2023-10-06 04:00:57
“I was walking down the street, and I saw the photo of my goal in the newspaper (the front page of LA NEW SPAIN on Thursday, October 5) and I asked for so many newspapers for my family that they told me ‘we can’t give them all to you, we have commitments… “I had to buy the rest somewhere else.” Álex Pascanu (Romania, 25 years old) has aura. You want to succeed. Training ends in Mareo, and the defender sees himself with LA NEW SPAIN.
–I imagine that he still carries the fatigue and adrenaline of the last game: victory and goal.
–We all played a very good game. We are happy.
–He was born in Romania, but when he was five he went to England.
–My parents went to work in England, on a strawberry farm. I didn’t want to, but I was a child and I had to go with them.
–Where did they live in Romania?
–It was a town, Bogdanesti. Then I grew up in England. When I was 8 years old I signed with Leicester. As a footballer I was there until I was 20 when I went to Romania.
–Why are your parents leaving?
–They finished studying at the University. But they had no opportunities to have a better life. They chose to go to work in England. The first few years I stayed in Romania with my grandparents. From 2 to 5.
–Your sister too?
–No, she was born in England when she was 5 years old.
–What was it like growing up with your grandparents and away from your parents?
–I don’t remember everything perfectly. I did have many friends there…I was lucky. My grandparents are… “How do you say? ‘Teachers’. My grandmother always took me with her to classes.
–Didn’t you miss the figure of your parents as a child?
–But they came on vacation every three months and in winter, when the farm season in England was over…
–Do you maintain the bond with your grandparents?
–Luckily, they are in great health. I always say that there is my home. Every time I have a free day or on Christmas holidays, I go see them.
–Do you remember the flight from England to Romania?
–It wasn’t by flight, it was by car! I remember all the trips we have made. About eight or ten times we traveled through Romania-England. It took us two days by road. I remember when I arrived and met the children of the owner (of the farm). In the end, they were my friends. I grew up with them.
–It maintains roots…
–My parents still live there. When I can I also go…
–Do your parents still live in Leicester?
–The farm is not in Leicester. It’s about an hour from Birmingham.
–Ah…
–When I was little I had to choose: sign for Leicester or Nottingham. We had training three or four times a week. My father had to make an effort…
-Gets emotional…
–When I think about this, it was a very big sacrifice. He didn’t do that to be a soccer player, he did it out of affection and love for his son. I liked to play soccer. He took me from Chilcote (the town where they lived). From there to Leicester it is about fifty minutes. I finished school, came home, went to train at four and didn’t return until after nine.
–How was the adaptation?
–I had to learn no matter what, and when you are a child you do it quickly. In a month or so, he could speak. During the summer many people came from Romania to work. I have grown up with people from my country and that has helped me not forget the language. It happens to many people who leave the country and spend many years abroad. I was lucky because I had a large community of people from my country there.
–How do you start in football?
–When he was six years old he played on the town team. A year later a scout came from Leicester and another from Nottingham and they invited me to do trials. I went to both clubs. They both loved me. Then my father said to me: “Where do you want to go? The distance is almost the same.” But I felt better in Leicester. When I arrived the team was in the Championship. But they are relegated to League One. They had many financial problems. At 10 they were already in League One, which here is like Second B. I remember how everything changed… The sports city then was not so good. But the club began to grow.
-Because?
–I think it was in 2010 or 2011 when the owner changed. Some Thais buy it (King Power). They put in money and the club grows.
–He has the qualities of an English footballer: powerful, strong in disputes…
–Of course, in the end I grew up there. At the Leicester Academy I worked a lot on the physical aspect. You do training where you work on aspects that are not discussed as much in Romania or Spain. It’s more football here, you know? But working on those things made me a better player…
–Do you have a relationship with colleagues from the Academy?
–Yes, I made friends.
–Has anyone arrived?
-Two or three. One who is at Fulham: Calvin Bassey. Another who is at Leicester: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Who else…? Ah, yes, Harvey Barnes, who is at Newastle now… But of those who started in my group… To get to sign with Leicester there were 300 kids on trials, from there they chose 15 and then only 2 made the team Sub 23. That’s why I tell you that they didn’t take me to be a player…
–And… go back to Romania.
–After the Euro Cup (under-21) that we did in 2019, I received an offer from Cluj and another from Steaua. He wanted to make the transition to professional football. And I chose Cluj. I’m happy with that decision: I only played four months and five games, but I’m satisfied. I went on loan to Voluntari. We made a great comeback! When I arrived, the club had eight points. And the next, twenty. Then I went to Ponfe.
–And how do you jump to Spain?
–I shared a dressing room with a teammate, Pablo de Lucas, who is my friend, who grew up at Sporting. It’s a lot of coincidence! He promoted with the team in 2008.
–Did I talk to you about the club?
–All the time (laughs). It’s his team… he spoke with his representatives, who were taking Bolo and he took me to Ponferradina. When I arrived, I didn’t know how to speak any Spanish. I was lucky because we had a very good locker room.
–Did you have a hard time with the market uncertainty in summer?
–Yes, because with football you never know: it goes by moments. The truth is that I was lucky to come here. I prefer not to even think about that.
–Are you happy at Sporting?
-Yes a lot. I have already found a house where I live. I am happy with the work we do on a daily basis. It is a very united locker room and that is important.
–The club joked yesterday on social networks about his versatility: Pascanu central, winger and now forward…
–In my first week the coach asks me: “Can you play as a winger?” I told him yes, but that he hadn’t played in that position for a long time. But I can try it. Now he doesn’t care if I play goalkeeper, winger, center back or forward…
–What you want is to compete…
-Gain.
–But don’t you feel angry about not having more continuity at the center?
–It is a coach’s decision. We are all players.
–He has something of a sorcerer or seer… In El Alcoraz he gives the harangue and assures that they win. And they won.
–I had a “feeling”. The other day I told Nacho (Méndez) “today smells a bit like a goal.”
-Did you tell him?
–Ask him (laughs).
–Two matches in the same match…
-No no. One was in Huesca. The other already against Elche.
–So you also predicted his goal against Elche?
–Yes, the atmosphere was like that… I had a smell of goal. Then the ball drops to me. It stayed there for me. I pulled and it went in.
–And what does it smell like this year? Do you smell optimism?
-Yeah. Seeing the team we have and the locker room, if we continue working like this, we can achieve something very good.
–Would you like to continue? The club has a purchase option.
-Yes Yes. But my first goal is to have a good year. Help the club. Try together to get something nice. Then we will see what decisions the club makes.
–It is happening that many times you, who were a center back, play as a winger and have Hassan in front of you, who has an obviously offensive vocation.
–We compensate each other well. Sometimes maybe he doesn’t like to defend or doesn’t do it the way he should, and I make up for it. Or the other way around: he is in the attack and I stay behind.
–Here there was a case of a center back who had a great career as a winger: Luis Hernández.
–I know him from Leicester! I agreed. He played a couple of games with the under-23 team. But I didn’t know that he played for Sporting. He has a throw-in… Very strong.
–I didn’t know he played here?
–No… I saw it in a photo in El Molinón. And I said: “It’s him.”
-What is your dream?
–Getting my parents to retire and return to Romania. I have already started to build them a house in the village. I hope that in a couple of years, when my sister finishes university, they can return.
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