C.D. Leganés officially presented Andrés Pardo as the club's new sports director on Tuesday. Pardo, who replaces Txema Indias at the head of the sporting direction, was excited to begin this new stage in the team.
Pardo, who during the morning had his first contact with the squad, coaching team, staff, directors and the rest of the club's workers at the Butarque sports installation, attended the team's training session before his inauguration at the stadium.
Jeff Luhnow: ‘Andres has an eye for identifying talent. It was important to us that this person knows how to develop and has experience with young talent’
The club's president, Jeff Luhnow, wanted to welcome Andrés and his family: ‘Today is a special day, we are at the presentation of our new sports director. I am very grateful to Real Madrid, who have helped us in this process. It is not easy to lose an executive of this level, so I am very grateful to them for developing that executive talent. I want to thank and recognise the work of Txema Indias during these ten years, with two promotions under different ownerships. He will always be a Pepinero and part of our history. He has helped us during the last few weeks in a time of uncertainty until we have found the person who is going to help us in this transition’.
About Pardo, he commented that ‘he is a person I had heard of, he had had contact with us about players from our youth academy. A big part of our strategy is to develop young players and benefit from talent in Madrid, Spain and internationally. We will always have fewer resources than the big boys and we have to compete on talent. It was important for us that this person knows how to develop and has experience with youth talent. He has a lot of experience in this area, at Villarreal, Levante, Real Madrid. And he has shown that he has an exceptional eye for finding talent’.
As for the process of his arrival, Luhnow said it was ‘more or less quick. We spoke to Txema a few weeks ago and started looking for the appropriate person. We talked to several candidates, but Andrés was the profile we wanted and he was the only person we made an offer to. From now on he is the person in charge of the sporting side of the club. I recognise the great work that Txema did. We worked well together. We wanted to extend the contract, but we didn't reach an agreement. Andrés's profile is important. We have people with experience in many fields (big data, sports science, youth development, scouts), and the role of the sports director has changed in recent years. He has an eye for talent, and everything. He has an eye for talent, and that's a positive dynamic for us.
Andrés Pardo: ‘From the first moment I fell in love with the project, I had no doubts and it is an incredible professional opportunity for me in a club that is growing and doing things very well’
Andrés Pardo wanted to begin by ‘thanking my family and friends. These have been very exciting days. Also to the clubs, coaches and teammates I have had in my previous stages. From the first moment I fell in love with the project, I had no doubts and it is an incredible professional opportunity for me in a club that is growing and doing things very well. I hope to bring work and success to return the confidence. The priority is to land in day-to-day situations. There are more or less urgent situations to deal with, but the first thing is to get on everyone's side. My margin of action in these months is to get to know the squad, the coaching staff, and to support and contribute as much as I can so that the objective can be achieved’.
Questioned about himself, he commented that he finds it difficult to talk about himself: ‘I am a very hard worker, who has been leading groups for years, who has the ability to integrate groups. I've been lucky enough to belong to clubs that have evolved when I've been there. I don't consider myself a football ‘guru’ or anything like that. As sporting directors we have to integrate people into the process, involve them and work in harmony with the club. I would like to be the leader of the project on the sporting side and for us to have a clear direction, and I think the club has it.
On the current state of the team, he assured that ‘there may be times during the season when the waters are rougher, but where there's a problem there's a solution. The situation is not ideal, but the players and the coaching staff are convinced and excited. In sport everything has a beginning and an end. Txema has given a lot to this club and he deserves all my recognition and admiration. Even though this is not an ideal moment, we have to be able to see a possibility and a future. There are situations that are not perfect. In football it is usual that there can be players who are coming to the end of their contract, here there is a large volume and it is an important challenge with situations that will have to be treated on an individual level. We will deal with it and try to resolve as many as possible’.
‘We will have to deal with different types of situations, we are a growing club and we have to bring that value of contributing in the short and long term’
Pardo said that ‘it is difficult to think very long term, but one of the things that has brought me here is the opportunity for the future. We will have to face different types of situations, we are a growing club and we have to bring that value of contributing in the short and long term. You can never say anything categorically because football is very variable. Borja is our leader and the person who has to guide us. The team is having a good season and I believe in the players and the coaching staff’.
The new sports director affirmed that he is not coming 'to replace anyone in the players hearts'. They had a very healthy and reasonable relationship with the previous sports direction. My role is not going to be to replace that, but to build a new relationship. I am a very close person, accessible to the players and the coaching staff. Everything that has happened is normal, I share it and I have to go my own way.
Finally, on his experience in youth development, he admitted that he has been ‘working in youth development for twenty years. I greatly believe in young players. You have to give them context and confidence. There are players who make their debuts because they are given confidence. Here we have grown exponentially in terms of the youth system, we have done a very good job. Years ago, you didn't come to Madrid to see players from Leganés, and in the last five or six years, that has changed and they have been placed behind Real Madrid and Atlético. It is fundamental for us that the youth academy plays a relevant role in the medium to long term. It is an asset that all clubs have. We have to focus on it and that the home-grown players have weight in the first team over the next few years.
