And soccer player it can be a jewel in all respects, yes: after all, starting from the nicknames, the comparison with various precious items is common. Pele it was the “black pearl” as well as Eusebioand then everything that has to do with gold from “Golden Boy” to “Golden Boy” to “Joya” (precisely the jewel) which the Portuguese was Paulo Futre first and then Paulo Dybala. Yes, Dybala, a jewel brought to Italy by Palermo and which brought a lot of money into the coffers of the Sicilians thanks to its transfer to Juventusbut before him there was another Argentine in the rosanero who had a “precious” value, but in all respects and not just in terms of nickname: his name was Enrique Martegani. Enrique was a striker born in Buenos Aires in 1925, he had started playing football in Chacaritaand then in Boca, in Estudiantes, in All Boys when football was really a game or little more. Then he left for Italy, his destination Padova: in a somewhat ramshackle team before the advent of shut up Rocco. It is in the summer of 1952 that Martegani becomes a real jewel. Yes, because the sporting director of a Palermo team led by a group of aristocrats is one of the most fascinating men of the time: Raimondo Lanza Of Trabiaa nobleman, diplomat, dandy and vivacious of the time (it is dedicated to him “The Man in a Tailcoat” Of Domenico Modugno).
Lanza loved football, cars, donneand perhaps he was responsible for the invention of “transfer market” as we know it now. The detail, from what transpires from the stories of the time, is that the negotiations “the little Prince” he led them from the hotel bathtub where he received the other presidents, strictly naked. Naked he also received his coaches, and to one of them who dared to object he replied: “What do you expect, that I receive you in tails?”. And from the bathtub of his hotel room, in fact, in that summer of 1952 he rejoiced at having just acquired Martegani, announcing it to his coach Giuseppe “Gipo” Viani. And yes, he had purchased Martegani, but not through Palermo: he had purchased him personally Trabiaand in addition to playing for the rosanero, considering him particularly accustomed to dribble it seems he actually made him perform that art in front of his friends, in the evenings he organized. He wanted to win the scudetto with his Palermo, Lanza, throwing the challenge to his friend Gianni Lambs who welcomed her, with a bet of 10 to 1, as the daughter of Lanza di Trabia later recounted, Raymond.
That Palermo not only didn’t win the Scudetto, but they didn’t even come close to doing so, barely surviving in the first season of their tenure. Enrique Martegani and thanks also to his goals, such as those against Udinese and at Torino 71 years ago. However, Palermo was unable to save itself despite the center forward he managed to improve his goal haul in the championship, reaching 10: the play-offs with Udinese and Spal were fatal and condemned the rosanero to Serie B. A few months later, in November 1954, however, Lanza di Trabia died at just 39 years old : maybe falls from the window of his hotel room in Rome, maybe yes suicidal. In the legacy that he leaves to his wife, the beautiful actress Olga Villithere is also the tag by Enrique Martegani: precious, in all respects. A story so picturesque even at the time that it inspired a theatrical comedy: in 1955 Garinei e Giovannini brought to the stage in Turin”The owner of Raggio di Luna”. Raggio di Luna, in reality, was the nickname of the Swedish striker Arne Selmosson, a very popular footballer at that time, but the story is that of Martegani and his “mistress”, Olga Villi. In fact Enrique moves on to Lazioplaying little and without high notes, and then returning to Argentinawithout masters and without dribblers in garden parties.