I’m so infuriated it didn’t work out in England
Harry Kane is a humble kid and an exceptional finisher – just fantastic
‘HE came from sunny Spain to play at White Hart Lane’
Roberto Soldado is at Villarreal’s tranquil training ground, humming along to the song tottenham’s fans used to sing about him.
It’s about the only sound to be heard — that and the tick-tack of some crisp passes being played on one of the pristine pitches as some reserve players are put through their paces against the backdrop of Castellon’s espadan mountains.
life is good here, but Soldado still thinks about north london.
‘I don’t regret it at all, far from it, but I wanted to give a lot more than I gave in england,’ he says in his first interview since leaving tottenham last summer.
‘the affection that people showed me from the first day to the last was incredible. even though I was not scoring goals and not starting games if I got off the bench (to warm up) their first reaction would be to sing my song. In the end that made it even more infuriating — to receive such support and yet be unable to repay it by making those fans happy.’
tonight he can make an entire town happy, all 50,000 inhabitants, bitants, by helping Villarreal beat liverpoolverpool and take a huge step towards what would be their first european final.
He says: ‘I would love to see the season finish with tottenham winning the Premier league and us winning the europa league. but it will be difficult for Spurs — leicester look so full of confidence.’
Confidence was what hee seemed to lack during twoo seasons at tottenham.
It should have workedd out. When he arrived in a £26million deal, Soldado had d broken david Villa’s goals-perrminutes record at Valencia and nd was a Spain international.
It was not the typical failurere of an overseas star who didn’tn’t fit in. there were no moansns about the weather or thehe food. He had a Spanish friend nd in next-door neighbour Santi nti Cazorla and was popular in the Spurs dressing room.
Neither was he one of thoseose who switched off, too homemesick to give his all. If anything hing he over-thought things, analysing every game trying to find a way to make things work.
and then of course there was Harry Kane.
It is something he will have in common with opposing centre forward daniel Sturridge tonight.
both in their own way have been blown away by the Hurricane who overtook Soldado at Spurs and has passed Sturridge in the england pecking-order.
‘He deserves it because he’s a humble kid who works very hard and just has a fantastic attitude,’ says Soldado of Kane (above, with Soldado). ‘It’s his finishing that stands out — it’s exceptional. last season it seemed that every chance he got would end up in the back of the net and this season he looks even more effective.’
the emergence of Kane and dele alli is enough to make Soldado wish he had joined last season rather than two years before.
‘When things are going well it’s much easier to fit into a side and find your place there,’ he adds.
‘andre Villas-boas did most for the club to sign me and then when he left that was when I most suffered that drop in form. I was left in the background a bit.
‘and then came the explosion of Harry Kane. after the sale of Gareth bale they invested in many players — I think eight players arrived the summer I was signed. this year there have been fewer signings and there is no doubt a team benefits from fewer changes. ‘ Yo u could already see last year that it was a young team that could really step up as soon as it had more experience.exp
‘and when you add dele alli, who has been so impressive, and Mauricio Pochettino getting the best out of all the players, you can see why they have done so well.’
You can tell he would have liked to have been on the end of a few alli passes. He had been used to the early ball into space at Valencia and when it didn’t come he started to drop off and seek-out involvement. that brought its own problems. as he explains: ‘english football is a lot more physical and the referees allows more contact.
‘to not get overpowered, when I came looking for the ball I started to think that I had to play a little bit further from the goal to get space away from the defenders and perhaps because of that — plus some bad luck — I didn’t score as many goals as I wanted to.
‘the first thing I would do when I got home after a match was to watch it again and analyse it.
‘there are times when you walk off the pitch and you think, “I’ve been awful today” and then you watch the game again and you have played better than you thought at the time. other times you feel you’ve played well and you watch it again and you see that you could have done more.’
It’s an insight into someone who never just went through the motions. but poring over performances ultimately made things even worse at tottenham.
‘In the end what let me down was my head,’ he says. ‘Perhaps my transfer fee was big too and maybe the expectations that I put on myself put me over the edge.
‘It went against me. I found I was getting easy chances on the pitch and I would miss them because of the slightest detail. It all mounts up until you reach a point when you say, “I can’t do this any more I need a change”.
‘the most important thing for a player when things are not going for you is that you keep giving everything on the pitch at least.
‘You may not be getting it right, but it’s important that no-one can say that you never move or that you don’t work for the team.
‘that is why I think the people at tottenham treated me well, despite the fact that I didn’t have great seasons there. I won’t forget the support they gave me.’
Spurs are almost certain to make the Champions league this season and Soldado is on the brink of doing likewise at Villarreal. Fourth place is all but assured and if they win the europa league they will go straight into the group stage.
this week marks the 10-year anniversary of Villarreal’s semifinal heartache against arsenal, when they lost the first leg 1-0 but so nearly equalised in the second leg with a last-gasp spot kick. ‘ I remember Juan roman riquelme missing the penalty,’ says Soldado who was at real Madrid at the time. ‘Now we have 180 intense minutes in front of us.
‘and there is so much desire here to take that last step into a final.
‘We know that it is not going to be easy against a liverpool team who under Jurgen Klopp have improved a lot.’
If they manage it then maybe next season he’ll be arriving from sunny Spain again, this time to play at White Hart lane in the Champions league for Villarreal.
‘I hope so,’ he says. ‘Going back to the old stadium where I received so much support. I would love nothing more than to be playing for Villarreal against tottenham in the Champions league.’