Victor Munoz Begins Liverpool Career Early After World Cup Triumph
Victor Munoz has barely had time to let a World Cup winners’ medal gather dust before throwing himself into life at Liverpool.
The 23-year-old winger, signed from Osasuna after the club triggered his £34.5million release clause in June, was entitled to three weeks off following Spain’s triumph in the United States. Instead, he turned up at the AXA Training Centre on Wednesday, holiday truncated, boots laced, determined to start fast.
Pre-season is already in full swing. Munoz spent the tournament on the fringes, fighting an injury and never making it onto the pitch for Spain. Once that campaign ended, he saw no reason to linger.
“I was at the World Cup when the decision came through about the transfer,” he told Liverpool’s official website. Unable to play for his country, his priorities shifted quickly: “As soon as that competition was over the main thing on my agenda was getting here, training and getting to meet my team-mates.”
He knows what awaits him. New club, new league, new country. The adaptation can swallow players whole if they let it. Munoz has decided to confront it head-on.
“You need time to adapt when you are moving to a new club and a new country,” he said. “So for me it was a case of the earlier I could get started, the better.”
For now, he stands as Liverpool’s only senior summer signing, a lone attacking addition in a window that has been quieter than many expected. The club did their groundwork early in one area, completing a £60m deal for French centre-back Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes back in January, but that agreement was always about the long view. Munoz, by contrast, arrives as a jolt of fresh energy to a squad that has felt thin during pre-season.
New head coach Andoni Iraola has had to work with a patched-up group: injuries, the drip-feed return of World Cup players, and a lack of new faces have all left him short of options. It showed on the recent US tour, which ended with a 4-2 defeat to Leeds, all four goals conceded in a chaotic second half.
Now comes a first Anfield outing for Iraola on Sunday, a friendly against Monaco that already carries a touch more edge than a routine warm-up. Liverpool need a response. Munoz wants to be part of it.
“Well, I think I’m ready,” he said. There was no hesitation. If Iraola calls, he will not be hiding on the bench. “Obviously if the coach says so after training and asks me to feature in the starting XI, I’ll be there. I’m keen and I can’t wait to get started. [Against] Monaco, why not?”
That confidence has been matched by his conviction that Liverpool is the right stage for the next phase of his career. The move surprised many, not least because Newcastle had been heavily linked, but Munoz is certain he has landed in the right dressing room, under the right coach.
“I’m sure it’s the correct step for me and this is exactly what the coach, Andoni, said to me as well – that he was going to put a lot of confidence in me,” Munoz explained. Iraola, who knows LaLiga and the Spanish market intimately, did not just sell him a project; he offered a partnership.
“He rightly pointed out that I am quite a young player, I’m here as a professional and he is going to help me. He is going to help me to develop, and develop within and for this great club and in this mythical stadium, Anfield.”
For a player who has just climbed to the top of the international game without kicking a ball in the World Cup, there is a sense of unfinished business. Munoz arrives with a medal but also with something to prove: that he belongs on the pitch as much as in the celebrations.
Anfield will get its first close look on Sunday if Iraola decides the time is right. Munoz has already made his choice. He has given up the beach. Now he wants the ball.
