There is arguably not a single footballer in the Honduran national team more technically gifted than Aris Thessaloniki’s much-coveted winger Luis Palma. A man who, while scoring 10 goals and setting up another six this season alone, has attracted interest from the likes of Rangers, Anderlecht and a number of clubs in Germany, Italy, America and even Brazil.
So why, then, did Palma not even get off the bench during Honduras’ two games against Canada and El Salvador during the March international break?
Well, according to Salvador Nasralla, who balances working as a football reporter in his Central American homeland while also being the vice president of the entire nation believe it or not, Palma simply doesn’t fit into a side used to scrapping for wins. A side who rely more on brawn than brains.
Rangers like Honduras winger Luis Palma
“You have to work a lot with him (Palma) to put him inside the tactical diagram that the coach wants. Many will criticise the fact that he was called up and did not play,” Nasralla tells Deportes TVC.
“It doesn’t just depend on the player’s talent. Football is not just about players. Football is about positions in which the players complement each other.”
“(If you had a team containing) Pele, Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Alfredo Di Stefano, Cristiano Ronaldo. Who does the dirty work in that team?
“The team with the best players in history would not have won anything. Football is not about a star like Messi with a star like Pele with a star like Ronaldo. With another like Cruyff.”
Palma, Nasralla argues, is perhaps too much of a free spirit for a Honduras side renowned more for their determination and their doggedness than their free-wheeling inspiration. Palma, then, is perhaps something akin to a Joao Felix in Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.
A jazz flute in a heavy metal band.
“I am very happy about Luis Palma,” Nasralla adds. “He is undoubtedly one of the best players at the moment. But in order to fit in with a team that is fighting with it’s nails, you must have another approach.
“This is a Honduran team which fights with it’s nails to see what it can snatch.”
At least, should the £3.5 million-rated Palma end up at Ibrox this summer, he should find a coach in Mick Beale who prides himself upon coaxing the best out of exciting, technically-gifted attackers. See Malik Tillman and Todd Cantwell at Rangers, Ilias Chair and Chris Willock at Queens Park Rangers.
