After several weeks of rumors about the continuity of the goalkeeper Sebastián Viera in the Junior de Barranquilla, on Friday June 1 the club confirmed the separation of the 40-year-old Uruguayan goalkeeper, who became one of the great legends in the history of the institution , being key in obtaining three Colombian league titles and becoming the player with the most games played with the shark team, with a total of 638.
“By mutual agreement, the parties have decided to terminate their contractual relationship early, which expired in December 2023,” reads the statement.
Viera’s participation in the Junior headline decreased considerably with the arrival of Hernán Darío Bolillo Gómez in the technical direction, who reached the middle of the Betplay league to straighten the course of the Barranquilla team that with Arturo Reyes was not reaping the expected results when Juan Fernando Quintero was hired. Among the decisions that the Antioquian strategist made was to remove Viera from ownership, to give Jefersson Martínez the alternative. Despite the doubts that he generated among the shark fans, Bolillo managed to get Junior to have a rebound in his performance during the second half of the “all against all” even though it was not enough to secure a place in the home runs.
In recent days, the journalist Melissa Martínez referred to the issue on the ESPN 360 program. She explained that the Barranquilla club would have made this decision, endorsed by Bolillo Gómez in view of the resumption of training for the preparation of the squad for give a better performance in the second semester. The Uruguayan goalkeeper would have been informed that the coach wants to renew the payroll and that is why he would not have the goalkeeper for the next tournament:
“Sebastián Viera is going to return, but he returns in a very atypical way for him (…) he is going to return with a preview of a conversation in which he already participated, that conversation where they confirmed that the Bolillo will not take him into account In the second semester of this year, that means that Sebastián Viera will be free to decide if he wants to stay as an alternative in Junior de Barranquilla “
The issue was also discussed on Caracol Radio’s VBar, hours before the news was made official. Giovanni Cárdenas, responsible for covering Junior’s news, anticipated that the reasons for Viera’s departure would be related to an express request from Bolillo Gómez:
“Today a hasty information is expected with Sebastián Viera, that he terminate his contract because Bolillo Gómez does not want him in the team (…) The day before he held a meeting at Fuad Char’s house asking that the contract be respected until December. In Junior the position is clear: Hernán Dario does not want him on the team. He has other aspirations with goalkeepers like José Luis Chunga, who is the closest to signing. Viera says that he wants to continue, and that is why we are waiting for the club to officially announce that he terminates his contract.”
The communicator stated that this news was not well received on the campus, and would be due to Bolillo’s interest in taking control of the campus:
“Junior is willing to pay him between now and December. But that news did not go down well with some members of the team, player friends of Viera. Because, among other things, what Bolillo wants is to have control of the dressing room. He knows that the team with Viera is one thing. Bacca is something else. And without Viera having him on the team, without being a starter, he doesn’t trust much in managing the locker room ”. with Infobae
