According to ABC, Iker Bravo has shared about his experiences at Barcelona and Real Madrid's youth academies, and how Arbeloa changed him.

Iker Bravo previously came through the youth academies of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Spanish U21 international played in a match against Finland a few days ago and has recently rediscovered his smile at Watford in England, after a difficult period at Las Palmas.

After leaving Barcelona in 2021, Bravo struggled to find his footing and lacked the maturity and professionalism required at the highest level. In an interview with ABC, he said he owes Barcelona "everything," emphasizing that he is "not arrogant, conceited, or full of himself."

Bravo joined La Masia at age five. He said: "For a child who loves football, it's the best thing in the world, but it also takes a lot from you. When you're young, you really want to go to your friends' birthday parties, but I couldn't, because I always had to train in the afternoon. Many times I asked my father: 'Why do I have to train instead of going to my friend's birthday party?' My father told me: 'If you want to be a professional footballer, these sacrifices are necessary.'"

Despite playing for Real Madrid's youth academy and making his first-team debut for Bayer Leverkusen, Bravo still believes he owes "everything" to Barcelona.

He said: "Everything I have now, I owe to Barcelona. Football is learned during your development, during your formative years. All the movement patterns, ball control skills, and everything I know, Barcelona taught me. I'm very grateful to them."

After a brief spell in Germany, Bravo returned to Spain to join Real Madrid, but he and manager Raúl González didn't see eye to eye.

Bravo said: "The coach preferred Álvaro Rodríguez to me, and I spent most of my time on the bench. I lacked the motivation and killer instinct needed for competition. I wasn't as professional as I should have been, but ultimately, I was just a 17-year-old kid feeling very disappointed, and I cried every week when I got home."

This led Real Madrid to move him down to the youth team, which was coached by Arbeloa at the time. Bravo said: "The first thing he taught me was that if I wanted to play at the highest level of professional football, I needed to stop overthinking. Under Arbeloa, I lost 6 kilos. That showed how much extra weight I was carrying."

Regarding the nicknames he received growing up, Bravo said: "Of course, I know about them, but those people don't understand me; they only see what I do on the pitch and don't really know me. I'm not arrogant or full of myself, and I'm not a fool. I consider myself a very humble, very calm, and very devoted person."

Bravo added: "I never want to upset the people around me. I always try to spread positive energy, and I'm not jealous of anyone. But ultimately, people are very quick to judge. Some say my face looks serious, or that I seem arrogant, or that I dress a certain way, but I can't change that."

He also mentioned that many people have tried to take advantage of him: "But I'm not a fool. Some people might think that because you have more money than them, you should pay for this or that. That's not how it works."

Bravo revealed that he works with a coach every week. He said: "I always try to speak positively to myself. This is actually part of the professional development process that I started a year ago. Every week I have a video call with my coach, and we review the past seven days to see how I've been feeling both personally and professionally."

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