📺 Villafaina: "I think that the means and the resources that Valencia CF have for this project show the great commitment they have to the VCF Academy"

Miguel Ángel Villafaina is a new face in the coaching staff led by Óscar Fernández at the VCF Mestalla. They are long-time friends and have a common view on how to teach football. He's now facing an exciting challenge with the VCF Mestalla.

It's another step in my career. I think that the means and the resources that Valencia CF have for this project show the great commitment they have to the VCF Academy. Working with Óscar will help me to grow and become better.

When you take on a challenge like this one, which is new and exciting and involves a lot of expectation to help the players become better, it's ambitious for anybody.

I think that Óscar is very clear about what VCF Mestalla has to be. Everybody involved -players and coaching staff- have understood the message. He has repeated many times that we are the 'enablers' for the players. We have to try to help them and we are an important part of their process. They have virtues and talent that we will try to mould in order to bring them up to the first team. That's our job.

He knows the club well. I think that he also knows the structure from within. He's worked on training players at different clubs, with competitive results, and helped many players to get into the dynamic of the first teams. He's demanding, communicative, and has the ability to reach players. He's generous, because he makes us all participants in the process.

He has a lot more notoriety in the media, but in his everyday work he listens and gives importance to everything around us. That is good for a player.

We have a very important responsibility, in the sense that we are part of the integral training of players. We have to concern ourselves with the players having the values that the club want on a personal level. In this case, the club want the players to get into the first team. We have to instil a sense of belonging, and that's something that Óscar repeats a lot: "We don't know if they will become professional players, but we are clear that they will become better people." After that, there is the matter of bringing them closer to improvement on a sporting level, so that tomorrow they can be potential players for the first team.

The entire process is linked between the first team, second team and academy, and that makes it easier for the players to see themselves in that context.

In the few days that we've been working here, I can sense that there is a closeness between the first team squad and us. There's no separation, and I think that this makes the flow of information easier. I sense that the first team see the second team and the academy as an important asset to the squad. That makes us even more responsible in the process with the players.

When you see that there is a high percentage of homegrown players in the first team, it gives meaning to the message. When you see players from VCF Mestalla participating actively in the everyday work by the first team, you can see that you are close.

There have been cases in which players have come up through every team in the academy and played for the first team. That means that their daily work makes sense. We've been instilled with the message that every player has to be clear about what it means to wake up each day and go to Paterna. That feeling is something that we sense. The players get excited knowing that if they work well, then the first team will be watching you and give you the opportunity.