Carlos Zambrano: what his arrival at Alianza would mean despite the instability of his career

“What happened this Tuesday was the straw that made Ibarra’s patience expire. Zambrano had permission to travel to Peru on December 15 and did not. During this year he did what he wanted on many occasions. (Hugo) Ibarra came to this conclusion and there was no other choice, there were no more opportunities for the Peruvian central defender.”said Flavio Azzaro, an Argentine journalist.

“These are things that happen in football, in the end we ended up on good terms. We mutually broke the contract and I think I’m leaving calmly. I went direct and that’s it. We terminate each other”Carlos explained upon his arrival in Peru.

Zambrano, 33, leaves Boca without having been the undisputed starter in the almost three years he was there. Except on a few occasions (injuries to starters, rotation or suspensions), he was rarely named as the leader of the defense. “He was a bad contract, like so many others in this cycle, and it will be difficult to miss him”commented Antonio Serpa, an Argentine journalist for “TYC Sports”.

But beyond his time in Boca, without leaving a trace but with titles in his showcase, Zambrano could become the star signing of Lima Alliance for the 2023 season. The central defender would give hierarchy to an intimate defense that takes into account Gino Peruzzi a solvent right-back and in Santiago Garcia an experienced left-footed central defender, who is also Yordi Vilchezchosen the best defender of League 1 2022.

The intimate picture tried to sign Zambrano since the transfer market opened, but he had a contract with Boca Juniors. However, now that the defender is free, the Victorians will seek to convince him to play the Libertadores Cup and the local tournament. With 33 years, being important for the peruvian team of Juan Reynoso, the “León” will have to evaluate if the best thing for him is to play in the Peruvian tournament, a league that he never played.

A career in Europe that faded away

Just like Renato Tapia, Carlos Zambrano never made his debut in the first division of Peruvian soccer. He trained at the Cantolao Academy when the Chalaco team did not have a team in the highest competition and at the age of 15 he left Peru. He made his career outside, carrying the red-and-white flag as a banner.

He went from Cantolao to Schalke 04 in Germany in 2006 at a time when Europe was shining Claudio Pizarro, Paolo Guerrero, Jefferson Farfán and Juan Vargas. The central defender was the fifth national pillar in the Old Continent, in the football elite. A year earlier he had participated in the Sub 17 World Cup that was held in Peru. Beside Christian bouquetsthe remembered Gianfranco Espejo, Daniel Chávez, Carlos Elías, Josepmir Ballónamong others, were part of that team, which did not have a good presentation.

The ‘Kaiser’, the nickname he was given in Germany, started at Schalke but in 2008, the year in which Jefferson Farfán arrived at the club to leave his mark, he was loaned to st pauli, a club with a peculiar history. It is the cadre that defends the proletarians and its nickname is ‘Pirates’. The brown color of their shirt signifies the color of the work clothes worn by the dock workers, stevedores and sailors who gave birth to the club.

In it eintracht frankfurt, a club he joined in August 2012, had some stability. He played until mid-2016; that is, four years. He played in the German league and the Europa League. dialed to Robert Lewandowski and many other scorers. But then he went to Rubin Kazan From Russia.

He was in the Russian cast until the middle of 2017. By September of the same year his transfer to the PAOK Thessaloniki of Greece. Due to the lack of continuity in the Greek team, he decided to change teams and at the end of January 2018 his transfer to the Dynamo kyiv of Ukraine. However, his luck remains the same.

After not being considered for the 2018-19 season by his coach Aliaksandr Jatskevich, on August 18 his pass to the Basel of Switzerland and by October 2019 he returns to Dynamo kyiv, where his coach belittled him, he said at a press conference.

In his last clubs he could not have the desired regularity; In addition, injuries played against him on several occasions. What cost him the most was maintaining continuity in each season with his clubs. That also worked against him in some stages of the peruvian team.

The curious fact lies in the presence of the player with the Peruvian team:

With that background (eight months without playing for a club) he came to Boca Juniors, although he always had the support of the Football Council led by Juan Román Riquelme. In fact, the idol xeneize once said that for him, the Peruvian “Whenever he plays, he does great”.

Today, with his time in Boca as a memory, Carlos could play in Peruvian soccer. He already showed the swelling of him by Lima Alliance and his desire to wear the jersey sometime. However, he will have to decide if the return to Peru is a springboard or if it is time to seek glory in the country where he was born but not make his professional debut.