The Argentine coach, who has directed Aris de Salónica since February, talks with EL Mundo about his childhood in Mar del Plata, his passion for football, his passion and his relationship with Simeone.
Jermaine Burgos (Mar del Plata, 1969) is never afraid to fly alone. opposite of this. He left Atletico just two years ago, leaving Simeone’s hand. He did so to find his place as head coach and since February, after a brief and unsuccessful experience at Newells, he has found it in Greece as the head of the Ares de Salnica team which he has set up as one in Europe. Helped to keep. Stopwatch and a notebook. These days he is resting at his home in Madrid, but his head can’t stop spinning. Revolving around football, as it has been on the cement of Mar del Plata since childhood. “I have two nicknames: in football I’m mono, but in the neighborhood they call me Head,” he admits in a telephone conversation with EL Mundo, in which he has a loud voice with a touch of humour. Germans usually do not leave anyone indifferent. Still not.
- Why was he the goalkeeper?
- I was playing in my house, in my hometown, in Mar del Plata. There he gets very used to playing in the fairway. He must have been seven years old and that day he was the only one who was not on the cement where they used to play then. I was stopping the football in front of a light pole and a steel cable at an angle. I see that a man is looking at me and says: “We are looking for an archer.” It was Friday and he tells me: “We play on Sunday”. I go home, I talk to my parents and on Sunday I was playing the tri-game where we became champions. The first championship I played, I won.
- He had a very special style behind the stick. Is it inherited or trained?
- In my time we didn’t have the possibility that kids now had to search for images on their mobile phones or computers. We were far from the technological age that exists now. And then I liked (Hugo) Gatti. I said to myself, “That’s it.” One day I went with Ferro (Railways) to play a minor division game against Boca and I saw him training on his knees with the first team. He kneels and the rest of the team with the ball. And then I got him with one chest, the other with his head, the other with my elbows… I didn’t warm up with my team because I was shocked to see him warm up. My team warned me: “Germain, we’re getting hot.” I replied: “Across, equal.” I did a 15 or 20 minute warm-up while watching him, and that’s where I said, “Here’s the guy.” He must have been about 15 or 16 years old. Then I found out that this is what I liked.
- Tell me about that childhood in Mar del Plata.
- [Piensa] I was happy. I don’t have siblings and I always have to play alone. I was happy to go out and play with the boys. It was like a desperation that he had the power to go out and play with them. I remember it with pleasure.
- His father was a barber, so he was cursed when he saw him with such long hair.
- He was also a barber and a concierge. Something really funny happened, in the 80s bands like Duran Duran, The Cure,… came out with that hair. And since I had an old barber, I told him: “Ram, you must cut my hair like this.” And he answered me: “You don’t have a head, baby. You don’t have a head for that cut.”
My friends from Mar del Plata, before moving to Buenos Aires, from the first litter, they all called me big head. I have two nicknames: in football I’m Mono, but in the neighborhood they call me Head. So I realized that my old man was right.
- He has three kids, but none of them took up football like you.
- No, my eldest daughter is a lawyer. Another study translation and the smallest study computer science. They don’t see me. They don’t see you when you dedicate yourself to football and play every three days. You have a day off and you are focused, traveling, playing a sport, choosing the national team… you are rarely at home.
- He has been a footballer, a singer and now a coach. What are you most passionate about?
- Football. Music is a lot of fun and I always wanted to have fun. Football is also great fun and allows you to do many things, like training right now. I’m passionate about everything I do, but it’s football that inspires me.
- There have been few coaches in his career. How is Coach German?
- I always try to show honesty, work and explain to the players how to win. I always try to pursue it. Of the coaches I had, this is what I have left.
- Her solo debut with Newell didn’t go well, what was wrong?
- In most clubs they always require immediacy. They don’t have the patience to wait for the teams to assemble a better one. This is what was missing more than anything.
- However, now in Greece, at the head of Aris de Salnica, he has found the key.
- I met great people. To the players I said: “I’m here for you, because I think you’re very good personally and by fixing a few things we can make a good team.” And it was so. We started working and as a team fixed some of his shortcomings. We were getting results, which were very important.
- Do you dare with Greek?
- Well, when I play or train, I am in such a state of concentration that I don’t even go out. I hardly go anywhere because I spend all day thinking, analyzing and working on things to give to the players. Since I speak the languages, I have no problem with them or the managers. We speak English and since I like the language, I have some Greek left over. I speak Italian, English and Spanish. I have players who speak five languages. Therefore, the coach must also adapt to the present times and the environment where he is.
I was shocked to see Hugo Gatti warm up and find out that this is what I liked
- Always keep everything neatly in the pen. How much notebook do you spend per year?
- Uh, too many leaves. I am unbearable with leaves. I like to write. I do it with a computer too, but I like to write. I studied that way, writing. Whatever I had to read was much easier for me than writing. This is what journalists did before tape recorders were available. Previously they were pen and paper. I like to write because it suits me more. I maintain the position more.
- Are you one of those people who write down the things that come to mind as soon as you wake up in the morning?
- I don’t get much sleep. If I had to do something or prepare something better or a training session I was going to do or what I did was not completely clear to me because I saw something I didn’t like the first time. Come back, I get up and I correct. Or if I’m up, as is normal, I do it again and repeat until I’m satisfied. As a coach, you can’t present an exercise or a situation without being sure what you’re going to talk about and without telling the player. Because it’s not preparing for training because yes. This is preparing him to win the game. We design it to explain to the player how to win. That’s the hard thing about coaching. Explain how to do it and then play it in the game. We arrived knowing everything, knowing the opponent. Later, it is difficult for the group to execute it and then achieve it. it’s important.
- Does football or life make you sleepy?
- It’s just that I can’t sleep. I haven’t slept in a long time. Five hours at night tops, then of course a nap. I am always on the move. I think it’s a matter of genetics. I am just like my grandmother and she was Aries, just like me.
- He still remembers the first days in Carabanchel when he personally measured the field of each opponent. Are you still so organized?
- I look at the fields, I look at the lights to see if they are low so that they don’t bother me. I always look at things. If it rains, then the condition of the field. I want to give things to the player. I warn them about the areas and details of the field, which is why I care so much about the training. It is rare for this to happen at a professional level, but it can happen. So I went to the fields to find what I was going to find, knowing that they were of small dimensions.
- He has placed Aris in the Conference League, a competition that Mourinho has won with Roma. He had a few more episodes in the band with him. Is it nostalgic with those memories of the past?
- Nothing, I live in the present. The only thing I remember is a bunch of player championships, a bunch of coaches and that I needed more. I need to get more. That’s the only thing I remember. It is like a foundation to push yourself and you have to keep going. That’s what I live by thinking. So I remember when I was seven years old I won the first championship and at 10 I was the champion of Argentina. Every time, a championship. And another, and another. That’s what moves me. I live in the present, the past acts to push me.
- Does love end in football too?
- You cannot live without love. You always have to dedicate yourself to something better. I learned that since I was little.
- There are still many people who wonder why his relationship with Simone broke up.
- It’s just that nothing broke. This is a decision that is made often. It happens continuously. Now that you know me a little more, knowing the emotional charge that I have to seek, seek, always win, you can understand a little more. Now people understand. It’s as simple as this guy has been here for a long time and needs to find his place as head coach. There is nothing more than this.
- I had to fly alone.
- Of course, as with you in your work. One day you want to be a writer (Laughter).
- It was strange not to see him in the Cholo documentary.
- They invited me over and I couldn’t because I was training at Newell’s when it was done.
- Do you have a relationship with Simone?
- No, now we are on their team and when something important happens, I always have the details to come.
- But he would have followed the Atlético season…
- The last few months I have been devoted to Aris. I did not see anything. This is another thing that I have, when I am in charge of a team I only look at the rivals and my team. I can’t see anything else.
I am always on the move. I think it’s a matter of genetics. I am just like my grandmother and she was Aries, just like me.
- There are people who think that 10 years that it has been Simeon is a lot on a bench.
- For me a coach can last for so many years. I believe a lot in energy. In the energy of the players, in the assembly of the club, in maintaining an idea, in maintaining a job. This can be done silently. When you find that, which are energies that all lead to the same goal, it is difficult. Maybe this idea remains for years, but to everyone. From managers, coaches, players and people.
- Real Madrid have lost only three of their last 20 finals. At three o’clock in front of Atletico and at three o’clock you were on the bench.
- I don’t believe in coincidences, although the one who wins is a team. In this case a technical team. But it’s up to me. When he touched me, I knew he was going to win. I knew I entered the field and I knew we would win. I don’t know about the force that drives you. No one else wins, it’s true. But I knew I was going to get it.
- There are many youngsters who don’t know that you saved a penalty with your nose in Santiago Bernab. that must hurt.
- It’s like punching. How to get it, but with tremendous pleasure.
- Do you have any unfulfilled dreams?
- very. As long as there’s something to fight for, something to win in football, they’ll keep fighting me there.
according to the norms of
know more
