Reguilón: "I'm very excited to play"

“I’m excited about this adventure!” beamed Sergio Reguilón as he pulled on his new Spurs shirt at Hotspur Way.

Joining us from Real Madrid on a contract until 2025, the 23-year-old left-back capped a successful loan at Sevilla last season by lifting the Europa League trophy, earning a place in the competition’s official ‘Squad of the Season’ and winning many admirers for his performances at home and on the continent.

Now he’s venturing out of Spain for the first time in his career and can’t wait to bring his exciting skillset to the Premier League here at Spurs.

“I’m very happy to be here!” smiled the flying full-back. “I really like the club’s philosophy and the coach. I like the club’s project and I’m eager to grow as a player. Tottenham have world-class players and a world-class coach, and I want to work with them.

“I think that I’m coming to the best and most difficult league in the world. I’m excited about this adventure. I think that I can bring joy and energy to the team with my style. The manager knows my game, my pros and cons, and that’s why he brought me here. I’m happy, and I feel the responsibility to pay back on the field the confidence that Tottenham, the coach and Mr Levy have put in me.”

Among Sergio’s experiences for Real were appearances in the Madrid Derby and El Classico, while he was part of victories over the likes of Roma, Wolves, Manchester United and Inter Milan during Sevilla’s run to Europa League glory last term.

“The games that I’ve played in Spain gave me the experience necessary to be at a club like Tottenham, but I think this will be absolutely different to anything that I’ve experienced before in football,” he said. “In the end, it’s football, but the games will be more physical and faster, so I have to adapt and compete. I’m very excited to play. I can bring some positive things to the team and I hope to do it as soon as possible.”

Remarkably, this isn’t the first time Sergio has been to our Training Centre. Back in September, 2014, he was part of the Real Madrid youth team that contested the Under-18 Premier League Champions Cup at our Enfield base – we lifted the trophy after beating Benfica in the final, having drawn 1-1 with Los Blancos earlier in the tournament.

“The training ground is unbelievable – honestly, I can’t believe how great it is!” he added. “Everything is top. I played here when I was 16 and at that moment I was shocked by the training ground and the facilities, comparing them to the rest of Europe. I remember telling my parents about the facilities here.

“I’ve only seen the stadium through photos, but it’s insane, incredible! It’s amazing, and even though I want to play there, I’m more excited thinking about the fans coming back to the stadium to play in front of them, knowing that we need their support to achieve big things this year.”

Of course, Sergio arrives alongside Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale, who returns to us on loan some seven years after leaving for the Bernabeu. Sergio has been a fan of the Welsh international star for years, dating all the way back to his sparkling performances for us against Inter in the Champions League in 2010.

“Bale has been an idol for me since that game against Inter,” he explained. “Since that game in the Champions League I started to follow him, to watch YouTube videos of him and I became a big fan. I bought his shirts, his books – everything about him. And now being able to be here with him, in the club that raised him… I showed him on the plane the tweets that I wrote to him, and the pictures that I have from him, and he enjoyed that! He told me that Tottenham is a top club – those were his words. He said that everything here is top. He praised the training ground, the players, everything. He didn’t say a single negative thing about the club and at that moment I thought ‘great!’

“It's amazing to be here with him at this club, looking to achieve big things.”