Midfielder David Owori has expressed readiness for the new season with his Spanish club Velez FC.
The former SC Villa defender joined Velez in March this year but did not play a single match last season as his side earned promotion.
“I came when they were in playoffs, so registration was difficult,” Owori has told The-SportsNation in an exclusive interview.
The club will, starting next season, be playing in the Segunda Division RFEF as they continue their long walk to the top flight – La Liga.
In his few months he has been at the club, Owori has faced some challenges including language barrier.
“I find the difficulty in the language because its hard to find someone here who speaks English. They mostly speak Spanish,” Owori adds.
Consequently, Owori’s Dutch teammate Noah Toribio has helped him in terms of translations especially during training sessions.
He adds: “But I have taken Spanish lessons for the past two months. I can understand what they tell me but I cannot speak out clearly.”
He is among the three players at the club who do not understand Spanish.
“It affected me mostly for the first weeks in the training when other players are communicating. But then words are repeatedly so I can now understand some.”
He adds that he has not found any issues with food because “we usually eat rice, Chicken, Irish, Beans and Pasta.”
“Weather is okay so far. Right now we are in summer so there is no bigger difference with Uganda. But I have not experienced Winter months though I am sure that I will manage.”
The midfielder had returned to Uganda recently before flying out last week.
The other bigger challenge Owori is likely to face is that he has to convince the new coach – Miguel Beas for a place in the starting team.
He has also spent a whole year without playing football since he last featured for SC Villa.
He states: “I have to first fight for starting place because I have almost spent 1 half year without playing which I have to fight for.
“I am just looking forward to having consistence in what I do then the rest will come. I am ready to give 100+ in anything and adopting into coach’s style of play.”
He says that Spanish’s lower divisions are far better than Uganda Premier League in terms of Professionalism and Facilities.
Known as Colgate by local football fraternity, Owori started out with Nsambya Young Stars Academy before later joining Wembley Soccer Academy, Lukuli United, SC Vipers, Proline FC and SC Villa.
