Trpišovský: Slavist Returnee on Secure Spot & Role

Marbella (from our newsletter) – Jurásek arrived in Spain for the red and white expedition already at the weekend. However, he completed Monday’s training alone in the gym and will participate in training with the Slavia team on Tuesday. “I believe it was the right choice,” hopes the fifteen-time representative.

The last few days have been quite hectic. At the end of the year, Besiktas informed me that I can look for a new job, because I don’t fit into the coach’s plans and I would have less workload. We started looking for a solution that would be ideal for my situation. We decided on Slavia and I believe it was the right choice.

Yes, now. There were more options, but they didn’t make as much sense to me as Slavia. I wanted to belong to a team. I didn’t want to go somewhere just for half a year and deal with the same thing again in the summer. I don’t want to reveal at all who else was interested in me. I’m glad that it turned into a transfer to Slavia.

After the fall part, which ended on December 23rd, I returned home, where I was preparing for the spring part of the season. In Lower Germany, I ran on bike paths in minus five to ten degrees, so it wasn’t very pleasant, but that’s part of it.

It’s not pleasant, but bearable. At least I was with my family. We had our second Christmas with our little daughter, although she still doesn’t notice it that much. My sister has two children, so it was hectic, but also joyful. And I still trained. I only took a few days off. But it’s true that I missed soccer and football.

My wife didn’t help me much because she said it was my career and my decision. At the same time, she told me that she would support me. He usually leaves the football decision up to me, but we made a good choice from a family point of view as well. It will be much easier for us when we are at home in the Czech Republic. Due to the upbringing and also because grandma and grandpa will be three hours away by car and they don’t have to travel anywhere by plane.

I don’t think so. Over the past two and a half years, Slavia has grown both as a player and as a club. It can be seen as a step back in terms of the competition, but not as a player. I believe I will play. And if I play the way I can, it’s definitely not a step back.

It will certainly be perceived that way. From the public and from the team. But I think the team is somehow built. There are other players here as leaders and I know why I am coming, what kind of player I am. I’m a party boy, and everyone here knows it. There will be demands, but it won’t be anything unpleasant for me.

I’ve been through a lot, so yeah, I’d say I’m getting better.

Let others judge that. I am still the same David Jurásek. I’m just a dad and a husband so priorities have changed. But nothing else.

It is one of the main things I would like to accomplish. I haven’t been able to do it in a year and a half, so I’d really like to now. I said then that bad luck was leaving with me. I believe that bad luck does not return with me now.

You can’t look at it like that. If so, other things won’t happen again. I can’t think like that. But when I remember that five years ago I was kicked out of Brno, where they told me that I could never play adult football, it’s not bad what I managed during that time.

It was different. Benfica is huge, which was evident in every way. But it was manageable, I was unlucky with the injury. They rarely wait for you in such clubs.

In that game, I got injured in the setup. Petar Musa, also a former player, got a red card, so I played full-back and wing at the same time on the left side. In the 98th minute, I was returning, I took the ball from the opponent, who was then frustrated. He kicked my leg, but I had my toe on the ground. It dislocated my ankle and I had just about everything possible. Fortunately nothing broken, but everything else yes. It was treated badly, each part needed something different. And I was in a hurry to return, I played with pain. It probably wasn’t the smartest thing I could have done.

I wouldn’t say that, but the coach wanted me back as soon as possible, which makes sense. No player wants to get hurt. I did everything to be back as soon as possible. Maybe I was doing too much. I walked through the pain.

I just don’t know. I’m pretty stupid at this. I always end up telling myself: I’d rather go through the pain than not at all. But even because of the injuries I’ve had, I know what kind of pain is bearable and what kind of pain is not. At least I hope so.

I think the size of the club as such didn’t really affect me, but I was the most expensive defender. People perceive you somehow, they have expectations. Maybe that was also one of the factors. But mainly the injury stopped me. By the time I got back into it, it was too late.

Grimaldo is a great left-back, but I’m a completely different type of player than him, which might have played a role as well. He’s a great technical player, I’m more of a hard worker who flies up and down. I didn’t admit it. I played my football and tried to do the best I could.

During the first half-year loan, I mainly wanted to play, and then we would see each other in the summer. In the end I stayed on, but it wasn’t peaceful there. I broke my arm, and before I got back into the fold, the entire management and coach had changed. None of the people who wanted me and brought me were there. It was clear that my path would then lead elsewhere, but I still went my own way.

The first half of the year was great. I was there with Pavel Kadeřábek, who helped me a lot. Then there were already four of us (Jurásek, Kadeřábek, Adam Hložek, Robin Hranáč – author’s note) and it was perhaps too much for the other guys. But it was great for us, we could talk together in Czech and discuss common topics from the Czech Republic.

And he left too. It was a pretty similar story. The coach wanted me because of my qualities and playing style, but within a month he was no longer there. A Turkish coach came (Sergen Yalcin – author’s note) who preferred another player. Even so, I didn’t play a whole lot. I think I have had some good matches there, but unfortunately the coach had other ideas and it ended like this.

Hopefully coach Trpišovský won’t have to worry about a place. (smile)

We didn’t talk. He came recently, he’s been there for two months, I was long gone at that time and I didn’t consider returning to Benfica. He hasn’t called even now. There was no reason.

I have great respect and admiration for her. I am proud to have been a part of such a club. Even though it didn’t go as planned, I’m proud of it.

I haven’t seen all the matches, but I have seen a lot of them. It was one of the few things when the wife allowed her daughter to watch TV. We watched football together, otherwise we don’t let her watch TV that much.

We weren’t in daily contact, but we wrote here and there. It is clear that the friendship that was formed here in a year and a half is not going to fade away.

From the third grade until the ninth grade, we went to class together, we sat together on the desk for a while, so we have known each other for many years. We are almost neighbors, they live in the next village. I’m glad he’s here.