Durán takes his chance on the right
Adrián Durán has waited his turn at Getafe; two starts and two goals later, the right wing looks like his.
The ball sits up invitingly on the right, and Adrián Durán does not think twice. He cuts inside, finds the gap and finishes — and the Getafe support, who have spent years hearing about this kid from the B side, finally get to see what the fuss was about.
That is the image to hold on to as Durán settles into the first team. The 20-year-old Spaniard has made the right-wing slot his own across two starts this cycle, and he has marked them with two goals and an average rating of 7.73. Those are the numbers of a player who has arrived, not one who is merely filling in.
The man he has displaced is Manuel Brau, and that is no small thing. Brau had made the right flank his own, and a young challenger has to do more than simply be available to take it from him. Durán, to his credit, has done exactly that. He has not crept in quietly; he has come in and scored.
It has been a long road. Durán's senior club football began in the 2058/59 campaign, and he has since turned out 61 times in club colours, finding the net 18 times across two clubs. Much of that work came with Getafe B, where a winger learns to be patient and to make every touch count. Now the first team is calling, and he is answering.
What is striking is how quickly he has looked at home. There is a directness to his running on the right, a willingness to take the ball under pressure and drive at the full-back. The goals are the headline, but the confidence behind them is what will have the coaches smiling. He does not look like a player borrowing a shirt for a few weeks. He looks like he intends to keep it.
Getafe, a club with four major titles to its name and a reputation that carries well beyond Spain, know a thing or two about bringing players through. Durán's rise from the B team fits that pattern neatly. The step up is never guaranteed, of course, and two starts is a small sample. But it is an electric little sample, and it has changed the conversation around the right wing.
There is no national-team call yet — none at all, in fact — and that is fine. He is 20, he is scoring, and he is playing. The next step is simply to keep doing it, week after week, until the shirt feels less like a reward and more like a fact. On this evidence, that day may not be far off.
Remember the name. You will be hearing it again.