Freedom and trust

It’s a strange feeling, the last days of being a football player.

Throughout my 20 years at the top level, I looked ahead to the day when I’d have to hang up my boots with a little panic.

But in the world of coaching, I’ve found my passion. It’s making me see the game in a whole new way, and it’s making this transition into life after playing a little easier.

I had first started thinking about becoming a coach after turning 30. Three years later, I was playing for Monaco when the coronavirus lockdowns arrived. In France, the league stopped completely. Suddenly, I was confined to my house, with a lot of free time. I had four months at home, so I dedicated myself to learning new things and improving the way I see the game.

I watched a lot of football, and I still do. I’m obsessed with the game. Every day, I watch two or three matches. I analysed the games we played at Como, and I played games with myself. What I would do if I was the coach? How would my team play, and how would I react to certain situations?

I try to have phone calls with people who have been in the game for a long time. My aim is to improve, so I want to talk, I want to debate. I want to take ideas from people around me. This is something I’m really passionate about.

In my career as a player, I worked under Arsène Wenger, Pep Guardiola, José Mourinho, Antonio Conte, Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque. I’ve been very, very lucky.

"arsène made me realise that looking forward is the best attribute a midfielder can have"

It’s not always about the very best, though. You have to be able to learn from any kind of coach. Through talking to people in the game, through debating, you can pick up ideas, both positive and negative. Some coaches do things that you wouldn’t do yourself in the same situation. You also have to learn what not to do!

As a coach, I think the most important thing is how you convince your players to play your way of football. I believe in that strongly.

Now, when I think about implementing my own ideas and methodology as a coach, many, many things will come from Arsène. For me, on the pitch, he was number one. I came to Arsenal at 16 and, from such a young age, he taught me and trusted me enough to put me in the team. He made me see football on another level.

Over eight years at the club, he worked on me a lot – both one-to-one and collectively, within the team. He studied the best players in the world and came up with a number: they were scanning 15, 20 times before they received the ball.

If you want to be a top midfielder, this is what’s needed.

He would insist on playing forward from midfield and would drill into me the idea that adopting the correct posture – opening up your body to receive – was key. If you are looking back at the ball and closing yourself off, or have a bad posture, you will never be able to look forward – not with one touch, or even with two.

"pep could be a little more aggressive in his message, but it has worked for him very well"

Arsène is where my obsession with looking forward comes from. He made me realise that it’s the best attribute a midfielder can have.

When I coached kids myself – while completing my coaching badges – I told them the same thing: we need to attack the opposition’s goal, that’s where we need to look. How are you going to accomplish that? This is the task of the coach. Teaching players how to change their posture; how to look two, three, four or five times.

Another thing I learned from Arsène is how important it is to have good communication with the players.

He was someone you could look to for leadership because you knew that he had a plan for you. You could trust him with absolutely anything, no matter what it was. He would always treat you as his son. That’s the feeling that we all had, as players. We trusted him, and that trust went both ways – he trusted me on the pitch.

Pep was the same. In some ways, at least.

The two see football in the same way, and their training sessions were quite similar. When I spoke to Pep at Barcelona, even before I signed the contract, he told me what he wanted from me.

To come and play in the way the ‘pequeñitos’ – the small, technical players – play.

"mourinho played with my mind in a way no one else had before – that got the best out of me"

I’d played with Xavi and Andrés Iniesta in the national team (above), and along with Leo Messi we’d all come through Barcelona’s youth system. Pep wanted me to play the same way. I think he trusted the feeling that Leo and I had between us. We had known each other for a long time, and we really understood each other; we had a good connection.

In terms of character, though, Pep was different. Arsène had been friendly and close with the players, but Pep maintained his distance much more. He could be a little more aggressive in his message, but it has worked for him very, very well.

The success of two such different characters shows that, in football, you need to be yourself. You need to believe in what you are doing, have a clear idea and transmit that message to your players, your staff and upstairs. That’s it.

By the time of my second stint in England, things were different. I had arrived at Arsenal when I was still a boy, and Arsène developed me slowly – I was like his son. Now, at José Mourinho’s Chelsea (above), I was a man.

Mo would send me messages; he’d speak to me every day. His manner made it clear that I was one of the most important players in the squad. It was a different kind of trust to that I’d had with Arsène. It was powerful.

He played with my mind in a way no one else had before, and I think that got the best out of me. I played such good football under him.

"any time there was a problem, vicente would intervene calmly and put it right"

After Mourinho at Chelsea, came Antonio Conte. Conte was the coach that worked me most tactically and physically.

Tactically, he always wanted to tell you exactly what to do on the pitch. It worked well for some time – we won the 2016/17 Premier League (below) – but it was always the same thing. Personally, this didn’t motivate me as much.

I always felt that my power came from my intuition on the pitch; knowing where to find the space at the right time. When you’re on the pitch, every situation depends on how the opponent is set up to face you. Are they close to you, or are they giving you more space? Are they coming from the right or the left?

For me, in football, you can’t tell a player to do the same thing every time. In midfield, you need to have so many solutions to find the right play and the next ball, especially when you want to play forward. When teams started to study us closely, and understand how we were playing, it became very difficult for us to adapt. We only had one way.

This is why my idea of football is to try and help my players to be as good as they can in every situation. It’s not easy. It takes a lot of time and dedication, individual meetings, collective meetings. But I believe this is the best way for a player to feel powerful on the pitch.

In the national team, I also started playing when I was very young. Luis Aragonés gave me my debut at 18. He gave me the opportunity to play in one of the best Spanish national teams ever. I’ll always be thankful for that.

"i'm still young when it comes to coaching. i have so much to learn"

He trusted me a lot, and he wanted me to play the way I was playing at Arsenal.

Tactically, he would play me higher up the pitch. Number eight, number 10, in and around the opponents’ box. I scored a lot of goals under him. He gave me freedom, and I played some of my best football with him.

When Del Bosque came in, my role changed a little. I was the twelfth player.

We were a squad who’d known each other for a long time, and he was able to take advantage of that. He built a very strong group, with a lot of good values. Any time there was a small problem, he would intervene calmly and put it right.

Obviously, we had a really, really good team. But Vicente is one of those coaches who brings this calmness to players and into the training ground. It’s incredible how good, how relaxed he made us feel.

Football is not perfect. You can make a mistake in a pass, in transition, when shooting. He gave you that trust: it’s okay, it’s the next one that counts.

We really appreciated him, both as a man and as a coach.

"of course, it is a dream for every player and coach to work in the premier league"

I’ve been blessed to work under some of the very best. I don’t think I know everything just because I played 20 years at the top level. I know that this is a very long project for me. I’m only 36. I’m still young when it comes to coaching, and I have so much to learn.

The amazing thing about this sport, this job, is that every day you can learn new things. Every day there are new systems, new ideas, and new players with different qualities. That’s the beauty of this game that I love.

I need to take the right steps and surround myself with the right people, people who want to work and to improve. This is very important for me as a coach.

Obviously, you always think about the future and where you see yourself coaching and managing. There are top leagues everywhere: Spain, Germany, Italy, France, and of course it’s a dream for every player and coach to work in the Premier League. I always try to take it step by step. Work as much as I can, analyse as much as I can, learn as much as I can.

We will have to see where the future takes me. But whenever that next opportunity comes, I want to be ready.