Ramiro Funes Mori: The family business
Any time a player steps on the field, the pressure must be unexplainable. We, the fans, will probably never really know what it feels like to have the pride of an entire city placed upon our shoulders, but it’s something that the players at Villarreal CF experience every single time they step on the pitch. For some of them, it’s not just the city they represent but an entire nation. Ramiro Funes Mori, our very own star centre-back, our №4, has felt that pressure over 20 times and counting, yet he still finds the mental and physical strength to play like a champion every single time.
Of course, you wouldn’t be able to see the pressure on him when he plays. As a defender, he’s solid at the back, using his fast feet and quick reflexes to stop opposing strikers, strong in the air, has a great first touch and wins most 50/50 situations with an aggressive run on the ball that would make an orc flinch. Funes Mori makes the game look as natural as breathing, and why wouldn’t he? For him, it’s just the family business.
Ramiro’s father is Miguel Ruperto Funes (aka ‘El Cacho’), another Argentinian football player who played as a midfielder for Atlético Argentino, and his twin brother, Rogelio is a striker for Mexican football club Monterrey. In 2001, when Ramiro was only nine years old, the family moved from Mendoza, Argentina, to Texas, where Ramiro and Rogelio played for the youth team of FC Dallas in 2008 after Rogelio won a reality show called Sueño MLS. The pair never received a contract with FC Dallas’s senior team, and moved back to Argentina. In an interview with FIFA.com, Funes Mori said about living in the US, “Living in Dallas was a different culture, a different lifestyle. It was very tough at first because I didn’t know the language. When we started school it was difficult for my brother and me, but after a year went by we got used to it.” The experience must have been hard for the young Ramiro, but living in Dallas prepared him for a long career in international football.
In 2011, Ramiro moved up from the youth sides at Club Atlético River Plate to the senior team. After donning the River Plate jersey, the Argentinian native’s career really took off, especially in 2015 when the team won the Copa Libertadores (for those unfamiliar, think the Champions League but for South America) and he made his first appearance for the the Argentina national team, and yes, before you ask, he did play with Lionel Messi. Several times, in fact. 24 as of writing this article. But it was with River Plate at the Superclásico that Funes Mori experienced what he considers to be his career defining moment. With only five minutes left in the tied game, Ramiro leapt towards a fly ball with that same aggression that has defined his career. Then, with one swift header, scored the winning goal. “There were no visiting fans, no-one from River Plate at all. It was all Boca supporters, and the place went quiet. It was amazing,” said Ramiro.
In 2015, Funes Mori was bought by Everton FC to play in England’s Premier League , where he played until a torn meniscus left him in physical rehab for most of the 2017/2018 season. Months after returning to action, he found his place in the Yellow Submarine. About the transfer to Villarreal CF, Ramiro said, “I was injured for a time in England, and I needed a change; the truth is that this is what I needed.” We’re very glad to be what Ramiro needed because he has been exactly what we needed in return.
With any luck, Ramiro will continue to be exactly what we need and will continue to support us and the whole of Argentina whenever he plays for the national team again. It will be a lot of pressure, but for an accomplished player like Ramiro Funes Mori, it’s all a part of the family business. Ramiro is lucky to have such an amazing family to support him, not just Rogelio and their father, but his entire family here at Villarreal CF.
