Thread by @RobertoRojas97

#BHAFC's Julio Enciso spoke to @TigoSportsPY today in his first interview after the end of the Premier League about his time in English football, Roberto De Zerbi & many other things related to Brighton & Paraguay as a whole 🇵🇾

I'll be translating some of the bits from that ⬇️

"I arrived at the club as an unknown and I wasn't getting the opportunity to play, I'm young & I was going crazy but all I wanted to do was play. I was worried because I was playing a lot at Libertad but wasn't playing at #BHAFC, but Alexis (Mac Allister) told me to be patient."

"My parents are here with me & I had a lot of conversations with them because, at one point, I wanted to give up which hurt my parents a lot. I thought I was going to be an important player but my teammates made me understand that it's all going to be achieved little by little."

On #NUFC's Miguel Almiron:

"I hope to reach my prime like him. He & I are great, we have a good relationship & we spoke after our game. He's going through a great moment & it makes me proud because it's going to help a lot on the national team. He is someone that motivates me."

"At Libertad, I had a different mindset and I always thought that if I didn't score a goal, I had a bad game. In the PL, they taught me that it's not like that, that I have to work hard instead. The position that I feel much more comfortable in is as a striker on the left wing."

"Playing at Wembley was the stadium that surprised me the most. The pitch, the atmosphere, everything.

I told Alexis: "My head hurts, I don't know what's going on! I'm nervous." He said: "Relax Julio, I'm feeling the same, not even during the World Cup final I felt like this!"

"A lot of people want to discredit Paraguay because they haven't made it to many World Cups and that hurts me. To see our flag in England, it made me so happy. I enjoy every time I get to play for Paraguay because it's my dream. I cannot wait to play in the World Cup qualifiers."

"I'm living a dream. From not playing for months to being a starter & getting more minutes is something that gives me a ton of pride. Those things also motivate me for next season so that I can get better & learn each & every day with possibly some new teammates. That's my goal."

"When Roberto De Zerbi arrived, I was able to understand a bit of Italian and so he always told me to play hard, that he knew a lot of Paraguayans who played in Italy and wanted to be like them. To give it all in every ball."

"I'm going to tell you a secret. During a training session, I hadn't made my debut yet but I felt that I wanted to play already. Billy Gilmour grabs my shirt, I elbow him, & he rips my shirt. I push him & tell him: "What's wrong with you?" And De Zerbi then stops the training..

He grabs me aside & says: "How many Premier League games have you played already? And I thought: "Nooo, this guy is going to get mad at me!" & I said "None, coach." & he says: "Ok, get ready tomorrow because you're not going to start but you're going to play!" (Debut vs Chelsea)

"I couldn't believe it when he told me that, I then apologized to Billy and I told Alexis: "Thanks for that, I'm going to play!" and Billy told me to just relax when you're about to play because he also won the Champions League and so I have a good relationship with him."

On the Manchester City rumors:

"My agent didn't tell me anything about that. The same thing happened when I moved to Brighton. I think if it's going to happen, it will & if not then I need to continue to work hard. It gives me a lot of motivation to have teams show interest."

"At the start of the season, I was on the bench but I wasn't playing & I was going crazy that I told my agent that if I'm not playing, I don't want to get called up to the national team. Alexis & Moises asked if I could play on the reserves to get minutes & that helped me a lot."

"I like to look at a lot of players, like Rashford. He's a lightning bolt. He's so fast. De Bruyne is a great player, Bernardo Silva too. He's small but it's impossible to get the ball away from him. Foden is someone I like too, he's the first person I swapped my shirt with."

"I wanted to wear number 19 (shirt) but Jeremy Sarmiento wanted it, so I took number 20. Alexis has no problem with me taking his number (10), but I don't think it'll happen. 11 is a good number too because I use it on the national team."