With great fanfare, to the rhythm of Joe Arroyo and Carlos Vives, they received Teófilo Gutiérrez in what is now his new home.
After a lot of back and forth, after a slamming door from Atlético Junior, the club of his loves that denied him the opportunity to retire, after many rumors and few realities, the one that decidedly went for him was Real Cartagena.
And what a way to bet. The team led by Alberto Suárez today has just secured a true winner, a man who has a dozen titles, two with Trabzonspor of Turkey, five with River Plate, including Copa Sudamericana and Libertadores, one with Sporting Lisbon, five with Atlético Junior and one with Deportivo Cali.
There have been eight years with the Colombian National Team, the unforgettable World Cup in Brazil in tow, and a career as full of successes as it is of controversies. Obviously, an enormous effort was needed, with the Mayor’s Office and the Government involved, to pay for a perfume of that caliber. But be careful that taste has its parenthesis.
At 38 years of age, it is worth saying that his career has had serious ups and downs: since he was champion with Cali in the second half of 2021, there have been more doubts than realities.
In 2023 he played 31 games, 20 as a starter, with 3 goals and 4 assists, 2 key passes on average per game, 76 percent passing accuracy and an accuracy rate that barely reached 37 percent.
Objectively, nothing happens if the time at Atlético Bucaramanga (13 games) at the beginning of last year is removed from the resume and when he returned to the sugar house he left sparks. No, for a player of his category it is not enough.
Photo: Sofascore for Futbolred
Are you, at 38 years old, ready to return to the winning path? Real Cartagena bets all its dates that yes. It will give him a team with men like Cristian Marrugo, it will guarantee him job stability until the end of the year and he will meet each of his demands. We have to see if Teófilo has enough funds to return under his authority and return all that generosity with the promise of promotion… Nobody guarantees it… that’s why it’s called a bet.