Nery Castillo Jr. was considered at one time one of the most promising young players in the world; he made his debut at the tender age of 15 for his home club Danubio in the Uruguayan football first division. While participating with a youth team of Danubio on a Brazilian tournament, Castillo was spotted by several scouts from different European clubs. His father and agent decided that the best opportunity for his son was with Manchester United in the English Premier League, but Nery failed to obtain a work permit and the door to join the English club was closed. At the age of 16 and after his bitter experience with English Football, the father of Castillo accepted the offer of the Greek club Olympiacos. Castillo was invited not long after to a minicamp of the Uruguayan U-17 national team that was preparing for the South American U-17 football tournament; he accepted the invitation but he was cut from the roster for uncertain reasons before the tournament. An action that made him reluctant to ever play for any under age team on international football.
[edit] Move to Olympiacos
Three years after he joined Olympiacos, Castillo became a regular starter in both the domestic and European competitions and began to shine thanks to his playmaking ability and rare attributes that allow him to play on any offensive position. Those rare attributes and his performance on the UEFA Champions League, caught the attention of Juan Ramón Carrasco, then manager of the Uruguayan national team, but Carrasco wasn't the only one that noticed Castillo's abilities. In Mexico it was the press first and the football federation after; that found out that Nery Castillo Jr. born in Mexico, was eligible to play for his native country.
After that point his career took a downslide, a rumored transaction to the Italian side Juventus never happened, apparently changes in the management of his club and the coach combined with the arrival of the famous Brazilian player Rivaldo, relegated him from his starting role to the bench. Other off the field issues with the coach and teammates have contributed to increase the perception that Castillo is a problematic player.
A year after he rejected Mexico's invitation, and once he was relegated to Olympiacos bench, his father sent a picture to the Mexican press of his son with the jersey of the Mexican national team and gave an interview declaring that his son was ready to play for Mexico [1] , but at the time the Mexican Federation wasn't interested. In early 2006 his father and agent began negotiations with the Mexican club Chivas de Guadalajara, but were interrupted because Olympiacos wasn't interested in negotiating the player at the time.
For the 2006-2007 campaign Castillo looks like a solid starter, many reports consider that the player has changed his attitude and solved many off the field issues. The new perspective of a more mature Castillo encouraged the officers of Olympiacos to renew his contract, extending its length four more years, and improve its economic conditions as well. [2]
Castillo was the leading scorer for Olympiacos, or indeed any Greek club, during the preparatory phase for the 2006-2007 season, accumulating seven goals in friendly games against formidable opposition. Since then his form only seems to be improving, with a hat-trick performance against Panionios FC and several more goals both in the domestic tournament or the UEFA Champions League, Castillo has become one of the best goal scorers of Olympiacos this season.
The player is a favorite among the legions of Olympiacos fans as he is often very vocal about his love for the team. They have often defended him against harsh criticism from the press and have demanded his continued presence on the roster. He sports the number seven, a symbolic honor for any Olympiacos player.
[edit] Choosing Nationality
With Castillo nearing seven years as a resident of Greece, the minimum needed for an athlete to gain the Greek Nationality, speculations about the Greek Football Federation's interest have risen once again. False information leaked to the Mexican media allegedely through one of Castillo's teammates indicated that the player could soon declare to play for Greece. The report claimed that Nery would choose Greece because the Greek Football Federation was willing to pay him seven hundred thousand euros and give him other benefits to play for their national team.[3]
Reports indicate that Greece boss Otto Rehhagel have told officials of the Greek Football Federation to secure the player as quickly as possible and was seeking to speak with the player himself to learn of his intentions. [4]
On November 30, 2006, Nery Castillo announced that he was ready and eager to play for the Mexican national team in the upcoming Copa America and Gold Cup in 2007.[5] On February 5, 2007 Castillo arrived to the Mexican national team camp for the upcoming game against the United States on February 7, 2007. However, he did not even appear on the bench, presumably because of an injury on his left ankle, which leaves his debut with the Mexican national team pending for a future date, since Hugo Sanchez has declared that he'll call Castillo again in the future.
| Olympiacos - Current Squad |
|---|
|
2 Patsatzoglou | 3 Domi | 6 Stoltidis | 7 Castillo | 8 Marić | 9 Okkas | 10 Rivaldo | 11 Đorđević | 14 Żewłakow | 16 Né | 17 Taralidis | 18 Borja | 21 Georgatos | 22 Bulut | 23 Konstantinou | 28 Mendrinos | 30 Pantos | 32 Anatolakis | 35 Torosidis | 36 Fakinos | 40 Babangida | 55 Correa | 71 Nikopolidis | 74 Butina | 77 Pappas | 87 Panagopoulos | Manager: Lemonis |
