Aitor karanka has the mission of rebuild a team. He has done it before. He did it in the Middlesbrough, with whom he rose to the Premier in less than three years. Also in the Nottingham Forest, although the project did not finish. His third story will be in the Birmingham City, a club that has almost one of each in Championship that last year was saved from relegation by two points: they are not used to winning. And Karanka knows that has to change …
He has always said that Madrid gave him the winning mentality as a footballer. How is that mentality projected on a team that is not used to winning?
Day after day. In training, in the work standard. In a game, even a friendly one, you do the talks and video analysis as if they were for the league or for the cup. It is about putting seeds. People realize that even though they are going to play against a League Two team, the talk is the same as in a league game. And the food, too. And the workouts. And the recovery of each player is just as organized. It's about winning every game and it all adds up.
Do you need footballers with special characteristics to rebuild teams?
You need people who have the illusion. A name: Víctor Valdés. He came with me to Middlesbrough. Someone who seems to have achieved everything … but there is always something left. Here I want to show them that they are going to enjoy themselves and that we are going to be at the level that the footballer deserves.
His first signings are former Middlesbrough players, with whom he promoted to the Premier. Did Clayton and Friend take time to say yes?
Nothing. They are two players I knew. The club knew how important they were to me. It was all very fast.
Do all Birmingham signings go through your filter?
The club has its names and I have mine. When we agree, we go for them. This is clear to me since I started training: a player who comes to my team will not be a Karanka player but a club player.
Other signings are Toral, Sánchez, Prieto and Leko. Free and young players. Little money spent. Will this be the transfer dynamics?
If you look back, Middlesbrough was similar. Except in the last year, which is when we made the last financial effort to move up. Here we have the same idea. We want to bring people who want to be here.
At that stage he used his good relationship with Mourinho to take several loans from Chelsea. Do you like a youngster from Tottenham?
We played a few days ago against them. We are open to anything.
After 18 months without training, why did you choose English football again?
It has emerged that way and it is what I know best. Plus, it's also where they know me the most. In England, since I arrived, I have been delighted. I've always said that in my career I missed coming to English football, so now I'm a coach. During these 18 months there were things that have been about to leave that were not from England.
How did Birmingham convince you?
They wanted to do a project with me and that is shown by the duration of the contract, three years, which was the club's choice and not mine. There I saw that they loved me.
In his presentation at Middlesbrough he said he had come to move up. Will he repeat such a promise again?
That day I said it how it turned out. Then after two months I was wondering why I had said it. The following year, when we lost the playoff final, what had been a fantastic season was seen as a failure, I made those statements out of inexperience.