Villarreal presented Iñigo Pérez as the new coach for the next three seasons. An important bet for the La Plana club since the Navarrese will replace a legend of the entity like Marcelino García Toral on the bench. Iñigo was excited about the challenge that playing in the Champions League represents and convinced of his ability to face it.
Excited and responsible: “I am very excited and excited about this new step. The coach is always asked how his teams are going to play and what you can promise. We know that the results cannot be promised, but I feel identified with the theme of family importance, the theme of sacrifice and work and enthusiasm. I can promise this, I guarantee it and I hope that later my ability as a coach can deliver results and we will live very beautiful years in terms of results. I know that it is an important step and I am responsible for it. I will try to reciprocate and a very exciting stage begins for me.”
Learn where it comes: “I learned from Marcelo Bielsa that the most important thing before starting to work is to know the environment, the culture and what the people who live in that region are like. Villarreal has been under the same presidency for thirty years and that has allowed all of us who love football to see the journey that the club has made, from more modest positions to becoming a consolidated team in Europe, with great results and enormous success at the youth level. I understand that a job well done has always been based on a family and “That, from then on, all of us who arrive understand things in a similar way. Therefore, I will need some time to fully adhere to that idea, but I think that my training at Athletic Club and my experiences in Osasuna, Numancia and Rayo Vallecano share very similar characteristics and traits.”
Decided quickly: “The truth is that one does not need too much convincing to say yes to a team like Villarreal, especially at an early stage in my career. I am at a stage in which all my energy and determination are aimed at consolidating myself as a coach. That is why, when this possibility arose, I did not have eyes for anyone else. It is an important step and with a lot of responsibility, but honestly it was not difficult to make the decision.
The truth is that one doesn’t need too much convincing to say yes to a team like Villarreal
Íñigo Pérez in his presentation with VIllarreal.
What does the change mean?: “The word is responsibility. I know perfectly well the differences that can exist in terms of pressure, objectives and results. I think the main thing for someone who takes such an important step is acceptance. I accept the challenge and I accept the challenge. Beyond all the differences that may exist between both clubs, in the end it is about managing people and players. The same patterns that exist at Rayo Vallecano are also present at Villarreal, although each person is different.”
football idea: “The first thing one must do is understand the ecosystem. When you arrive at a new locker room you must do exactly the same: know what players you have, how they have played, what they have done, how they have trained and obtain all the possible information about what they are like, how they feel and what their environment is like. From there you develop your own ideas. This team has finished third in the League and the consolidated base of so many years, together with the work done by Marcelino, is something that we must preserve. The only thing we can do is keep all the good things and add little little by little the nuances that each coach has in his way of thinking.”
The only thing we can do is keep all the good things and little by little add the nuances that each coach has in their way of thinking.
Marcellin’s high bar: “It is a situation that has many similarities with my arrival at Rayo Vallecano. When I arrived there, although the coach had been dismissed, but only a few months had passed since the departure of Andoni Iraola. Although I had been his second coach, the first thing I did was recognize what had happened and analyze what players he had. Here I think it will not be very different. The main difference is that then the qualifying situation was much more delicate and there was significant pressure to reach Rayo Vallecano’s goal. Now we have a certain margin of work during the preseason. We know that any change in behavior requires mutual adaptation: on my part towards the players and on their part towards me. The important thing is to coexist and build together. It is an important challenge, but there is the opportunity to demonstrate my ability and respond to the trust that Villarreal has placed in me.
Villarreal’s resources: “I have not yet been able to visit the sports city. I will do so tomorrow and I am very excited to see it because I have never had the opportunity to do so, neither as a player nor as a visitor. Everyone speaks wonderfully about these facilities and I believe that having good resources is essential to develop work in any profession. I really want to see it, but I consider that the most important thing is what I am able to offer.”
Íñigo Pérez speaking at his presentation as coach of Villarreal.
Quarry and subsidiary: “I can’t help them more than they feel about Villarreal, but I do know perfectly well what it means to be away from home from a young age and progressively get closer to the first team. I have lived away from home since I was thirteen years old and I know that feeling of being closer and closer to the dream, but also of feeling that it is still far away. The first team coach must be aware of all the feelings that come together in the players. Furthermore, there must be a real commitment to them. It is very good to accompany them and communicate with them, but what What they really need is for the coach to put them to play, evaluate them, allow them to make mistakes, get them right and grow.”
Current squad: “Knowing that there may be changes in the market, I think it is an excellent squad. Furthermore, they have been able to match their quality with results. Finishing third in this League in the way they have done has a lot of merit. They have managed to qualify for the Champions League and, although we all probably have the feeling that there was some thorn in their side, it is not at all easy to reach that level. Therefore, the assessment I make of the squad is maximum. Finishing third in the League speaks for itself.”
Champions League: “From a personal point of view, being able to train in the Champions League is something very important. I have been watching this competition since I was a child and I have always been passionate about it. Like everyone else, I like to follow the playoffs and the finals. Then there is the importance for the club of staying in Europe and, if possible, doing so in the Champions League season after season. That demand exists and we must sustain it. Finally, there is the question of how to face a season with matches during the week and on weekends. At Rayo Vallecano we have tried to denature the competitions, that is, approaching each match in the same way regardless of whether it is the League, Champions League or Copa del Rey.
I have been watching the Champions League since I was a child and I have always been passionate about it.
Experience in Europe has improved him: “Until you live an experience, you don’t really know how you are going to respond. The fact that I have led a team competing on Thursdays and Sundays has helped me improve as a coach simply because I have experienced it. That doesn’t make me an expert, because I’ve only been training for two and a half years, but it does give me valuable experience to face this new challenge.”
Market: “Actually until now I have been completely focused on Vallecas and on the competitive objective we had in hand. From now on, from the moment this press conference ends, we will have many days and many hours to catch up with a matter as important and immediate as summer planning and everything related to the transfer market.”
