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The word ‘barrera’ is beautifully delicate. It sounds like an utterance which would occur with prominence in a Western script but for Pablo Barrera it holds references of much stronger significance. Translated from Spanish to English, it means ‘barrier’, a translation fitting to intertwine with Barrera’s professional career, one of promise and dejection, and perhaps, he hopes, promise again.
Barrera is an example of a player who never had it his own way. His move to West Ham United was meant to be the elevation his career required to blossom, the move which he had strived for ever since his humble beginnings Tlalneplanta de Baz, Mexico. He had shown what he could do, a bundle of skills and tricks, and now the Premier League awaited, a stage Barrera hoped he would cherish, a stage where he would reinforce his stature, his value and admiration. For Barerra, greatness beckoned.
Potential unfulfilled
His performances for UNAM Pumas, a club competing in the Mexican Primera Division, had earned him a deserved call-up to manager Javier Aguirre’s FIFA World Cup 2010 squad to grace the vibrancy of South Africa. Barrera featured on three occasions from a possible four as Mexico advanced to the round of 16 yet had made a lasting impression on Avram Grant, West Ham manager at the time. It was his running and direct approach which endeared him to the Israeli, his bewildering of the venerated Eric Abidal in the group phase a prominent highlight from his experience of the Rainbow Nation.
Grant was intrigued, not least due to his side’s lack of creativity and allure, attributes he predicted Barrera would provide. It would not take much to prise the winger from the realms of Pumas, a mere £4 million, and for Barrera to satisfy his surname.
It did not take long for the Mexican to build barriers at Upton Park. He viewed it as a stepping stone, an opinion he aired on Mexican television prior to the completion of his move to the Premier League. Barrera has always been a professional of extreme ambition. He desired gracing the world’s elite one day, the mercurial likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, hardly satisfied with the ordinary or the mediocre. He learnt during his development in his hometown of Tlalneplanta de Baz that if he would make it, and reach the holy grail, it is worthwhile to make it big.
Upton Park was outraged in derision, setting a theme of misery which lasted or the full duration of Barrera’s stay. The Mexican managed a mere 15 appearances in two years in London, failing to acclimatise and assert the brilliance which presided over his audacious objectives. A loan spell at Real Zaragoza mid-way through his stay, linking up with former national team coach Aguirre, offered a respite from his tribulations at his parent club, although painfully short-lived. If anything, the winger serves as an example of a foreign player, enriched with quality, indisputably talented, at pains to settle in the Premier League. He lacked the elan with which he had graced the World Cup and the direct running, the dribbling and the moments of sheer genius.
A difficult homecoming
With the promise of his career rapidly diminishing, a return to Mexico was agreed, with Barrera acquired by Cruz Azul. The return of the prodigal son, though, has not acquiesced to the script, a story of lost form and incertitude.
Perhaps the most telling moment dawned during Cruz Azul’s narrow 1-0 victory over Pueblo in May. With his side pursuing the winner, manager Guillermo Vasquez deemed Barrera’s minimal contributions to the game irrelevant and handed reserve team midfielder Raul Vidal a first-team debut in Barrera’s place, a decision which merely embodied Vasquez’s dissatisfaction.
On Tuesday, Barrera will hope to assert himself on the golden stage, revive a career destined for better things. Cruz Azul face Real Madrid in a semi-final of the FIFA Club World Cup in Marrakech, Morroco with glory in sight for South America’s conquerors. Barrera will hope to bypass the barriers which once impeded him.
