Coach who made Maxi Gómez debut with Defensor Sporting, Juan Tejera, ensured that the Valencia player has a progression that will make him like other reference forwards in Uruguay like Luis Suárez or Edinson Cavani.

"He is on his way to being the successor of those two football monsters who make so many differences. We wonder why such good players come out of here and make differences in Europe, it is an idiosyncrasy of Uruguayans, who never give up in the face of adversity, do not give up, always work to improve and that is what Maxi is applying," he said in statements to the Valencia website.

"He is on his way to being, both Luis and Edinson are already leaving their youth, and as long as Maxi maintains the level, his moment will come," he added.

He explained that what struck him the most about Gomez in his first campaigns when he moved up to the first team was "his personality, which he already showed in the match against Lanús in the Copa Sudamericana in his first year."

"After drawing 0-0 in Argentina, we drew 0-0 at home and the tie would be decided on penalties. We were deciding who was going to shoot, when captain Fleurquín approached me and told me 'the gaucho wants to take it' in reference to Maxi. I was surprised! He had sent the captain to tell me," he recalled.

The coach remembered the murmurs of the stadium when he went to shoot, "but he, with his winning attitude, his courage, his personality, scored the decisive penalty that took us to the quarterfinals, he had to experience it, but because he earned it."

"He has a very strong personality, very typical of Uruguayan footballers, temperamental within the regulations that he now handles with much more intelligence, which leads him to follow ascending steps in his career," he predicted. EFE