Piero Quispe and the dilemma of abundance: bet on the last great promise or reinforcements?

The great jewel of University of Sports remains Piero Quispe. And it is that it is a talented young player that the cream institution seeks to sell in the future. The 21-year-old midfielder was an important piece last season. However, in this 2023 season he started on the bench and with zero minutes. He is no longer a starter on the team Carlos Compagnucci. He didn’t even add minutes in the first game against Cantolao. What happened?

The arrival of new reinforcements for the midfield, such as Horacio Calcaterra, the Chilean Rodrigo Ureña or the Argentine Martín Pérez Guedes, has put Quispe in an adverse situation, as Compagnucci has preferred them over the young midfielder. This was initially seen in the last friendlies where Piero started on the bench. To all this is added that, in this preseason, he has not had the level with which he finished last year, according to what the same merengue coach told the media.

In fact, it is Pérez Guedes who has taken Piero’s place, probably because he fits more into the style of play that the cream DT is trying to establish: one with greater intensity, greater speed, with verticality, and not so much with retention or driving of the ball. The latter is a way of playing that is more similar to what the ’36’ of Universitario does.

But the Argentine is not Quispe’s only competitor in the offensive midfielder position, there are also Jordan Guivin and newcomer Yuriel Celi, considering that Calcaterra and Ureña are practically fixed in the ‘U’ strategist’s eleven.

Your rivals for position

Unlike last year, this season there are more variants for his position. His main competitor at the wheel is Pérez Guedes, who is currently in the lead. The Argentine not only fits into Compagnucci’s scheme, but also has something that Quispe has struggled with: the goal. In the previous season, the foreign midfielder defended the colors of Melgar and scored 9 times, taking into account the Copa Sudamericana and Liga 1. Piero, meanwhile, only conceded 3 times during the last months of the year.

Another rival could be Guivin. The national midfielder arrived in mid-2022 to reinforce the student squad in the Clausura, he was a starter and scored two goals. However, in this campaign, he has lost prominence. He could compete with Quispe for a position, although in the match against ‘Dolphin’, Compagnucci used him as a spare part, only for Calcaterra. Guivin along with Quispe and Jorge Murrugarra were part of the usual trio in the ‘U’ midfield. Today they are on the bench, fighting for a place in the starting 11.

Finally, another competitor for Piero could be Celi, although this last player, who played for Carlos A. Mannucci last year, has the advantage of playing in various positions. If we count the numbers of both midfielders in the 2022 season, Celi scored more goals in his team: 4 compared to Piero’s 3. However, the ‘U’ was located in the fifth box of Accumulated, while Mannucci was in position number 15. Of course, both were starters in their respective clubs.

The fact is that today Piero is not a starter and his objective is to resume the leadership he had last year with Universitario. At least the cream coach has signaled that he wants to help him. “He is fundamental. I love it and I appreciate it. I want to help him. He has to keep working and growing. Just because he wasn’t in the first game doesn’t mean he won’t be in the next one.”declared the DT.

Cream midfielder numbers in 2022

*According to Transfermarkt data.

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