How Pedro Leon Became Victimised by Real Madrid and Getafe

A verbal punching bag under former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, Pedro Leon is once again the victim. This time, however, it's at Getafe—the club that propelled him to stardom (albeit, fleeting stardom). 

"You [journalists] talk of Pedro Leon as if he was [Zinedine] Zidane or [Diego] Maradona or [Alfredo] di Stefano," Mourinho said, per Real's official website (h/t Elliot Ball at Sky Sports). "I don't have to justify his [Leon's] absence."

The disdain Mourinho had for Leon was in the Iker Casillas zone, so confirmation bias inevitably benefited the self-proclaimed "Only One."

Leon never started a game for Real in La Liga and only played 132 minutes—2,659 minutes less than his previous season at Getafe (2009-10).

In reality, playing one minute for Real was a moral victory for Leon, per Sid Lowe at The Guardian: "Mourinho told Leon that even if the team plane crashed without him on it and he was the only man available, he still would not play the following week."

Mourinho riddled Leon's confidence with acerbic comments. 

In return, Leon alluded to workplace bullying.

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Returning to Getafe—tail between legs—Leon played 79 La Liga games, flashing Zidane-like creativity (seven assists in the 2012-13 season).

Leon's long range free-kick against Real Betis was Maradona-esque genius.

The goal against Betis was Leon essentially saying, "I don't care that you defenders charged all the way up expecting me to float in a free-kick. I will shoot, because I am special."

In an onerous economic climate, Getafe president Angel Torres wanted to cash in and sell Leon, the club's most valuable player.

However, Leon dithered, not wanting to make an irreparable career choice, having tempted fate signing for Real. 

Feeling aggrieved by Leon disrupting Getafe's plans for moving forward, Torres flipped out when his star player refused "to take a salary cut" (he earns around €2/£1.6 million a year), per Tim Stannard at FourFourTwo.

Emulating Mourinho, Torres is sabotaging Leon's career out of spite, per Guillem Balague at Sky Sports:

• Incensed by Leon turning down offers from "clubs in Qatar and Russia."
• Torres budgeted Getafe's salary cap (introduced to prevent Spanish clubs falling foul of the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations) to exclude Leon.

The Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) then barred Getafe from registering Leon, per Cadena COPE (h/t Tom Conn at Inside Spanish Football).

• What LFP thinks: removed the possibility of Getafe breaching their salary cap.
• What Torres thinks: Check mate, Leon. 

"He [Leon] had the chance to fix it and if it has not been sorted out nobody is to blame," Torres said, per AS (h/t Dermot Corrigan at ESPN FC). "Pedro cannot play until December, or for another year, it is up to him."

Feeling confused, hopeless and unhappy, Leon pleaded for common sense.

"The funniest thing about the situation is that I have not done anything wrong, nor have I committed an illegality towards my profession," Leon said, per his twitter account (h/t Jamie Kemp at Inside Spanish Football). "But I am the only one who pays for it." 

Leon's former teammate Miku was in a similar situation two years ago.

"[Getafe] wanted me to go to the Middle East and it was then I told my agent to act because I wanted to keep on playing top level football," Miku said, per Sergi Font at Marca. "Getafe's chairman treated me like a commodity."

Unlike Miku, who folded, Leon—bellicose by nature—called Getafe out.

Torres is not bluffing, however, as a recent signing would indicate.

Unearthing a rough diamond in Karim Yoda, a 26-year-old French right winger (signed on a free transfer from Romanian club Astra Giurgiu), Torres has a legitimate Leon replacement.

League Only	Pedro Leon 13-14	Yoda 14-15
Goals Per Game	0.19	0.40
Shots Per Goal	10.6	7.5
Key Passes Per Game	1.4	1.8
Pass Success %	64.1	72.3
Dribbles Per Game	1.5	2.8
Dribble Success %	49.1	50

Yoda beats Leon in every major attacking statistical category: goals per game, shots per game, key passes per game, pass success percentage, dribbles per game and dribble success percentage. 

Direct, fleet-footed and a natural dribbler, Yoda provides a cutting edge to Getafe's game.

His late-match heroics in a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad will probably widen the smirk on Torres' face as he continues his cold war against Leon.

In between a rock and a hard place, Leon finds himself in a situation comparable to Jean-Marc Bosman in 1990, per Jon Carter at ESPN FC:

• Bosman's contract expired at Royal Football Club de Liege.
• RFC Liege offered him league minimum wage, which Bosman refused. 
• In response, RFC Liege set his compensation fee at 12 million francs, effectively marooning him.
• Bosman spent the next five years challenging the legality of the footballing system, which contravened freedom of movement for workers.

Bosman's legal victory brought about free transfers, which gave footballers the power to dictate terms to clubs, but it ruined his life. 

Mourinho was right about Leon not being Zidane, Maradona or Di Stefano.

Instead, Leon could be Spain's answer to Bosman, per Guillem Balague at Sky Sports: "Leon is thinking of taking the league and Getafe to civil court, which could destroy the Financial Fair Play regulations that have been put in place by the league."

Credit: TheSun.co.uk.

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