Borja Mayoral, a hard-working top scorer against diabetes and labels who wants to go to the Euro Cup

The scoring baggage of the former Real Madrid striker, the team of his life – he scored against them in the first leg – and against whom he will be measured this Thursday (9:00 p.m.), It represents half of the total that Getafe has this season. It is not the same to nurture the two clubs that lead the table as give peace of mind to a blue team that currently occupies tenth place. And even more so when this season he has had the responsibility of filling the scoring void left by the Turk. Enes Ünal, who reappeared on January 2 after seven months due to a torn cruciate ligament.

The best records of his sporting life

“I dream of the national team. I have been asked a lot and of course I have. It’s a dream I’ve had for a long time and I think it’s closer now.. “We have to continue working hard, score, help the team and it is surely closer than far,” he said after the game against Granada, with a small mouth and a swollen chest, two opposite feelings. The first has followed him since he left the Real Madrid youth academy. and the second is the result of the results of what will be his best scoring season as a professional (he is one of 17 from his first year in Rome).

Right now, only Morata, another former Real Madrid youth player, has better data than Mayoral. He accumulates 19 goals compared to the 16 of Mayoral, who also scored a double in the first round of the Cup. He is ahead of Joselu, who completes the shortlist with a white past on which the team’s goal falls, who has 10 goals. Mayoral has played five fewer games so far this season in which he has redeemed himself from all the ups and downs of the past.

In this process he has surrounded himself with a team made up of a physical trainer, a physiotherapist or a nutritionist who serve as support and reinforcement on his path to the elite. “I think Borja Mayoral’s personal and sporting growth has been exponential. For people who don’t know him, I understand that it could have surprised them, but Borja is very hungry to improve and be a world-class forward,” he told El Periódico. from Spain, from the Prensa Ibérica group, Adrià Carmona, his ‘coach’, who also works with Morata.

Living with diabetes and fighting the lack of opportunities

Mayoral has a particular circumstance: diabetes. He assures that this condition does not make him different from other athletes, although he has to control himself, check his sugar before playing and training. Always carry pens or feathers to prick yourself and a patch to measure sugar. The disease was detected when he was four years old, when his parents noticed that he drank a lot of water and went to the bathroom to urinate a lot, two symptoms that can anticipate an early diagnosis.

His former Real Madrid teammate Nacho Fernández was also discovered to have the same condition at the age of twelve, when they warned him that he should leave football. However, both have had a prolific career thanks to the care they have always taken. Likewise, They have been active collaborating in different campaigns to raise awareness about diabetes. One of LaLiga’s top scorers has reversed the mockery of “He who is worth, is worth and he who is not for Getafe”used to despise players who, despite their good performance in the ‘Factory’, fail to establish themselves in the first team, a privilege reserved for a few.

Even more exclusive is the transfer in a position as sensitive as center forward. We only need to remember that in 2017, after a failed loan to Wolfsburg when he had just come of age, Mayoral was competing for a position with Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. Between 2015 and 2016, when the transition between Rafa Benítez and Zinedine Zidane took place On the bench, the white youth player made his debut in the first team.

His letter of introduction was unbeatable: he had scored 128 goals in the last three seasons in Valdebebas, he was an under-21 international and everyone who had had him under his command highlighted his professionalism. However, his progress was cut short by Morata, another who in turn had gone to earn his bread abroad; and even Mariano Díaz, who scratched minutes after his scoring explosion with Castilla.

Transfer after transfer until you find your place

While Mayoral is going through a sweet moment, Mariano, now at Sevilla, confessed this week to suffering from a knee injury that “It doesn’t even allow me to train normally”. Two opposite situations, just like recent paths. Because the Parla striker has never wanted to feel like a zero on the left. He has lived on loan for up to six seasons as a Real Madrid player. The first, already mentioned, was in Wolfsburg (2016/2017). Then came two seasons in the I raised (2018-2020), a year and a half in Rome (until January 2021); and another medium in the Getafe.

In the final semester of the 2021/2022 season, Mayoral scored six goals and provided one assist in 18 games. At the end of the season, Ángel Torres went after him, aware that he did not fit into Ancelotti’s plans. The forward became, in exchange for 10 million euros, in the most expensive incorporation in the history of the southern Madrid club. However, the need for objectives and the nomadic spirit that has followed the Madrid striker was about to make him change his destination at the end of last season. Valencia or Serie A teams appeared at the door of Getafe, who finally closed ranks with their agent.

Likewise, the improvement of the relationship with Bordalás helped, although the rising price due to the season that Mayoral is starring in once again placed him on the target list of several Premier clubs – among them Arsenal – with the opening of the winter market . However, the parties have closed in band. He Getafe considers Mayoral – with a contract until 2027 – essential in its high aspiration to apply for European positions and the player himself knows that changing his destination now would force him to adapt again.

Mayoral, Greenwood and “this is football, dad”

“Mayoral’s keys are many, but in the end it is a ‘mix’ of everything. Knowing for sure what has made him achieve his current performance is complicated, but what would stand out is his desire to continue polishing the details day by day,” explains Adrià Carmona. Regarding the different contractual situations that he has experienced, the ‘coach’, who has been a professional footballer, with all that this entails, states the following: “The situation of being on loan or not will matter if that professional hinders his performance. But the goal of a property player is not much different.”

However, Mayoral does not want to lose, in any way the train that can take you to the European Championship in Germany. And that involves continuing to take advantage of the magnificent partnership with Mason Greenwood at Getafe, another of LaLiga’s great emergences. Getafe benefited from the situation that the former English international was going through, sidelined by Manchester United due to a sexual assault trial from which he finally escaped. Despite the inactivity, which had taken his market value from 50 million to literally zerothe winger has known how to adapt to the competition, the club and his teammates.

Greenwood has six goals and four assists so far this season. He is an absolutely differential footballer in a team like Getafe, the LaLiga club that needs the fewest passes to shoot on goal (54) and that has turned the Coliseum into a real fortress. They have not lost at home since April 2023 and aim to maintain that streak against Real Madrid this Thursday.

Away he has ‘scratched’ points in fields as complicated as the Metropolitano (precisely with a double from Mayoral). In fact, it prevented Simeone’s team from surpassing the record of 20 consecutive victories at home, a streak that began precisely after another draw against Getafe. Mayoral and Greenwood are the two lines of thought of the “this is football, dad”. A phrase that Bordalás claims and a club where those who manage to explode, like the Madrid player, become true references.