Alexei Rojas, a young goalkeeper who plays for the Arsenal youth team was recently interviewed by AS, on his future at Arsenal and the Columbian youth team.
Being born in England to a Columbian father, and a Russian mother, the youngster earlier this week chose to go back to his father’s roots and join the ranks of the Colombian national youth team.
Rojas was initially part of Chelsea’s youth setup for three years before moving across town to join the Arsenal U-15’s two years ago.
“In one of the games I was seen by a Chelsea scout, they invited me to a development center, I was with them for three years, it was a nice time, but I didn’t stay because I never made my way to the club’s academy.”
“I’ve been with Arsenal for two years. I’m in the U-15 squad. I’m proud to be at Arsenal. Football is my life, I want to be the best goalkeeper in the world and being with Arsenal I have the opportunity to fulfill my dreams. I want to continue progressing at the club.”
“In recent years a very good connection has been created with the Arsenal first team and the lower levels. Today there are several academy players in the first team. Sometimes Mikel Arteta comes to see our training sessions.”
It’s easy to see that the youngster is very excited to play and represent his country on the international level, and become one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
“I hope to do things well in this opportunity given to me by the Colombian national team. I feel a better connection with the country and with Colombian culture than with English or Russian culture and I prefer Colombian football because it’s played with more gut, more spark and more heart.”
While talking about his idols, Alexei admitted he looks up to his former teammate and Chelsea legend Petr Cech, as well as former Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina, who was Columbian as well.
“Peter Cech was one of my idols, I greatly admired how he played and he was always calm. He was different from the others. Like David Ospina because he’s the best Colombian goalkeeper, he’s been in the best teams in Europe, I’m always impressed with how he plays.”
“When I was at Chelsea I was able to chat with Cech, he gave me advice to improve in many technical aspects. Later, when I arrived at Arsenal, he was playing his last season as a professional; the club contacted us and he gave me a signed shirt.”
The youngster also talked about the growing number of Columbian players now playing in the top leagues of Europe, “Today there are many Colombian players around the world, it’s one of the countries that exports a large number of players. Here in England, we have James Rodríguez, Yerry Mina, Ian Poveda, José Izquierdo. Back then there were David Ospina and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado. I had the opportunity to meet Ospina, when he was playing at Arsenal.”
“I live near the Arsenal training venue and there I had the opportunity to talk to him and meet him. Arsenal held a Christmas party for the children and they invited us, the whole squad was there. Ospina was there, I talked to him, we talked about football and I felt a connection with him. I also have signed jerseys from Yerry Mina and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado.”
