Nobody believed in the Manchester City defender but, after a dalliance in the ring, he battled his way to the very top

This article is part of the Guardian’s 2018 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 32 countries who have qualified for Russia. theguardian.com is running previews from two countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 14 June.

Even now, Nicolás Otamendi can remember the seemingly endless journey he made every day as a child. His seven-year-old self would gratefully accept the food his mother, Silvia, packed for him and then off he would go. First the number 721 bus, getting off at the crossroads of Panamericana and route 197; then hopping on to the number 15 to Boulogne bridge; next, cramming on to the 57 as far as Camino del Buen Ayre and Martín Fierro.

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From there, it was a relatively simple 10-block walk to the Olympic village in Ituzaingó and the training sessions with Vélez Sarsfield that he loved so much. There was still so far to go before he could fulfil his dream, but he had already decided to give up high school a year before graduating. Football would be his salvation.



His sheer perseverance has paid off, even if the journey to Argentina’s national team and Premier League stardom with Manchester City has put that epic commute firmly in the shade. Otamendi’s focus has rarely wavered, although there was a time, when he was in the under-15 age group, when he decided to practise boxing.

He trained with his cousin in a gym on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in a neighbourhood called La Paloma, and to an outsider it might have seemed wise for Otamendi, who was playing in the successful Vélez under-16 team coached by Omar Asad, to seek alternative career possibilities. Nobody regarded him as a success in waiting, or a stand-out prospect; no one really talked about “Chupe” Otamendi. But the player himself had no doubts: he would make it as a footballer.

That belligerent quality perhaps explains his rise. His role was little more than a supporting one as he came through the ranks, and there were contrasting fortunes under different managers as he got older. Miguel Ángel Russo promoted him from the under-17s to the senior squad but he was relegated to the under-18s by Ricardo La Volpe after one pre-season. He could have given up or revolted but was rewarded for staying patient when Hugo Tocalli – a long-time partner to José Pekerman, the master of youth development in Argentina – made his dream come true by giving him a handful of first-team minutes in 2008.

His fortunes really took off when Ricardo Gareca – who led Peru to Russia 2018 – took charge and gave him a run in the side. Nobody thought, at the beginning of the 2009 season, that Vélez would win the Clausura title; they thought much less that Otamendi, who had been on the verge of becoming a free agent the year before, would be one of the team’s revelations.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest These days Nicolás Otamendi is a Premier League winner with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Luck was on his side, and he took advantage in rapid fashion. On the third match-day of that campaign, Vélez played Tigre. Their Chilean defender Waldo Ponce had just broken his left hand, while Fernando Tobio was away with the under-20 national team in Venezuela and Marco Torsiglieri was suspended after being sent off in a reserve-team game. Otamendi was the next option; in he stepped and, astonishingly, within 88 days he was making his debut for Diego Maradona’s national team in a friendly against Panama.

What a turnaround it had been; a set of intense images and emotions compressed into a few short weeks. Soon enough the press turned him into the new standard bearer for Argentina’s pool of young players; the side’s potential defensive savour. He would simply repeat the same phrase: “All of this is happening so quickly.” Nicknames started coming his way – “The wall”, “Marshall”, “Kaiser” – and, even though they were not without merit, he did not embrace any of them. Moreover, he always stressed that the most knowledgeable person about football back at home was Silvia.

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Otamendi has always guarded his privacy with the same rigour he employs in patrolling the penalty area. He has three older siblings from divorced parents, but has never spoken about his father. He has three daughters – Morena, whose name is tattooed on his stomach, Mia and Valentín – but he has prefered to be away from the cameras during a successful career abroad.

Moving away from El Talar, the area where he grew up, was difficult enough and that is why he returns regularly. There, in his room, he can still gaze at posters of idols such as the Vélez legends José Luis Chilavert and José ‘Turu’ Flores – idols who would, against the odds, become colleagues. And he can remember setting out on those early steps, day in and day out, at a time when nobody believed in him.

Javier Saúl writes for La Nacion.

Follow him on Twitter here.