Alberto Moleiro: “If the Barça thing comes out, go ahead, but I think about playing here”

A year ago you were here again. He had another face, another body, another mentality. How much has Alberto Moleiro’s life changed in a year?

The truth is that I have changed a lot. This year has given me experience to establish myself in the first team as a professional, with older people, and that makes you mature and change.

Did you imagine it would be like this?

Not really. I thought I was going to stick my head out a little, get in for a few minutes and still being from the subsidiary, but hey, they gave me the opportunity and I think I made the most of it.

Did you trust your full potential?

Yes, a bit. I’ve also had a bit of luck, everything went well and I’m where I am today.

In addition, with a role, at least from what has been seen in the first two friendlies, protagonist. At the moment he has not coincided with Jonathan Viera and it seems that the coach has given him more or less the same importance in the game.

Well, he has much more than me, more of everything, also responsibility. I don’t see it that way, but yes, the coach is giving me a lot of confidence and you have to return it with good minutes.

But do you tell yourself when Viera isn’t around, and since he’s left the wing to play inside, that he should step up and lead the team?

Yes, I take a lot of responsibility to catch the ball, have personality, face and be myself. Well, let’s see if things work out.

You have improved so much that even FC Barcelona has noticed you. What do you think?

That Barça loves you is a source of pride because that means you’re doing things well, but hey, I’m focused here, on what I have to play here and I’ll be able to come out later.

A certain Pedri said just before the Barça-Madrid in Las Vegas that he had spoken with you in the summer and that he had told you what the club was like and that he wished he could be with him.

i didn’t know i said that [se ríe]. Yes, I was with him one day playing padball -fusion between paddle tennis and soccer- and talking by message a lot. He has told me what life is like there, that it is very good and that he would welcome me quite well, he told me.

And on a sporting level, what did he tell you?

That there they give opportunities to young people if you deserve it and that it is a good place to grow as a footballer.

How was that meeting with Pedri in Tenerife?

It was one afternoon that we went to play padball in Santa Cruz and he was quite normal, with a Youth Laguna shirt that Pedri put behind him. All the children approached him to ask for photos and such and I saw the magnitude that he has nationally and worldwide. We had a great time, and the truth is that he beat me, it must be said.

Although you couldn’t play with him at UD, at least you lived together, right?

Yes, I lived with him for a year in the Yellow House – the UD residence. I was in Juvenil C and he was in the first team. It was my first year here. There I met him.

Did they always hit it off?

Yes, we always played Play, football-tennis a lot, we balanced the afternoons because sometimes I trained with Las Palmas Atlético or with the first team… Yes, we have a very good relationship.

You extended your contract with UD Las Palmas until 2016. Was it more your decision than anyone else’s? Because he could have been released next year.

Yes, it was a good decision that I made to be calm. The contract gives me peace of mind to be well.

So I take it you’re in no hurry to get out?

Yes. If I was free, it would be bad vibes with the club and that wasn’t convenient either.

Someone must have told you that it was better to be free and negotiate with anyone from January…

Yes, but me and my representative always went to the same one. We were very close and reached an agreement.

Was the renewal on the condition that, if it comes out, it’s only to FC Barcelona?

I have no idea, but I think not. Nope.

Of all the teams that have been interested in you, is Barça the one you are most excited about?

Yes, because it is the club that has represented me since I was little. He always wore a Barça shirt. It is a very big club.

Whatever happens, will you play for UD Las Palmas this coming season?

Yes, yes, 100%. Well, let’s see, I’m going to say 99. I’ll leave 1% just in case [se ríe]But I think so.

If the clubs resume negotiations, would it open the possibility of leaving now?

Man, if the Barça thing comes out, then go ahead, because I think we also have to grow as a footballer, but I’m not thinking about that right now. I think about playing here and that the season will be here.

What other teams have knocked on your door?

Those who have left. I can not say more [se ríe].

The real Madrid?

Madrid too? I have no idea about that, but if you are interested, all the better.

What should Alberto Moleiro improve at a football level this season?

I think I have to improve my accuracy in front of goal. Above all, stepping into the area more, reaching higher and scoring 10 or 12 goals per season since this year was a little more learning. I didn’t set a goal goal for myself, but I did play a good game, help the team and step more into the area.

Last year he achieved three, against Ibiza, Amorebieta and Oviedo. Which one do you stay with?

With Oviedo, without a doubt, because at the level of the fans, with everyone there… I felt that this match was important and that we had to appear. It was lucky that the ball fell to me and I put it in.

I was talking with Viera the other day and he told me that he did it a lot with you, that he gives you advice and other things, and that he should also have more pause in his actions, without so much acceleration. Has he already put it into practice?

Yes, little by little. For example, the other day against Lille he started and he saw that it was not the time and he backed down and started again. I think it’s also because of my age, that I have the anxiety to go forward, forward, but you have to go a little more slowly, that’s true.

He also said that you will earn more money than him in football.

[se ríe] It is not known. He is very big.

It also revealed that you told him sometimes that you couldn’t get to his. What do you admire most about his game?

What I tell him is that when he has the ball, the rivals respect him and they are not crazy about attacking him. I receive the ball and one comes to hit me. He has more tranquility, more space. But he tells me that he has earned it and that he will touch me in due time.

Is there equipment for the ascent?

Yes, I think that now the arrival of Vitolo is going to add us a lot because he is an elite player. He comes from Atlético de Madrid. I see a good team the truth. We are still in pre-season and not much can be said, but I think we will be there.

Last season UD began to come back in Valladolid, just after the defeat against Girona and when everyone stopped talking about promotion. It’s better that way?

Yes. We don’t have to put so much pressure on ourselves from the first game because we came up short last year. You don’t have to go with anxiety, but you have to go little by little winning and winning and that will put you on top.

They tell me he’s hooked on video games. That’s right?

Yes, to the Play. I have it downstairs and I’m in there almost always.

With whom do you share a room in this concentration?

With Álvaro –Hernández–, a boy from the subsidiary, but Clau, Sergi Cardona, Coco… We got together there a group.

Who’s the best?

The one who distributes? I would tell you that I am, but that is ugly to say, so Sergi is very good, Coco too and I a little bit.

Have you made a living in Gran Canaria?

Yes, it is very similar to the one in Tenerife. I’m living with my mother and everything makes me very pleasant.

What do you like most about Gran Canaria that there is not in Tenerife and vice versa?

Las Canteras beach, for example, you go to the city and you have a beach and also a good walk. And what I miss is the food. In Tenerife for me the guachinches are better.

Now that he’s a footballer, he still can’t visit them often…

Yeah, I have to put that aside, but hey, I miss that a little bit.

Pedri has always talked about Iniesta being his idol. Who would you like to be like?

I do see him more similar to Iniesta. Maybe I’m a little more vertical and I look more towards the door, but yes, I like Iniesta a lot. I also liked Xavi a lot, what he was more leisurely. I don’t know, I don’t have a reference to follow.

Last year he started from the left many times. Has the coach told you that this year he is going to have a more interior role, as he has shown you in the first two friendlies?

The truth is that the coach is now putting me in that position, but for example in last preseason with Pepe Mel I also played as an inside player against Espanyol, Wolves and all the teams, and then he placed me on the wing. That depends on where the team is in the season. The fact is that I like that position.

And how is he feeling with Garcia Pepper?

He talks to me a lot, especially during the breaks when we change exercises, he tells me several jokes. We talk a lot about the position, about how I have to position myself, the breaks and all that.

I know you are going to tell me that the fact that he was called up by the U19 is very good, but the truth is that every time that happened last season, he was always a substitute on the return leg and sometimes for several games. Now that he has changed his role on the team, would he be grateful if they didn’t cut him?

I don’t see it as cutting my projection, but as an opportunity. It is always an honor to be called by your country. If you say no now, maybe in the absolute… I don’t know, I’m always very proud that the national team calls me up because few can say so.