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ANTONIO TOMÁS GONZÁLEZ
Date of Birth: 13 January 1985
City of Birth: Torrelavega, Cantabria
Nationality: Spain
Contract: 2006 - 2011
Transfer: He was part of the deal that moved Aouate to Deportivo and Munitis to Racing de Santander (2006, Racing de Santander)
Previous Clubs: Deportivo (2007-2008), Racing Santander (2000-2007)
Buy-out Clause: ?
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 72 kg
Position: Midfielder (Centre)
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 ANTONIO TOMÁS has been described as a ‘Cantabrian’ pearl, but when his transfer rights belonged to Deportivo in 2006 his future darkened. He remained at Racing de Santander on a loan deal but only was a substitute, which made it difficult that he gained a spot at Deportivo for the season 2007/2008. And he didn’t get one, and because another loan deal wasn’t achieved he was even subscribed with Deportivo B. Because of this, it will have surprised many that Antonio Tomás took his chances during the season when either Sergio or De Guzmán was out. The ex-Racing player did well, and now is considered number three in the ranking after these players and assured of a place in the squad for the season 2008/2009.
The defensive midfielder had been playing at Racing de Santander since his days as a teenager. Born in the Cantabrian city of Torrevalega, at 25 km of Santander, that was quite logical for a talent from that area. On 30 October 2005 he made his debut in the Primera División against Valencia aged twenty. Antonio Tomás faced players like Baraja, Pablo Aimar and Vicente, but survived. His club eventually also survived that season, but the difference with relegated Alavés was just one point. Tomás’ numbers were very good for a debuting midfielder as he reached 1236 minutes (the equivalent of almost fourteen full matches) in fifteen starting places. It even was rumoured that giants Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur were after him, when Deportivo stepped in. It took many weeks in the summer of 2006 to take goalkeeper Aouate from Santander to La Coruña and Pedro Munitis, Racing’s favourite, the other way round. That deal would include some extra’s, as Momo and Rubén Castro would play the 2006/2007 season on loan at Racing de Santander and Deportivo would get the full transfer rights of Antonio Tomás. With an eye on the future, Racing secured a 40% share of a possible sale of Antonio Tomás by Deportivo in the future.
The overbooking of players in Caparrós squad, because of signing seventeen players, quickly led to the conclusion that Antonio Tomás wasn’t going to have a spot at Deportivo for the season 2006/2007. Caparrós had Sergio, De Guzmán, Duscher and Juan Rodríguez for the defensive spots in midfield while Coloccini also could play there. Antonio Tomás did train with Deportivo that pre-season, although he had recently recovered from an injury, and Caparrós said that he would have “a brilliant future. But we already have several players for his position”. Antonio Tomás returned to Racing de Santander on a loan deal, but this time arrived at a squad which already was made up for the new season. Midfielders like Colsa, Vítolo and Lionel Scaloni (who arrived from Deportivo) took leading roles that campaign and Antonio Tomás was just an ordinary squad player who reached 755 minutes, the equivalent of 8,5 full match. An indication of his tough season was that he received no less than seven yellow cards that year. But Antonio Tomás did play in Riazor that season, and quite well, as a substitute for Lionel Scaloni during the Copa match which the Galicians won 1-0. Ex-Deportivo player Pedro Munitis was questioned about Antonio Tomás, and said:“ He’s a good midfielder who knows how to handle the ball and to make good passes. As a person he’s very kind”.
When Lotina arrived at the club in 2007, the situation of Antonio Tomás was very difficult. The midfielder played the pre-season at Deportivo but newspapers quickly indicated that, according to them, Lotina already had included him on the list of players who wouldn’t be included in the first squad. Other names were Momo, Iago and Jairo. It’s not that Lotina didn’t like him, because he called Antonio Tomás “a player with a lot of qualities. He’s talented, not very strong physically but knows how to manage the ball. The issue is that we already have covered his position and I’m sure that he can play at any other team”. Meanwhile, the agent of Antonio Tomás was trying to liberate the player from his contract, something that Lendoiro didn’t allow. In the end, no solution was found and both Antonio Tomás (22-years old) and Jairo were subscribed with Deportivo B. But it was decided that Antonio Tomás would train, and possibly play, with the first team. This also had to do with the fact that Deportivo failed to sign players like Javi García and Rubén de la Red.
 Slowly the status of Antonio Tomás was changing. During a friendly against Vitória Guimarães in Portugal his role improved the game of Deportivo and he was praised by Lotina. “Antonio is a classy player who can give football to the team. I believe that he can contribute positive things to the group”. For his part, Antonio Tomás said that he wanted to “maintain the confidence” in himself to make the best effort possible and to achieve Lotina using him in a different way. “I don’t claim that my current situation is unfair. I’m sick to know that Lotina doesn’t really count on me, but this makes me stronger and grow. I will keep working hard and I wish to play one day. But we all want that, and we have a lot of good midfielders here”.
As a player, Antonio Tomás somewhat reminds of Mauro Silva. It’s well-known that the Brazilian legend only scored once for Deportivo, something that Antonio Tomás still has to achieve as a professional player. He doesn’t like to participate in offensive moves, like Mauro Silva. But he has a good vision and knows how to distribute the ball, especially with short passes. At Racing de Santander he was used on many occasions as midfielder operating close to the defence. But opportunities were non-available at Deportivo. Antonio Tomás openly talked about leaving during the winter months. “I’m twenty-two now and need to play. If that isn’t possible at Deportivo I need to move on”. Eventually his chance arrived at Deportivo to show his qualities. His final Liga match at Racing de Santander had been in June, and now it was 9 December 2007 and Deportivo had to play FC Barcelona at the Nou Camp. The Galicians were second-from-bottom and the week before had suffered a painful defeat at home against Osasuna (1-2). Lotina sacrificed Aouate and Sergio and replaced them with Munúa and Antonio Tomás. Lotina admitted that initially he hadn’t counted on the midfielder “but I think that he deserves a chance. He has been working very well”. Antonio Tomás had an awesome start with Deportivo at the Nou Camp as Cristián scored an early goal, and the midfielder played calm and was passing well. But in the second half Deportivo started to lose the battle in midfield and Lotina brought Sergio for Antonio Tomás with thirty minutes remaining, who couldn’t avoid the defeat though. Antonio Tomás was satisfied with his debut. “I’m happy because I played and I’m more hopeful now for the future. But I noticed physical problems after not having played for six months”. Coloccini praised his performance. “I want to emphasize the work of Antonio Tomás, because it was his first match and he did a great job on a complicated day. The same to Munúa”.
Antonio Tomás started his second match in a row, next to De Guzmán, against Zaragoza (1-1) in Riazor and reached the full ninety matches. Although his performance was a little less than a week earlier, it was still a surprise when Sergio returned for the crucial match at Levante. In fact, Antonio Tomás also missed the next two matches because of an injury (Atlético and Villarreal) and only entered the Almería match with ten minutes remaining, and the home side scoring a late winner. But Sergio’s return hadn’t brought Lotina the results he wanted to see, and Deportivo now were in their worst crisis since the promotion to Primera in 1991. It was almost February and the team was five points away from safety after some excellent performances, but a crucial lack of points. Not many gave a penny for Lotina to be coach of Deportivo for the home match against Valladolid, but Lendoiro was the only board member keeping faith. For his part, the coach knew he had to react again and reshuffled his team once more: he introduced the five men defensive line with midfielders De Guzmán, Juan Rodríguez and Antonio Tomás in front of them and leaving freedom to Xisco and Guardado. It paid off. Antonio Tomás set up the attack which led to Deportivo’s early goal and he was solid in midfield. After Deportivo were three goals up, Lotina brought Verdú for the midfielder. The exact same team now achieved two wins in a row by beating Betis in Sevilla (0-1) when De Guzmán and Antonio Tomás kept the Andalucians at bay. Deportivo’s defensive line and midfield were exactly the same when the team played at home against Getafe (1-1). Antonio Tomás was given an early yellow card and committed a huge error when his poor pass in midfield left three Getafe players against De Guzmán, but the Canadian saved his team. He was forgiven, and the same team that took a point against Getafe played at Recreativo. This time luck had run out. The Andalucians played almost the full second half with ten players but still managed to score two goals, which took their tally to three including the winner in injury-time (3-2). Neither Antonio Tomás could save this team, and said that: “It was a weird match with a lot of negative aspects to Deportivo. It escaped from our hands, but I felt fine in midfield”.
 A muscle injury prevented Antonio Tomás from playing his fifth consecutive match as a starter against Espanyol. But it has to be said that Lotina was already thinking about replacing him with Sergio, who had scored two goals against his ex-team that season and the team needed another refreshment. Antonio Tomás did make it five starting positions in six matches because Sergio was sick in bed during the week when Deportivo prepared to face Sevilla (2-1). It was a great match of the ex-Racing player who provided Lafita the decisive goal and he himself almost scored the third. With fifteen minutes remaining he was replaced by tall Juan Rodríguez to prevent Sevilla from winning the aerial game. After the match there was a lot of talking about Antonio Tomás’ pass which was possible after Filipe fooled the Sevilla players with his move to the left. It appeared that Lotina had been practicing that strategic play with Sergio and during half-time used the drawing board to explain it to Antonio Tomás. The midfielder said: “During the training sessions I saw some players testing that play, and during half-time I asked Lotina about it”. The strategic play didn’t go exactly as expected, as explained by Lotina: “Usually it’s a high cross, but Maresca quickly tried to prevent it. Antonio Tomás was forced to sent in a low pass but did it with a lot of strength. If the cross would have been a high and soft one, maybe we wouldn’t had scored”. Antonio Tomás shared that opinion. “We might have been lucky, but the idea remained to put the ball there”. Lafita not only praised Antonio Tomás for the pass, but also for his “fine job in midfield”.
Now Lotina had a luxury problem when Sergio was declared fit again to face Valencia at Mestalla (2-2). The Basque coach preferred Sergio for the spot, and the ex-Espanyol player repaid the confidence with a stunning goal. It was bad luck to Antonio Tomás that Sergio was going to play a marvellous end of the season. Sergio and De Guzmán also were Deportivo’s midfield players against Real Madrid (1-0 win) although Antonio Tomás could write down two entries behind his name. Antonio Tomás reappeared for the away match at Mallorca, but only because De Guzmán was suspended. The duo Antonio Tomás/Sergio didn’t prove to be a success. Deportivo lost the battle in midfield and played one of the worst matches of 2008. Antonio Tomás played the full ninety matches, but at the same time it was his final match as a starter that season. The team was still only two points away from relegation but were unstoppable after the Mallorca match. Sergio and De Guzmán became Deportivo’s motor, and goal scoring Juan Rodríguez replaced the Catalan midfielder when he was suspended for the match against FC Barcelona. There was absolutely no reason to replace either Sergio and De Guzmán during the final part of the season, and that’s why Lotina didn’t. Antonio Tomas’ only appearance those weeks was at Racing de Santander with a few seconds left. He might have had chance against FC Barcelona, but a muscle injury didn’t help.
Looking back and forward, the season 2007/2008 brought Antonio Tomás twelve matches of which eight as a starter. In minutes, it was his worst season of the three in Primera so far but still it was much more than anyone had expected when the season started. 23-year old Antonio Tomás simply played decent matches when he was fielded and was a crucial figure in the team’s resurrection against Sevilla. His problem was that, when eventually he was used by Lotina, he had to cope with De Guzmán and Sergio. It’s no shame that he lost that battle against the Canadian international player, voted as Player of the Year by the fanclub Deportivo-La-Coruna.com, and Sergio with 352 matches in Primera behind his name. Antonio Tomás will be in the squad of Deportivo for the season 2008/2009 as back-up to De Guzmán and Sergio. It’s a relief to know that if, for whatever reason, Sergio and De Guzmán can’t bring performances, there’s always Antonio Tomás.
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