Christian Cueva: the worrying numbers of the 10 that Juan Reynoso still plans to summon

Seven months have passed since the last time Christian Cueva played three consecutive games as a starter for ninety minutes. It happened on October 15 of last year, in Al Fateh’s 1-0 victory over Al Raed in the Arab league. In that match, ‘Aladdin’ was replaced in discounts (91′) by Mohammed Al Fuhaid. From there, the ’10’ of the peruvian team He has traveled an irregular route with injuries, transfers and lack of minutes on the field. In this 2023, he does not reach the full four games adding up the whole year with Alianza Lima. Despite these worrying numbers, the coach of the Peruvian team, Juan Reynoso, still considers being able to call him for the friendlies in June.

Christian Cueva lacks football. That is the consensus and it was a chorus conclusion after seeing him before César Vallejo, last Thursday in Matute. Guillermo Salas, coach of the intimates, already with a five-point advantage as leader in the local tournament, could once again entrust him with the creative work in the last home games for the blue and whites against Binacional and Deportivo Garcilaso. Will all this be enough?

“Christian has to give him minutes and recover him physically. In good physical condition he will always add to the team and he already showed it when he got ready with a physical trainer. Psychologically, he would give him greater leadership in the national team, so that he is the captain or that he understands that he should be the figure of the team, ”says Ricardo Montoya, sports commentator for Liga 1 Max and psychologist.

-He called the FPF-

The first to accept this situation of absence of minutes on the pitch is Cueva himself. We have the information that ‘Aladino’ called the offices of the Peruvian Football Federation two weeks ago. The former Santos and Sao Paulo player wanted guidance on the procedures to follow for his appeal for being controversially expelled in the game at the end of April against Unión Comercio.

“A devalued Cueva is the most valuable player in League 1,” headlines a note from the German page Transfermarkt, a site specialized in the movements of the soccer market. There it is specified that the ’10 ′ has reduced his price by almost 25% since his return to Peru. Today his letter from him is worth two million dollars. Almost a quarter of his best moment between 2017 and 2018.

Cueva’s downward path did not start with his return to Peru. After that physical recovery process, which reached its peak in the pre-World Cup playoff against Australia last June, nothing was the same for him again. The first half of the 2022-2023 season, he only played five full games for Al Fateh. Quite the opposite happened in the 2021-2022 season, when ‘Aladdin’ only added two games with less than 80 minutes on the field. That is to say, he was present in the 90 minutes in almost 80% of the matches played by the Arab club. Overwhelming difference.

“Juan Reynoso returned from his international tour with Christian Cueva on his payroll. He intends to call him to help him in what he needs the most: add minutes ”, a source close to the bicolor technical command tells us. Within the sports analysis, it is not news that the bicolor has not yet found a direct replacement for the ’10’. “For me it is essential in the current scheme. I would also challenge him with this possibility of revenge in a last World Cup. He must still be thinking about the penalty against Denmark ”, concludes Montoya. Christian Cueva plays little, but it is not surprising to see him in the call for the Asian tour.