Paco Cuenca did not announce the change.
He never did.
The players only realized something was different when the cones were laid out in unfamiliar shapes and the magnets on the tactics board clustered tightly around the central corridor of the pitch. The wings were still there, the back line still disciplined, but the heart of the formation had shifted inward, tightened, like a knot being pulled closed.
Álex noticed it immediately.
The shape was not a classic 4-3-3, nor the rigid 4-2-3-1 they had flirted with in earlier sessions. This was something more fluid. A structure that breathed. The CAM was no longer just a link. He was the axis.
"Listen carefully," Paco said, voice calm, carrying without strain. "This season, we control matches from the inside. The tempo, the direction, the damage. Everything flows through the ten."
A few heads turned instinctively.
Álex felt it without needing to look.
"The CAM does not wait for the ball," Paco continued. "He attracts it. He creates gravity. When he moves, the shape moves."
He tapped the board twice, right over the central attacking midfielder position.
"We build around this."
No one spoke.
Paco looked at Álex.
"Castillo. You start."
The words landed softly but carried weight.
Álex jogged onto the pitch, pulse steady, mind already mapping distances. Behind him, Jaume Durà followed, adjusting his socks, eyes sharp and curious.
"You'll rotate," Paco added. "Both of you."
Jaume nodded once.
The drill began slowly. Positional play. No pressure at first. Just movement and spacing.
In possession, the shape folded inward. Fullbacks stepped into midfield lanes. One pivot stayed deep, the other advanced. The wingers tucked inside just enough to stretch defenders without abandoning width.
And Álex stood at the center of it all.
Every pass asked him a question.
Every movement depended on his answer.
When the ball came from Rodrigo Gamón, Álex dropped half a step to receive on the half-turn. When Victor García surged forward, Álex slid laterally to cover the vacated space. When Javi Torres drove inside from the right, Álex instinctively drifted left, opening a channel like a door quietly unlocked.
The ball moved faster than before.
Not because they rushed.
Because they knew.
"Again," Paco called. "Quicker recognition."
Pressure was added. Two defenders now tasked with hunting the CAM, denying time, forcing mistakes.
Álex adjusted immediately.
He stopped standing still.
Instead, he began to orbit.
Dropping deep, pulling a marker with him, then releasing the ball and accelerating into the space he had just created. Sometimes he didn't touch the ball at all. His movement alone bent the defense out of shape.
Jaume watched closely.
When it was his turn, he interpreted the role differently.
Jaume played with elegance, with pauses that felt intentional. Where Álex moved to escape pressure, Jaume invited it. He received with defenders close, then slipped passes through the smallest seams, trusting his first touch to save him.
Two styles.
Same role.
Same effect.
Paco observed in silence.
What surprised the staff was not that the system worked.
It was how quickly it settled.
Rodrigo began timing his forward runs based on Álex's shoulder checks. Hugo Guijarro adjusted his pressing triggers to protect the space behind the CAM. The center backs stepped higher, confident the middle was secured.
Even the forwards adapted.
Johan Villa stopped dropping unnecessarily, trusting Álex to find him. Pablo Reyes adjusted his runs, alternating between pinning center backs and peeling wide to drag defenders away from the axis.
During a full-pitch simulation, the new formation clicked fully for the first time.
The ball moved from Vicent Abril to Rubén Martínez, then into Alin Gera. One touch. Two. Into Álex.
A defender jumped.
Álex didn't turn.
He let the ball run across his body and flicked it first-time into Jaume, who had ghosted into the half-space Álex had vacated.
Jaume took one touch and slipped Javi in behind.
Shot.
Goal.
The sequence lasted six seconds.
Paco finally spoke.
"That," he said calmly, "is what control looks like."
Not everyone adjusted easily.
Some midfielders struggled with the reduced touches. Others hesitated, unsure whether to trust the CAM to handle pressure. Paco noticed everything.
So he raised the stakes.
Next session, he split the squad into two teams. One built around Álex as the CAM. The other around Jaume.
Same formation. Same rules.
"Play to win," Paco said. "No instructions."
What followed was the most intense internal match of the preseason.
Álex's team played with relentless tempo. Short passes. Constant rotation. He pressed aggressively after turnovers, setting the defensive tone as much as the attacking one.
Jaume's team played with surgical patience. Longer possessions. Sudden accelerations. Fewer touches, but deeper cuts.
The match swung back and forth.
Álex assisted Johan with a perfectly weighted through ball after dragging two midfielders out of position.
Jaume responded with a chipped pass over the back line that sent Pablo Reyes through on goal.
1–1.
Late in the game, legs tired, spaces opened.
Álex received near the center circle, back to goal. A defender leaned into him, trying to unbalance him.
Álex shifted his weight, rolled away, and surged forward. He didn't dribble for flair. He dribbled for progress.
At the edge of the box, he slipped the ball wide to Javi, then continued his run.
Javi returned it blind.
Álex struck first-time.
Goal.
The whistle blew shortly after.
Paco gathered them.
"What did you learn?" he asked.
Silence.
Then Jaume spoke.
"The role isn't about who plays it," he said. "It's about how the team responds to it."
Paco smiled.
"Exactly."
After training, Álex sat on the grass, boots off, stretching his calves. Jaume joined him, towel around his neck.
"You're good at this," Jaume said, not casually, not challengingly. Just honest.
Álex glanced at him. "So are you."
Jaume chuckled. "Different ways."
"Same responsibility," Álex replied.
They sat quietly for a moment.
"You know," Jaume said, "most teams build around the oldest. Or the loudest."
Álex looked toward the pitch, now empty, the cones still marking the shape that had changed everything.
"Paco builds around function," he said. "Not age."
Jaume nodded. "That's why this works."
At the end of the week, Paco addressed the squad.
"This formation stays," he said. "It evolves with you."
He looked at Álex and Jaume in turn.
"The CAM role is not owned," he continued. "It is earned daily. You will both play it this season. Situations decide who starts. Performance decides who stays."
No ego flared.
No tension sparked.
They understood.
As the players dispersed, Paco stopped Álex briefly.
"You feel the game," he said quietly. "Don't rush it. Let others catch up to your rhythm."
Álex nodded. "Yes, coach."
Paco paused, then added, "Leadership doesn't always speak."
Álex felt the words settle deep.
The formation had changed.
So had his place within the team.
He was no longer just fitting in.
He was becoming essential.
And as the Juvenil de Honor season approached, Valencia CF had found its axis.
Two of them.
And one future being written right through the center of the pitch.