Malaga CF | Rubén Castro: “I want to continue; I come with the illusion of a 25-year-old player”

Juanfran, Bustinza, Fran Sol, Rubén Castro and Febas, in the presentation this Thursday. / Photo: MIGUE FERNÁNDEZ / Video: Pedro J. Quero

Striker and signings Bustinza, Juanfran, Fran Sol and Febas agree on managerial change over Malaga aspirations for next season

Málaga organized the presentation of the five signatures that were missing in one fell swoop. All are in full pre-season and they intend to reach the best possible form very soon. These are the cases of defenders Juanfran and Bustinza, midfielder Febas and forwards Fran Sol and Rubén Castro. Among the newcomers, only Manolo Reina was missing, whose coming out happened earlier. All exude great optimism, a very solid hope to seek new goals (promotion, without a doubt, is the final goal). For the veteran striker, his signing for the blue and white team was something that was clear to him from the first moment. “I came because of the confidence the coach gave me, that’s why I’m here,” he said, while clarifying why he’s still in football at 41: “I want to continue, to be ambitious. I come with the illusion of a 25-year-old player. I feel good and injuries respect me, that’s why I continue. Hopefully this year he continues to score a lot of goals.”

All five players agreed that goals now become very important, with their minds on the Premier League. For Rubén Castro, there is no doubt about the path that Málaga hopes to take from now on. “They wanted something more for this season. They pretended to aspire to something more. The coach and Manolo (Gaspar) gave me confidence, they told me about a good project. For me , being here is a challenge, and I hope we can achieve the goal”, said the Canarian player, who placed special emphasis on the need to aim for the top positions in the rankings from the first moment. “We all know this competition is long and tough, but I have the illusion of fighting to be on top.”

The presentation was attended by the five aforementioned footballers as well as the sporting director, Manolo Gaspar, who revealed that Rubén Castro has the option of extending his contract for a second season if a series of goals are achieved which he qualifies as a “ambitious” both personally and collectively.

When it comes to the word ‘promotion’ and the convenience of talking about this issue while the ball hasn’t started rolling, midfielder Bustinza was pretty clear in his analysis. “We all start from the same position and we footballers set challenges. We are several teams and we all want the same goal. The attitude that we see and the mentality that the team has must go in the same direction (it refers to going up),” said the player, who assured that his absence from training was rather for warn and hope that in a few days be at the top again.

Regarding the work the team is doing with Pablo Guede, Bustinza confessed that he is currently training various options to put them into practice when needed during the championship. “It’s true that we work on different systems and I feel comfortable. We are not closed to always playing three behind“, he explained.

The other striker in the presentation, Fran Sol, is very clear that Málaga urgently needed to strengthen the attack, but he does not want to commit on the number of goals he could score next season , even if he wanted to exceed thirty. “I would like to score the goals that give points. If we get ten each (Rubén Castro is the other) and they represent 60 points between the two, it would be much better for the team”, he stressed, while specifying that the delays in his signatures were motivated by the logical problems that exist in Ukraine (his club is Dynamo kyiv).

The striker justified the club’s decision in relation to the arrival of older players than the previous season. “The profile they opted for is that of experience, because I think they failed in that, as they told us. It will bring that point of maturity. It will be a very good complement with the youngsters of the youth team to form a good team, that’s what it’s all about,” he insisted.

He also revealed that, from what has been seen so far, he gets on well with Rubén Castro, who, in principle, will be his attacking partner in matches where Malaga use two strikers. “In the few training sessions we have together, we complement each other well. The good thing about him is that he places wonderfully and has a gift for the goal. I will give this work, effort and goals to improve and dream of something beautiful.

Febas returns after completing a half-return with Malaga last season. He said there were “options not to come to Malaga, but I already said it last year, I wanted to continue. The club did everything to keep it going and I also did my leave. I hope it’s going to be a great year.” The player also spoke about the pre-season and the work that Guede is setting in motion: “He wants us all to adapt to more than one position, to have more possibilities. We talked about different positions, but always two or three.

The medium admitted that the previous year had been complicated, but “despite what we suffered, I was happy. The first option was to go back. I am very happy to be here again, we are working and giving everything to be better than last year”, repeated the footballer, who described the changes taking place in the team. “Yes, it is changed. In the summer you have the whole pre-season, it’s different, because at Christmas we only came two. Now, there are quite a few new people, and others who have left. I see a lot of hunger in the team, the desire to do things well, to work in training. We work hard and without complaining about everything that is put in place. We are very excited. Last season we were also excited, but things didn’t happen,” he said.

Full-back Juanfran was one of the clearest and most powerful when it came to speaking during Málaga’s massive player presentation. He refers to pre-season training, which he considers fundamental, and emphasizes insistently: “The illusion has returned. As a visitor I played and La Rosaleda and it was always a screwed up pitch if the fans were tuned in. If we have that, it will be a point in favor“. To which he added: “It must be an important year, with the illusion of bringing Malaga back to the first division.”

And the defense continued to talk about the preparation of the team at that time. ” We work a lot. These workouts are the fuel of the season. If you want to achieve great things, you have to work hard now. It’s normal, it’s pre-season and you have to sweat,” said the player, who admitted there was some doubt about him as he has just played outside of Spain. “Before my departure, I had played 200 matches in the first division. We will talk on the pitch and see if they are successful or not. It’s a club with a lot of pressure and demands, but I’m calm and motivated,” he said.