FLEMISH
Flamengo player contradicts the Argentine press and says he is adapted to the red-black club
Published on November 14, 2024 at 4:33 pm
De la Cruz celebrates after scoring a great goal for Flamengo Credit: Marcelo Cortes/CRF
At the beginning of this month, several Argentine newspapers read: “De la Cruz is unhappy at Flamengo”. But the headlines don’t seem to match how the midfielder feels.
According to De la Cruz, it never occurred to the player to return to River Plate, the club where he played for seven seasons. He says that the beginning of his life in Rio de Janeiro was complicated, but today he has adapted.
“I simply believe it was more of a press thing than actually what happened. It never crossed my mind to return to the club (River) now. I always say I’m grateful, I spent most of my career at River and I had a great time. Today I’m doing very well at Flamengo and happy, living a new stage”, stated the number 18.
For him, the situation was also related to the level of football played by the red-and-black club: “For me it was also about wanting to show if I was up to playing a game as demanding as Brazilian football and at a big club like Flamengo” .
One of the reasons for De la Cruz’s complicated adaptation to Flamengo was the language, as the player has two young daughters. “The first few months were complicated because my eldest daughter was going to be in first grade at school. She didn’t understand anything about the language anymore and getting her to go to school was difficult. But, for us as a family, it was a beautiful challenge”, he commented.
At the time he went to Flamengo, the red-and-black club was not the only option, but it was chosen especially because it came with familiar faces: “I had other offers, but the Flamengo project seduced me and the fact that I had Uruguayan teammates at squad helped a little more. We decided to come here for many reasons.”
For him, a return to the Argentine club is not impossible, due to the affection he has for River, but it is not close at the moment. “Friends wrote to me and asked if I would return, but the people close to me knew that this is not the time. I have a great relationship with Marcelo, this is known, I also spoke a lot with Marcelo and Jorge Brito (president of River), but they know that now is not the time”, he said.
