The situation
José María Andrés Baixauli, Chema, is one of the boys of the moment in Valdebebas. If Tchouameni is the future turned into the present of Madrid, on the walls of La Fábrica talents are molded with wickerwork to be the ‘stopper’ of the future. Chema (Valencia, April 25, 2005) personifies it. He has just made his international debut with Pablo Amo’s U-18 team , two weeks ago he earned ‘promotion’ by officially moving to youth A and is, despite his 17 years, one of the main vertebrae of the success of the team led by Álvaro Arbeloa in the current Youth League. Chema started the course enlisted in youth B, directed by Fran Beltrán, but during the preseason he dazzled an Arbeloa who soon called him up. We are talking about a defensive midfielder who, those who know him and have seen him grow up in the White Sports City, compare him to a young Sergio Busquets. It is not complicated, saving obvious distances, to draw similarities with the azulgrana when observing the Valencian in operation. Chema is a lanky footballer, even taller than the Barça player (he is over 1.90m, compared to Busi ‘s 1.89m ), who usually plays as the sole pivot. Intelligent, with great ability to get the ball played and balance the team’s defense-attack game. He organizes, orders and takes advantage of his enormous size to defensively support a machine room with a marked offensive character.His IQ makes him a footballer with a long tactical journey to make the jump to the elite. Hence, he debuted with the U-18 this week, in the second of the two friendlies against Switzerland, playing the 90 minutes in the solid victory (4-0) of La Rojita. Chema kicked the ball for the first time at La Unión Deportiva Bétera, but at the age of eight he was recruited by Levante, where he began to attract the attention of the greats.
Key to Arbeloa
Even being one of the youngest of the litter, he has played 14 of the 15 possible games, being a starter in 11 of them. If Nico Paz, Iker Bravo, Pol Fortuny or César Palacios get the flashes in the form of goals in the Youth League, Chema makes it possible for his teammates to uncork creativity with the peace of mind of knowing they are protected.