Exclusive: Victor on Poch, and his aspirations to manage in England

In the third part of our exclusive interview, Victor Sanchez Del Amo discusses what he likes about English football and his admiration for Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, before running the rule over Real Madrid, Real Betis and Deportivo La Coruna and their seasons so far.

Victor Sanchez has been racking up the miles. He spent a week-and-a-half in England going to various games, notably Spurs' matches against Swansea at Wembley and West Ham at the London Stadium, Chelsea's draw with Arsenal, as well as a midweek Carabao Cup tie at Brentford. But when we speak to him, it's shortly after the Sheffield derby, in which United beat Wednesday 4-2 in an enthralling game.

"It's been a very special day that I'll remember all my life - it's an amazing ambience and I got goosebumps for the whole of the game," he gushes. He recorded the close-to-capacity crowd singing the home side's pre-match anthem, 'Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday' and posted it on his Instagram with similar sentiments… and it's clear that it's something Victor would like to experience more: "You never know what is going to happen with your future, but I don't care about this. If you want to do something, you have to move, to know inside, not from outside. This is what we are doing with my staff as our preference, because we would like to work in England."

One man who has impressed in the Premier League is Mauricio Pochettino, a friend of Victor's, and he rates the Tottenham boss very highly. "He has all the skills as a manager: tactics, methodology for training, experiences as a football player," he says, "and he's a talent. Emotionally, building teams, and the ambience there is inside Tottenham is this. It's everyone working for everyone, putting the team first."

But struggling at home in the league is one thing that Spurs have in common with Victor's first team where he came through the academy, Real Madrid, who have only won one of their four La Liga matches at the Estadio Bernabeu this campaign. "After winning the European and Spanish Super Cups, they have gone a little bit down. This is human behaviour - after winning, you always come down and relax a little," he admits. That said, Victor doesn't think Real's title chances are over, saying: "Seven points behind Barcelona is a big gap, but the league is long, so things will change for sure, because I think Barca will also lose points and this gap will reduce." He says Atletico will also be a threat, because of their consistency.

One of the shock results in Madrid's season was a 1-0 home loss to Real Betis, a team that Víctor was in charge of for the majority of 2016-17, and he reckons they could surprise a few people. "I think they can do a very good season," he says, "Quique [Setien] is a very good manager, he only needs time, the same as all the coaches. Now it seems like the new project is good for the fans also, everybody's happy."

But the same can't be said for the other side he has coached, Deportivo La Coruna, where Pepe Mel only just clung on to his job after a 2-1 win over Getafe. "For Depor it's going to be tough for sure, because they have one of the lowest budgets in La Liga, and also the board of directors don't give the project the time to continue," he says. "They are changing [manager] year by year or in the same season, and this is never good for the stability, because there is never any time for any foundations to be laid. But they have the spine of the team, and they need the new players who have arrived to adapt quickly to Spanish football."

Although a return to El Riazor would always be tempting to Victor, and there are a couple of other teams who might interest him too, the hard work goes on analysing English football and waiting for that opportunity to continue his career on these shores.