Teenagers Jesús Espejo and Dani Anquela have explained their adaptation to life at the José Manuel Llaneza Training Ground
Many are the young people who leave everything behind and leave home with a backpack full of dreams. The Villarreal CF residence is full of them. Jesús Espejo Gallego from Cordoba, centre-back and Daniel Anquela Guardiola from Zaragoza, forward for, have been talking about their life at the residence at the José Manuel Llaneza Training Ground , their adaptation to it, being away from their families to achieve the goal they set themselves and their love for the beautiful game, which they continue to play at the highest level defending the yellow shirt.
On his adaptation to the residence, Jesús, who is in his first year, says that the beginnings have not been easy: “At first it was a bit difficult and I cried some days because it was difficult to be without my family, but over time I have adapted well and I am very happy here”. Dani, who is already facing his second season at Miralcamp, adds the importance of feeling at home and letting the people around him help him: “This is my second year here. Last year it was a bit difficult for me to adapt, but the tutors and my fellow team-mates helped me a lot”.
Life in the residence
These young Yellows explain what their day-to-day lives are like, from the time they get up to the time they go to bed, including classes at school, training sessions, study hours and telephone conversations with their families. “After school, we have lunch and then we go on the mobile phone for a while and play table tennis or table football. Then we go to the classroom to train and talk to the family for a while,” says the Andalusian centre-back, who keeps in daily contact with his parents. “I’m in touch all afternoon by WhatsApp and then I call them,” he adds. In this sense, the Aragonese striker confesses that he talks to his family “at least once every day”.
Outside of high school classes and the playing fields, the boys at the residence are a family. “We usually share a room with four team-mates. They are already like a family”, Dani stresses. Moreover, as Jesús explains, “all the players from our age groups go to the same school”, the IES Miralcamp school, right next to the Training Ground, so they spend the whole day together.
Yeremy as idol and La Ceramica as entertainment
The little ones at the Miralcamp residence see themselves reflected in their idols from the first team and Villarreal B who slept not so many years ago in the same rooms where they do the same now. Yeremy, Baena, Jorgensen, Sergio Lozano and Collado are just some of the many examples. “I’m trying to look at Yeremy Pino because a tutor told me about him and said he had been here in the resi and now he’s in the first team,” says the defender.
These same idols are seen every weekend at the Estadio de la Cerámica, where they go to watch the matches accompanied by their tutors. “We always go to watch Villarreal B and the first team. Even if it’s midweek, they always try to take us”, explains Dani, to which his teammate Jesús adds that “In winter, when it was very cold, we missed a few days, but now that the weather is better, we always go”.
Jesús and Dani continue to pursue their dreams of one day wearing the yellow jersey on a stage they visit every week. The magic of imagining jumping onto the pitch at the Estadio de la Cerámica runs through their veins. Perhaps in a few years they will get to share a dressing room with their idols such as Yeremy or Baena.
