A triumphant return

He decided that Barcelona and ideology of Spanish football was the best place for him to complete his dream of becoming a professional footballer. Five years and a lot of training sessions later, the forward has returned to Russia to compete in the colours of the most important team in his home city. FC Ural scouted him and decided to sign him, securing a dream move home.

“They’re a really good team, battling in the Russian first division”, explains Nikita Muromskyi (Yekaterinburg 1999). FC Ural are one of the oldest football clubs in the Eurasian country, since their founding in 1930, they have always been competing at the highest level. “They saw some video clips of mine and they called me up to go and do a trial in Cyprus during a tournament. It went really well and they decided to sign me”.

Nikita joined Marcet’s High Performance Academy in 2013, he had already taken part in some of the intensive summer courses before. These courses gave him a chance to get to know up and close the methodology of the academy. “I realised that Spanish football is at a much higher level than Russian football”, recalls Nikita. “I didn’t see much of future for me in my city, thanks to Barcelona I have improved a lot of my abilities like my technique, tactical awareness, my physical attributes as well as mental”.

Nikita’s adaptation process was exemplary. The forward quickly learnt Spanish and showed his positive attitude and desire to progress from the word go. “They welcomed me with open arms. Everyone was really friendly and helpful. At the time there wasn’t many Russians at Marcet and  due to this I was forced to learn Spanish very quickly”.

Additionally, the Russian forward was at an age where he was like a sponge when he came to Fundación Marcet’s Professional Program (MPEP), this is vital when absorbing technical movements and tactical concepts. “Everything I know about football, I’ve learnt it thanks to Marcet. You could say that I was born and bread as a footballer here”, Nikita explains.

“During the years here I’ve faced opposition from all over Europe and I’ve taken part in top level tournaments, on a national scale as well as international. We’ve played against teams like Atlético de Madrid, Villarreal, Getafe, Rayo Vallecano, Levante, Gil Vicente… they’re teams that play high paced football and won’t allow you time to think. Before you receive the ball you automatically need to know what you’re going to do, if not they’ll take the ball off you. It was complicated… but I liked it because it was a challenge, and that was what really made me progress”. And this is what gave him the chance to sign for a team in the Russian first division.