Nelson Deossa’s Path From The Mines To La Liga

Deossa is ready to star for a side on finished sixth in Spain’s top flight in 2024/25.

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Nelson Deossa’s jump from Mexican club Monterrey to Spanish team Real Betis isn’t quite the window’s blockbuster signing. It does make a case for being the most interesting, though.

Yesterday, Betis unveiled the Colombian midfielder, who officially joined on August 4. While some reports have the price slightly lower, ESPN says the transfer sum (Spanish) was approximately €14.5 million ($17 million), making him the third-largest sale ever from Liga MX. He’s also among the top ten most expensive acquisitions made by Betis, which broke the transfer world record to sign Denilson back in 1998. Deossa’s contract runs until 2030.

On their own, these are extraneous details when you consider that, just six years ago, Deossa had long odds of becoming a professional soccer player in the first place, let alone playing at a strong team in one of Europe’s elite leagues. Los Verdiblancos’ arrival was working alongside his father in the mines near his small hometown of Marmato. Stepping out from the underground darkness, the game was an outlet rather than an obvious career pathway.

“I was studying and working,” he once told the television channel at Pachuca, where he used to play, adding. “I saw myself frustrated a lot of the time, but I didn’t quit the dream (soccer) and made the most of the opportunities I had.” If the mines didn’t bring gold, soccer would in the end, and his first opportunity to star competitively in Spain could come on Monday, when Betis takes on promoted Elche.

Deossa Brings Rawness But Vigor To La Liga

Depending on how you view it, Deossa came through with a handicap, first at Atlético Huila before moving to Pachuca and Monterrey via loan spells, including a stint with Estudiantes in Argentina. In a fiercely competitive sport, he missed out on a formal soccer education, further disrupted by the pandemic. And he’s settling into a country where the soccer education yields such fine players.

However, it’s made Deossa a unique talent. “With little schooling. With a lot of heart, intuition, and fortitude,” is how a recent El Mundo article phrased it (Spanish). Indeed, watching Deossa at his last club, Monterrey, he’s direct, running back and forth, and with a rocket of a shot. Club World Cup viewers may remember the South American receiving the ball, skipping past an opponent, and thwacking in a long-range goal against Urawa Reds in June. He scored seven in 29 matches for Rayados.

It will be fascinating to see how Deossa adapts to, or changes the rhythm, at coach Manuel Pellegrini’s Betis, which is looking to build on a promising 2024/25 season, despite losing the Conference League final to Chelsea. Elsewhere in midfield, Betis has lost a valuable cog in USMNT player Johnny Cardoso to Atlético Madrid, is without Isco due to a serious injury, and knows holding onto Manchester United loanee Antony will be tough. Rodrigo Riquelme has come in from Atleti.

Coincidentally, regarding Deossa, the origins of soccer in Spain go back to the mines. In and around Huelva, part of the Andalusia region, like Sevilla-based Betis, is where the first informal kickarounds took place roughly 150 years ago. Drawn to the green and white jersey after speaking with colleagues Sergio Canales and Cucho Hernández—both familiar with the team—his first kicks are just around the corner.

Bringing a different background and all-action style to the team, Deossa is a La Liga addition worth tracking as the season fast approaches.