Migue storms Groningen with Robben as translator

Pablo Marí, Aitor Cantalapiedra or Fran Sol are some of the latest players who have used the Eredivisie to make the leap to a bigger club. Following his example is what Miguel Ángel Leal (Vila-Real, 1997) will try, known in the field as Migue, who has arrived this summer in Groningen to try your luck in a very friendly league for the Spanish.

“It is a radical change, Vila-real is practically a town”, Migue told AS, explaining the difference of changing your comfort zone for a city that reduces the temperature ten degrees and doubles in inhabitants where you have lived since childhood. But not everything changes and the most important thing, football, is the closest thing that their old yellow and the new green and white have. “The type of training is similar because in this league, in general, all the teams have an idea of ​​associative soccer game and of taking care of the ball.”

There he will be able to live a new experience after having left Castellón for only one season to play for Murcia. Groningen seemed like a good option to him since it was a club that had been asking about him for ten months. “I had second-rate offers that were not quite clear and before I took a chance on rushing the market, I decided. Living the experience of being in another country and in a springboard league was very interesting, “he admits. About his plans, he explains:” The Dutch are teams used to improving players and selling them later. My goal is to mature as a player, learn and, from there, see if I return to the Spanish league or to the Villarreal first team“.

The language barrier is undoubtedly the hardest to break down. For this they have put an English teacher (“I defend myself”) because learning a language as complicated as Dutch from scratch is out of the question. Meanwhile, he uses Robben to guide him. The ex-Madridista is the only person in the club who knows Spanish and is his right hand in the dressing room versus technical talks in Dutch.

A step back against COVID

The Eredivisie was the first of the most important leagues in Europe to stop permanently and, in fact, one of the only ones that has left its 2019-20 edition without a champion. Instead, it started this season in early September and admitting audiences to stadiums. Migue debuted before 8,000 spectators. “It's cool, finally, that there are fans and listen to the songs”, he comments.

But the bad data has made the organization back down and turn to the closed door in a country where “the use of the mask is not yet mandatory.” “Yesterday it was decreed that the hotel business would be closed for two weeks. Here people are more respectful or, at least, more responsible and they strictly follow the government's measures.”