The secrets of Deulofeu's takeoff in Italy: "Now I play with a clean mind"

• Serie A This is the classification in Italy

In the avant-garde house in Udine where Gerard Deulofeu (Riudarenes, 1994) lives, nobody is listened to as much as Chris.

He is not a year and a half old, but the little boy claims his father over and over again during the conversation with EL MUNDO.

"Now it doesn't stop with dad and mom," says the soccer player, smiling, after talking about his eldest daughter, five years old and the result of a previous relationship, and the third child (also a girl) who is on the way.

He is perceived in a cloud, not only because he is signing the best numbers of his career at Udinese (12 goals and four assists), but also because of that stability that, at 28 years old, has allowed him to atone for some sins of the past.

Tell me about that little Gerard.

Where does his passion for football come from? It arises since he had 1,000 balls at home, kicking them at all hours.

I started at the age of four in the village team.

My father was a regional soccer player and he took me to the fields.

There he saw that I liked him too. But there comes a time when football stops being a hobby. Until I came to Barcelona, ​​it was a hobby.

I was just thinking of having a good time.

It is clear that when you arrive at a club like Barça, where the chosen children are, and each course you have to be the best because if they don't take you out the following year, you discover the requirement.

Since I was 10 or 12 years old, I have in my head that every weekend I have to be the best. Who was your inspiration? Wow!

No Barça players have passed since I was there...

But the one who has touched me the most has been Ronaldinho.

It was sheer madness.

I remember that he was very young and we would secretly go to see him at the Camp Nou training sessions.

We were at La Masia and we did our things to be able to watch the training sessions.

Later, it is clear that Guardiola's time was a festival. He experienced that live. Yes, I was lucky enough to make my debut and play a few games.

It was wonderful.

Of course, there is the thorn of not having been a whole course because imagine what he would have learned with Guardiola.He debuted very quickly with Barça (17 years old).

Is it difficult to digest success at such a young age? It depends on your environment, how professional you are or how organized your life is.

At that time I was young, I did not have the right context and it took its toll on me. Did you feel vertigo? It is true that there is a boom!

an explosion that is incredible.

But vertigo, pressure or whatever you want to call it, no.

I have a very strong character and I trust a lot in myself.

I have suffered more from not knowing what I needed at each moment.

Delofeu, during the match against Inter. Andrea BressanuttiAP

At 28, he is signing the best records of his career at Udinese.

What has changed?He has changed absolutely everything.

After the thousand experiences I've had since I was 17 when I debuted, now we find a Gerard who has the perfect context: an organized life, he prepares matches to the millimeter, he has all kinds of help... And that makes you reach the a totally clean field, with the focus only on the game and with everything else in your life organized.

What is the path? It is will, it is a lot of sacrifice, but, of course, it is believing in the environment and in the professionals who are by your side.

I am working with Regenera Elite and they are my fundamental pillar together with my family.

I faithfully believe in them and that is why things work so well. What is this work based on? Regenera are four experts in psychoneuroimmunology.

The food and the four indications that they give me about food is almost the least of it.

What is done is to prepare you in the best possible way, to the millimeter, so that you arrive with all the focus to the match.

That means physically and mentally.

And that mentally involves personal issues, organization of your life... A thousand things that we work on together.

Intermittent fasting helps us a lot, it's crazy how you feel and the energy you can give on the field, but I take it much more on a mental level.

Now I go to the field with a clean mind, that's why I yield more.

I don't need motivation, I have it inside. He also trains every detail of a game to anticipate the plays.

How is that? I have a team of analysts called Go Up Players, which I have been with for four or five years.

We work after the game on the analysis of the plays I have made.

We prepare the matches in the best way and you see things that later appear and happen in the matches.

If you see it, when it really happens you already have an advantage because you know it.

It no longer surprises you.

They say that sometimes he takes his Tupperware when he has a meal. [Laughs] We have a lot of Argentines in the team and you know: that if a barbecue here, a barbecue there... We get together a lot and during the week they don't take me out of my place because I am a soldier.

To prepare for the match I have to eat healthy every day.

After the game, I go with my friends, with my family and have my festival. Do you define yourself as a soldier? Yes,

It's a word we use a lot.

With that word I mean to have everything perfectly organized.

A soldier includes sacrifice, discipline, personality and desire.

We are that because in the end we seek excellence and I like to use that word a lot. He has played for six teams in his career.

Is it difficult for you to take root? One of the things we have worked on (with Regenera) is about the many team changes I had.

As soon as I felt a little uncomfortable or noticed something, I would change and do it without having put up a full fight.

Now I know where I am.

At Udinese I'm happy and I could stay for a long time. Until this season, injuries have been holding him back.

What has he learned?The three injuries I had were much more mental.

It could be that they came for situations that stressed me.

Like it wasn't quite right.

From there came knee injuries or a stress fracture.

The root can be moments in my life that have caused a lot of stress. Not even two years ago that fatal struggle with Van Dijk in which the crusader broke.

What went through your mind? At that moment you suffer a lot, because apart from the pain you know what is coming to you.

But I already had a very positive mindset.

I was surrounded by very good professionals and they made me face that injury in a very positive way.

Right in that injury I met Regenera, who came from the hand of

But I already had a very positive mindset.

I was surrounded by very good professionals and they made me face that injury in a very positive way.

Right in that injury I met Regenera, who came from the hand of

But I already had a very positive mindset.

I was surrounded by very good professionals and they made me face that injury in a very positive way.

Right in that injury I met Regenera, who came from the hand of

, who is a friend of mine and I talk a lot with him.

He has a lot to do with how you take the injury.

He listens to his son in the background.

Has paternity marked you? Especially in the organization of life.

The family makes you go to the countryside with a lot of tranquility and a lot of love.

That is something very important. Can you imagine yourself in the World Cup? For me, the national team is the best.

I debuted very young and it was a unique experience.

Now there is a lot of competition, but one never rules out going back.

It's my dream.

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