‘I put myself to the test’

Rodrigo Arrambide came to Marcet to improve his game and find a team to play for. “I spent six months at the High Performance Academy and when I returned to Peru I received a call from José Gálvez“, recalls the striker: “In Barcelona I broadened my vision of football and improved both technique and mindset. I also had the chance to take part in the Oviedo Cup, a great tournament that we played during the Easter holidays“.

Rodrigo started playing from a very young age. Football is an inherited passion that runs in the family. “I followed my father through various championships he played in and always brought my own ball along to play with. I then got used to the idea that football was something I could spend the rest of my life doing professionally.” With football on his mind, Rodrigo started looking at ways to make it happen abroad.

His determination, hard work and dedication was already starting to pay off when he started getting calls from his country’s U-15s and U-20s National Team, but it was in Mexico where Rodrigo saw the opportunity to make real progress. The Rafa Jardón JFS Foundation, to be precise. “To meet my goals I needed to put myself to the test with a more demanding approach to training,” he recalls, going in to explain how he came from playing in the lower categories of Alianza Lima and Sport Boys, Peruvian First Division teams. “I wanted to be a different player and training with great Mexican teams really put me on the right track.”

Through the JFS Foundation, Rodrigo had access to Marcet’s High Performance Academy as, in recent years, both institutions have developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the purpose of providing a combination of football and academic training opportunities to young Latin American talents. “Rodrigo did well” says Pere Tarradellas, who trained him during his time in Barcelona. “He stood out for his technique, agility and sociability. He definitely proved to have his head in the right place.”

Qualities, among others, that convinced José Gálvez, the Chimbote team that signed him shortly after his return to Peru. “The team has a new management team, with a serious project at hand,” explains the striker.  “It’s a historic club for its country and is currently on its way back to first division, having recently made a number of investments with this sole purpose in mind. Personally, all I can think about is winning a place in the starting eleven after coming back from this injury, I want to establish myself in this team and stay here in the future. I’m happy, because it’s not everyday that you get an opportunity like this one.”