Omar Alderete is a fixture of the Albirroja, the Paraguayan National Football Team. The defenceman is a superstar at Getafe C.F. What’s next for him? First, let’s see what brings this little kid from Asunción to LaLiga, the second-best football league in the world.
Almost all children in Paraguay want to be the next football generational talent. They want to play for some of the best clubs in the country, such as Olimpia, Cerro Porteño, or Libertad, and then move on to Europe and be the greatest of all time. Actually, a few have successfully moved to the old continent permanently. Many have returned to the country after some tryouts or a season with just a few games under their belt. However, Omar Alderete has done it. Without the José Luis Félix Chilavert González and the Nelson Antonio Haedo Valdez, it would not have been possible. They paved the way for Paraguayans to be included in the big leagues. Now Sanabria in Italy, Almirón and Enciso in the United Kingdom, and Alderete in Spain are part of the new wave that makes Paraguayan football great again.
Omar Federico Alderete Fernández started in the academy of Cerro Porteño as a centre-back. The 6′2″ left-footed man turned heads during his time in the age-bracket youth leagues. In January and February of 2016, he played with the U-20 side of the club at the U-20 Copa Libertadores. The tournament was being played in Asunción and Luque, here in Paraguay. On the 2nd of February against Club Bolivar, from Bolivia, Alderete scored a goal in the minutes of added time to lead his team to a 3-2 victory. Ultimately, they were eliminated from the cup, even with two wins and one loss. The teams in front in Group A, Lanús of Argentina and Liverpool of Uruguay, had the same number of points but a better goal differential. This tournament led to a formal senior contract with El Ciclón.
He first played with the senior club when he was 19 years old, during the 2016 season. He scored one goal and had one yellow card in 8 regular season games played that year. The team finished 5th in the league. In 2017, Cerro Porteño was better and finished 2nd. The team won the Clausura, the second part of the regular season. Alderete played nine games and had three yellow cards with no goal. After two seasons as the extra defenceman for the club, he was loaned to an Argentinian club, Gimnasia y Esgrima, to give him more playing time. Alderete was one of the only three foreigners in the club, the other two being from Uruguay. He played in 22 regular season games for the team, having one goal, eight yellow cards, and one red card. At the end of the season, his team finished 23rd. Having concluded his contract with Cerro Porteño and Gimnasia y Esgrima, he was free to sign wherever he wanted and decided to stay in Argentina. He signed for Huracán and remained with the club for one year. After playing one season as a regular, his playing time was reduced, and he only played eight games, having four yellow cards along the way. The club finished 10th in the league.
Even with limited playing time, he was noticed by European clubs, especially for his defensive prowess. This led him to sign in 2019 for FC Basel, a club in Switzerland. Over 16 months, he played more than 60 games in all competitions with the team. During the 2019–2020 regular season, Omar Alderete played 28 games. He scored two goals and had one assist, 11 yellow and three red cards. The team finished 3rd. The following season, he only played three games for FC Basel and had one yellow card. While the team finished second at the end of the season, Alderete was elsewhere. He was noticed by Hertha Berlin, the biggest club in the German capital – also playing in one of the biggest leagues in the world. He signed the first multiyear contract of his career. It is a feeling not everyone can describe. Only some lucky people can say they are playing at that level. A couple of years before, he was still in Asunción, but now, he is in Berlin playing in the Bundesliga.
Ultimately, his contract with Hertha Berlin was longer than his playing time with the club. He played 17 games (14 starts) with the teams in the 2020–2021 seasons. He did not contribute offensively but was excellent defensively. Overall, he had two yellow cards. He was loaned the season after with an option to buy to Valencia, a club in another big league of football. Alderete played 29 games, contributed two goals, and had 15 yellow cards. The team did not buy him, and the Germans loaned him again, this time to Getafe C.F., where his career took off.
In 2022, he arrived at Getafe C.F. ready to play good football. After a season on loan, his play impressed the club enough to keep him longer. They gave him a five-year contract, ending in June 2028. In 2022-23, he played 25 games, had one goal and one assist, having nine yellow cards. The club finished in 15th position. Last year with the capital region team, he played the most games of his career in a season, 31, which included 24 starts. He had one assist, eight yellow cards, and one red. The team finished in the 12th position of the regular season. So far this year, the team is in a bad position, being 15th. They won their first game this Saturday 2-0 against Deportivo Alavés. It took eight games to register a victory. Alderete has played and completed seven of the team’s eight games and has one yellow card. His game last week against F.C. Barcelona was one of the best of his career, shutting down young international superstar Lamine Yamal, who was benched this Saturday based on poor results. The Blaugrana did win 1-0 with a goal from Robert Lewandoski, but it could have been 3 or 4-0 without Omar Alderete in defence for Getafe C.F. After the game, the team named him “El Muro de Asunción,” “The Wall of Asunción,” A mention well deserved.
La Albirroja
Over time, Omar Alderete has been selected multiple times with La Albirroja, the Paraguayan National Football Team. He has had more than 20 caps for the club since 2018. He scored a beauty in June against Brazil in the Copa America. He was on the squad for the last couple of games and should be for the upcoming ones. His job is to shut down the opponents rather than to score goals and help offensively, as the other teams are often in the zone. He has proven to be effective in blocking some attacks in recent matches.
What’s next for Omar Alderete?
This season, the club really needs him. The team is missing offensive elements and needs good defending from the back to stay afloat – and in LaLiga. If the team has the budget, they should rather spend on acquiring forwards and offensive midfielders rather than selling their best position player. However, the chances are slim that he will leave this season, but it is not impossible. So far, clubs like Atlético Madrid have been interested in recent weeks because of multiple injuries to their squad, calling Getafe C.F. numerous times, but nothing is set in stone. They wish to alternate him with Clément Lenglet, who is on loan from F.C. Barcelona. He does want to play for a bigger club but is also looking for stability after years of travelling around two continents. The fact that he shares a daughter with Judith Gamarra puts weight on the balance. More and more Paraguayans are coming to Europe, especially to the United Kingdom, and that might be an avenue if he wishes to depart from Spain as long as he continues to perform. Everton and Wolves have called to enquire about him not long ago, but it led to nothing. As of now, there is no public price tag for his services. He turns 28 in December and is at his peak. We will see in the upcoming weeks if “The Wall of Asunción” continues to play like a defensive superstar. Still, for the moment, we will leave the rumours to the great Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano.
