EXCLUSIVE: Pablo Hernandez talks Leeds, Kalvin Phillips and coaching

The current coach of Castellon's reserve team, which plays in Spain's 3rd RFEF, has spoken with Jose Luis Gual in an interview that can be heard during the breaks of the football matches narrated on Flashscore this week.

Hi, Pablo. How was it to take the next step to become a coach?

"Well, it's something that had always caught my attention and was always on my mind. After a year since I retired, and having learned from playing with the Castellon first team in the day-to-day training sessions, I decided to take the step and was given the opportunity here at the club - what better place to do it than here at my club, at Castellon."

Which two clubs across your long playing career have left the biggest mark on you?

Valencia and Leeds have been the clubs where I have spent the most time. Obviously, those two clubs, along with Club Deportivo Castellon, are very important to me. If I had to choose just one, I would choose Castellon because of what it means to me.

"Not only because I played in the youth team and these last two years of my career in the first team, but because it is the club of my city, where I started watching football in the First Division with my father, who took me to Castalia.

"And then I stay with Leeds. There were five years there where I felt very loved, very important, where I managed to get promoted to the Premier League and where, the truth is, I really enjoyed myself as a player."

That was the year Leeds were promoted to the Premier League, with your goal as well. You are one of the players still idolised by the club and in that season you were perhaps with two of the highest-level players right now, Kalvin Phillips and Ben White.

"Yes, that year of promotion, Kalvin Phillips was a young player who had come through the Leeds academy, a very important player for us and Manchester City paid 50 million euros for him, I think. He hasn't had the luck there; he hasn't had the opportunity to show his worth.

"We know the quality of the players there and in his position, too, because he has had Rodri, who has been a regular for (Pep) Guardiola and who I think is the best midfielder in the world, and Kalvin has had to look for minutes elsewhere, but he is a kid who is physically a plane, he is a bull and he plays football very well. Hopefully now he can get his career back on track, show his worth and return to City tomorrow."

And in White's case, can he still aspire to do more?

"Yes, Ben was a very strong bet by Victor Orta at Leeds at the time because he was on loan at Brighton in Ligue 1 and it was a bet by the club and Victor Orta.

"He had an incredible year and then he returned to Brighton, to the Premier League and then Arsenal signed him, also paying a fairly significant amount of money.

"And he is playing almost all of his time at Arsenal at a high level and the truth is he is a player who was key for us in that year of promotion."

Do you think that Rodri's absence for Manchester City can finally bring Arsenal closer to the title this year?

"Well, last year it was very close, the truth is that the Premier League is a league I follow a lot. I watch a lot of games and last year it was very, very close, and this year I think it will be similar. Everyone knows the importance of Rodri for his team, for City, he is an irreplaceable player.

"I make a comparison a bit with (Sergio) Busquets at Barcelona, ​​that Barcelona after Busquets has not been able to find anyone with the ability he had both to defend and then attack with the ball.

"They are unique players, that no matter how much you look you will not find anyone of his level and I think he can suffer a little from it, but even so City continues to be a great team."

In 2009, Vicente del Bosque called you up to the Spain team ahead of the Confederations Cup in South Africa due to a last-minute injury to Andres Iniesta, who recently announced his retirement. What was the experience like?

"Yes, that's right. From here I wish the best for Andres Iniesta in his new stage because he is part of the history of Spanish football, both at club and national team level. I think he is one of the most important players this country has ever had and, as he says, I finished the season with Valencia and I was going on holiday.

"I had my suitcase packed to go with my friends and I received a call to go to Madrid, that Vicente del Bosque had called me because of Iniesta's injury.

"In fact, I arrived and they gave me his number, the number six that he wore in the national team and for me it was a great honour. Obviously, he was a different player, a different position, but well, I was lucky enough to fulfil a dream of going to the national team and with the anecdote that I was replacing Iniesta."

Looking back at history a little, exactly one year later, in the same place, with many of those players in that same squad, with the same coach, Spain reached the pinnacle, becoming world champions. As someone who was so close to all of them, how did you experience it and what did you feel?

"Well, imagine, it was a huge joy. I remember being a Valencia player, having been with them, I went with my friends to the Fuente de Castelli to celebrate the national team's titles.

"For me, it was a source of pride. As I said, it was a dream to have been able to go to the national team and to have been able to play alongside players like Iniesta, Xavi, (Iker) Casillas, (Sergio) Ramos, Xabi Alonso, David Villa, David Silva...

"For me, it was like living a dream. It's something I'll always carry with me, having had that opportunity and the luck of having been there.

"Obviously, you're left with the thorn in your side of not having been able to be in a competition like a World Cup or a European Championship, but well, I'm aware of the difficulty it entailed to be there with the quality of players there were. I feel privileged to have been able to be there with them."

Is this a unique generation? I say this because we are in a moment where Spain have just won the Nations League and the European Championship. Also, they won it with a different generation of footballers, but is it different or should we also value this team?

"I think we have to value it, because as you say, that generation, that treble of the Euro, World Cup and Euro, is something very, very, very difficult to repeat, but we are now seeing a very young team, with very good players.

"It is true that perhaps it is not as defined a style as that team and with so much superiority, it is that in that team that won those titles, you saw the rivals and you did not see any capable of being at their level.

"Today it is true there are teams like France and England who also have good generations and you know they will be there fighting for those titles, but I think the best thing we have is that most of them are young people with a lot of future and with a lot of room for growth and improvement, and why not dream of repeating something similar."

This is with a coach who is also a bit like Del Bosque, low profile, nothing like Luis Enrique, for example.

"Yes, I think it's a big surprise for everyone. Luis de la Fuente has shown a lot in the lower categories of the national team and perhaps many people, because he doesn't have a big name or hasn't done great things at club level, thought he wouldn't be capable.

"But I think he has shown he is more than capable and what he has achieved in the lower categories is no coincidence - he has already demonstrated it in the European Championship. He is a coach with a great future in the new national team."

Before finishing, I have to ask you about Valencia, a club that is also close to your heart. The fans are very worried about the ownership and very delicate situation at a sporting level. How do you feel about that?

"It is a bit of a shame from the outside, as you say, it is not the best of situations, neither at an institutional level nor at a sporting level.

"Many times, at an institutional level, we have already known in recent years that the fans are very unhappy and they need a shake-up, a change or something, but if you add that at a sporting level things are also going badly, everything is negative. 

"It seems everything is going to get worse and I hope it changes, especially at a sporting level too, because of what the club and the fans mean to me, especially also because of Pipo, because of (Ruben) Baraja who has been a teammate of mine and I appreciate him very much. 

"I hope the situation turns around both at a sporting and institutional level and we see Valencia again soon fighting for what it has to fight for, which is to be much higher up and to be in Europe."

Is there anywhere in particular you would like coach? Leeds or perhaps at Valencia's Mestalla?

"Yes, obviously the clubs that are so important to me would be a dream, but it is something I am not considering at the moment.

"First, I want to learn a lot, I have a lot to learn, see if this is what really fulfils me and what I like, and in the future we will see what it holds."