Arley Rodríguez on his future: “I have options but I don’t want to look until Alianza decides” | INTERVIEW

There are days of great expectation in Alliance Lima. With the start of the preseason just around the corner (December 20, in principle), the current Peruvian soccer champion has not yet announced reinforcements and, for now, only the renewal of Wilmer Aguirre was made official. In key hours, from the relaxing Island of San Andrés, in the Caribbean Sea (Colombia), Arley Rodriguez awaits with some uncertainty the definition of its future. You try to disconnect to enjoy your vacation, but you can’t. In the middle of the wait, he takes a few minutes to talk with Deporte Total and affirm – if it was not yet clear – his wish to stay one more year at Matute.

—Did you talk to Professor Carlos Bustos these days about your situation in Alianza?

I spoke days after the final, but it was to congratulate us on what we achieved. Around there I said that he could be a starter, that he deserved a little more. I thanked him for giving me the opportunity to be on the team. After I tried to disconnect a bit, I left my representative in charge because sometimes I get stressed with it and I can’t enjoy my vacation.

“In these weeks there have been many rumors about your future.”

Yes, they said that he was not going to renew when there was still no certainty. The first to go out and say if I renew or not, would be the club and me. I imagine that this week will be decided, because there is little left for the preseason and also because the club knows that as a person I was always impeccable and I deserve to make a decision for me to see what to do with my future.

– Have you been able to completely disconnect from the whole issue of your renewal or departure from the club?

It is difficult to do it one hundred percent. You look at social networks, the comments. It’s complicated, but I try to do it for my own good. I am calm because I did things well. I want to stay, but I am not awake to leave because I would leave proud and, what is more important for me, with the respect and affection of the great fans. I would go through the front door. Leaving a club like Alianza without owing anything to anyone, as a champion and giving everything leaves me calm. It is no secret to anyone that I want to continue, that I have much more to give and I am sure that I can fight for a position in the eleven next year.

—Days ago you uploaded a story to your Instagram with a message: “1% chance, 99% faith”, did it have to do with your renewal?

Yes. There was a lot of talk that they were not going to renew me because of the number of foreigners, but until now they have not told me that. Neither the board nor the teacher. I think this week they will meet. There is a lot of speculation and it is normal in a club as big as Alianza. I also experienced it at Atlético Nacional. For now I am enjoying with my family, this week will be crucial, I have options but I do not want to look until Alianza decides. We will wait for what God wants because he is in control of everything.

“Did the percentage of chances go up in these hours?”

The club has not confirmed anything. In networks it is seen that they have gratefully fired some colleagues, then the fan looks and wonders why they have not fired Arley if he is not going to renew, or why they do not confirm his renewal. They are surely looking at options, touching the latest topics. I speak with Oslimg Mora, Edhu Oliva, with the captain (Josepmir Ballón), and they say that the club has not reported anything, they are also waiting. I am sure that Alianza is putting together to have a great 2022 and continue to grow after what we went through in 2021.

“Have you set a waiting limit for Alianza’s decision?”

This week is decisive. I do not think that Alianza wants to disrespect me and not have an answer this week, if they are not going to count on me to search for my future. I was always transparent and I don’t think the club will pass this week. It is what my representative knows and I told him that we would expect a “yes” or a “no”. I am not going to deny that it would make me sad to leave, but I will always be eternally grateful to the institution because it gave me the opportunity to be champion. They know that a “no” is not going to cause me bitterness about the club. I am waiting and I accept that you are looking at your options.

—You also have other options, what leagues are they from?

I have several, thank God. A couple from Peruvian, Colombian and other countries football. The title opens doors for you. But, as I told everyone, I have not wanted to touch that issue because the priority is Alianza.

—Alianza hires you in the last days of March, with the tournament already started, did you have other options or was it the only one?

I did have some offers. A week before I had planned to arrive in Cienciano, in Colombia there were a couple, but I was having a very complicated family moment due to the health of my child who was born a little ill. When everything seemed closed, Professor Bustos called me and I did not hesitate. That’s where everything this year was lived.

—An incredible 2021, from a movie. From the beginning, did you trust that you could become champions?

The idea was to stay in the history of Alianza, whether promoting it or not. Then they told us that we were going to play League 1. We were a totally new team, it was difficult to adapt at the beginning. We had not so good games, but we got to know each other, creating a family. We knew we had to play our way because we had nothing to spare. We always told each other that everyone had to put on their overalls, everyone attack and defend. That was what we did and in the end we saw the results.

– At what point did you realize that you were to be champions?

The match that scored us was the one we lost for the Bicentennial Cup (NdR: 3-2 on penalties against Cultural Santa Rosa of League 2). The next day there was a meeting where important things were discussed, always with respect, the group took it in the best way. That game made us react that we had not won anything, despite having done a good Phase 1. After that day we concentrated on training that month that we had before Phase 2 began and that helped us face the matches that were they came.

—How much did having Jefferson Farfán have on the team?

Jefferson is a great person, very humble. We made a great friendship. He was one of the first to receive me in the dining room, before this issue of his injury came to pass. Then he was absent for a long time, he was missed, the group needed him and he knew it. There was talk that he was not going to play again, but the group supported him, told him that he was very strong, very important and that we were going to wait for him just for the final where he had to lift the trophy, and blessed be God so it was.

“Who did you have the most affinity with on the team?”

With Oslimg Mora. He’s an amazing boy. His ability to react to a disastrous 2020 for him was incredible. He told me, but he took the bad and learned, strengthened him in 2021 and today he is one of the best full-backs in Peruvian football. He did not have a good time at the beginning, but as I told him, only he and the group that had formed was in charge of erasing that disastrous image that 2020 had left. It was a difficult challenge, but it was the opportunity to remain in history and the fans deserved it. The Alianza fan never leaves, he always supports us and that is what makes the club bigger.

—You were one of the most affected by the system change

Yes, the system change affected me a lot. I’m a winger, but I think I was one of the few who played in three or four positions (right winger, left winger, 9, inside midfielder). The change affected me, but it was already up to me to complain and lower my arms or revolutionize everything in the good sense of the word and contribute to the team. I knew that at that moment the team felt better with a line of five defenders, three insiders and two forwards. So I had to train myself for when it’s time to enter, in whatever position is needed. Sometimes I came in and the team was crestfallen, so I was in charge of raising the spirits of my teammates. I wanted to play 90 minutes, because I was training for that, I felt that I was ready to play 90 minutes, at the time I told the teacher, but I understood what was best for the group and I continued. Apart from the title, for me the most important thing is that I earned the respect of the fan. That will stay with me forever.

—Did Carlos Bustos talk to you when he decided to change the game system?

No, we don’t talk about it. Nor did I ask for an explanation. One as a professional has to accept the decisions of the leader of the group. He knew that out there I was not entirely happy, but I never stopped training, demanding myself, and when I entered I gave my best.

—You won the affection of the fan despite the fact that you started only in 5 of the 23 games you played.

It is rare for a foreigner to win the affection of the fan by entering from the bank. Normally people see that a foreigner comes who occupies a place, who surely charges more, and then only plays for 20 or 30 minutes, it is difficult to earn respect. Even more so if it is a demanding fan like Alianza’s and that had been hit by 2020. That is what I have left. I am very happy. If I have to leave, I was happy and, as I have said, I will return to Matute to encourage this beautiful club. And if I stay, they will continue to see that Arley delivered, who will continue fighting to enter the eleven and surely with two tournaments I will have more minutes, more chances to continue giving my best.

“What time of year do you stay?”

With the final whistle. I asked God to give me that great blessing and it was. The final whistle, you won’t believe me, I thought it was a dream. I was talking about it with Edhu Oliva, I said: “And now what? I don’t know if this is real. But we are champions ”. If at the beginning of the year you asked all of Peru, 2% believed in us, our families and some fans who always believe in the team. But from there… when we arrived there was talk that many of us did not have a club, that the captain (Ballón) had just descended, that Hernán Barcos was of advanced age, that Farfán could not play, that Arley was not for Alianza Lima. All those rumors reach you, but we shield ourselves. When the final whistle was given, I looked at my euphoric teammates and I’m sure the same thing was going through their heads, that if it was real that we had won, that we had won the title, especially against a rival as brave as Sporting Cristal. I lived it like a movie.

“Did you imagine all this when you signed for Alianza?”

When I arrived I was very nervous. How my time at Alianza was going to be, how my relationship with the fans was going to be, and now look at how my 2021 ended. There is my medal adorning my room and surely one of the most important of my life.

—In your personal showcase you have 8 titles, including a Libertadores, a Sudamericana and a Recopa Sudamericana, what is the most important trophy?

The Libertadores was something special, although I did not have the opportunity to perform in that Cup. In the Recopa I did play the roundtrip, it was something exciting. But indisputably I prefer the one I won with Alianza, because of how it happened, because I missed winning. Nowadays, that of Alianza is the most important, unless that way a Libertadores with Alianza wins again and there it would change.

—How did you deal with the positive cases of COVID before the finals?

As I always say, my God knows why he does things. Without the Playoff games in between, many of us would have missed the final. That break gave us the opportunity to recover. I do not deny that I was very concerned about my health, how I was going to be physically, but the truth is that when it is a final you forget everything.

—In the two finals you entered the final minutes, how did you experience those two games from the bench?

It’s hard. You can’t imagine what it’s like to be there on the bench, to watch Sporting reach us, they wanted to overwhelm us. I was biting my nails, I looked everywhere, it was very complicated. When you enter, you de-stress a little more, you focus more on the actions, on what you have to do. But from the bank it is difficult.