Carlos Soler, the 28-year-old midfielder on loan from Paris Saint-Germain to West Ham this season, spoke to Relevo in an interview published on Thursday. In the interview, Soler talks about his departure for the English club last summer, what happened next, the criticism he has received and his versatility.
Soler “I’ve been here since September and I’m really enjoying it.”
How is life in London?
I’ve been here since September and I’m really enjoying it. People always ask me what’s going on between Paris and London and I don’t know what to say. I haven’t even been here a year and I spent two years in Paris.
I’m very happy, you can do everything, go out for dinner and a drink…. I live in a very pleasant neighborhood. The only thing I’d change is if it brought me a little sunshine, a few more degrees, and that would be perfect. Plus family and friends, of course.
What influence does the destination city have on the choice of a club? You’ve lived and played in Valencia, Paris and London, isn’t that so bad?
It’s true that I’ve lived in three beautiful cities, my favorite being Valencia, but it’s clear that at the end of the day, life outside soccer is even more than soccer. Soccer is a job, but daily life away from family and friends is always difficult. But if you live in beautiful cities like Paris or London, you’re very well off, you’ve got everything…
That’s part of the equation…
Yes, it’s in the balance, I can’t complain.
Soler “I wanted to leave Paris.
Why West Ham?
In the end, I wanted to leave Paris. Nobody told me I had to leave, it’s because I wanted to gain minutes and confidence, to feel really important. It’s true that I had other approaches during the summer, but Lopetegui, who was the coach at the time, called me. I was very enthusiastic about the idea of him calling me.
I don’t know if it’s the best league, but I’ve always loved it. It’s one of the best championships in the world, with a lot of competition. The fact that it’s in London, as I’ve already said, also has an influence.
Then, we can talk a lot about how things went afterwards, if Lopetegui and the sporting director who bet on me were sacked, but that doesn’t mean I’m not happy.
Soler “I don’t regret any of the decisions I’ve made in my career.”
Do you regret them?
No, I don’t regret it at all. I don’t regret any of the decisions I’ve made in my career. They turned out better or worse, I played more or less. But I feel that all these decisions have helped me grow in one way or another.
Both in terms of soccer and on a personal level. Living in other cities, leaving Spain, living alone with my partner, being away from my family…. You’re alone, but that makes you grow.
Soler “Spanish clubs were interested in me”.
Last summer, you were the darling of many Spanish clubs. There was talk of Real Sociedad, Betis…
Yes, Spanish clubs were interested in me, but at the time, I was looking for other experiences. Other projects came up here, in the Premier League, and the one for which I noticed the most affection on the part of the club and the coach was West Ham.
At the end of the day, the Premier League is a championship that attracts everyone’s attention. Every game is very interesting, there are lots of chances, they tend to be very open. I think it’s a style that suits the player I am.
Soler “It’s just as enriching to have been coached by Luis Enrique at PSG, by Galtier, by Graham Potter, by Lopetegui.”
How did you progress?
I left Valencia at the age of 25, and it’s been three years now, so I think physically I’m feeling very good at the moment, I’ve worked very hard. That’s not to say that I didn’t work hard at Valencia. But the French league is very physical, the clubs have very physical players, and in Spain it’s much more tactical.
In that sense, I’ve made a lot of progress. Then, with the decisions I made at PSG, I didn’t have the continuity that would have given me the confidence to show what I did at Valencia or with the national team. Perhaps it was this lack of continuity that prevented me from showing what I was capable of on the pitch.
And then it’s also enriching to have been coached by Luis Enrique at PSG, by Galtier, by Graham Potter, by Lopetegui. It enriches you a lot.
Soler “I pay more attention to how the players position themselves.”
Now I watch the matches not as a spectator, maybe not as a coach either, but I pay more attention to how the players position themselves, how they go down to receive, how they position themselves more, how they go down into space….
I really like the picture. I may not spend all afternoon watching soccer, but if I see a game that interests me, I look at it from a very tactical point of view, from the point of view of positioning, etc. And how do the coaches decide from their position? And how the coaches decide from their area.
Soler “It happens in stages.”
How does your environment affect you mentally?
It happens in stages. In the beginning, I was more interested in what people said about me on the networks, mainly because subconsciously you know what they’re going to say about you and that they’re going to say good things about you because you’re new, you’re young…
And deep down, a person wants to feel loved and valued. Then, as the years go by, you realize that you can’t focus on that because, in the end, you can’t control it.
Sergi Canós even told me in an interview that he had shot at goal “thinking about what the critics would say” and that this had made him lose confidence in himself.
No, that hasn’t happened to me very often. We all have our ups and downs, but in the life of a footballer, there are far more downs than ups. You lose more than you win. In that case, I think working on yourself, relying on the people who really love you, can help. Not people who are at home, who are frustrated or who don’t know the context in which you find yourself.
Soler “soccer has contexts that people don’t know about.”
You’ve played almost everything: what’s the ideal position for Carlos Soler?
For me, soccer has contexts that people don’t know about. It’s normal, it’s not in a dressing room, in everyday life. As far as I’m concerned, I couldn’t tell you exactly, because for one style of play, my ideal position is one, for another style it’s the other.
I’ve always said that when I was in the national team with Luis Enrique, in this three-man formation where I could play in midfield and sometimes between the lines, it’s perhaps in this context that I exploit my qualities the most.
Soler “For a coach, knowing that I’ve played in so many positions gives me more opportunities to play.”
Is your versatility a virtue?
Yes, without a doubt. I’ve often been asked whether I see this as a positive or a negative thing, because as I don’t have a fixed position, I sometimes change position depending on the match or even in the match itself, it’s true that sometimes I’ve thought about it when I didn’t have continuity in a position.
But looking back, the reality is that during my career it’s done me a lot of good, and in the long term it’ll do me a lot of good and it’s good for me.
Over all these years, I’ve shown that I can play as a double pivot, with three in the middle, on the wing, in a counter-attacking system, I’ve shown that I can play in an inside full-back system….. For a coach, knowing that I’ve played in so many positions gives me more possibilities to play.
Soler “They didn’t tell me I was going to stay next year or that I could leave.”
What does Carlos’ body require in the short term?
For the moment, the only thing that’s clear to me is that I’m at West Ham and that I have two years left on my contract at PSG. From now on, I’m going to make the most of the two or three months we’ve got left.
It’s true that it’s been quite a difficult season for everyone, maybe a little more personally because I arrived because of Lopetegui and he was sacked in the middle of the season, a new coach arrives and at first you might think it’s a bad thing because he’s not giving me a chance…..
But I think I was able to adapt straight away. It’s been a complicated year and we don’t have any European ambitions, so I look at the day-to-day and try to do well. From this summer onwards, I’ll be a PSG player. I don’t know, I don’t know what my body demands. They haven’t told me that I’m going to stay next year or that I can leave.
Will you be playing at the Nuevo Mestalla (Valencia’s new stadium)?
Of course I’d like to, yes, yes. I’ve already seen that work has resumed, I hope that the deadlines set for the stadium will be met and, of course, I’d like…
