Leeds United midfielder's 2009 Premier League highlight and what it takes to cope with Elland Road
Graham Smyth talks to Ilia Gruev from Leeds United’s training camp in Germany
On April 21 2009 eight-year-old Ilia Gruev was sitting at home with his mum watching Arsenal draw 4-4 with Liverpool. A core memory, it sticks out most because Andrey Arshavin scored all four goals for the Gunners.
"I think every kid around the world knows the Premier League and watches the Premier League if they're interested in football," he told the YEP. "I remember really strong [Premier League] teams also who played Europe. I remember the Liverpool team who won against AC Milan in Istanbul, the turnaround. I remember a lot of scenes. I remember I was very young, Andrey Arshavin scored four goals. This was one moment which stuck in my head. I watched it with my mom. I have a lot of memories, of course, because it's the biggest league in the world."
Illia Gruev ready to make his own mark on Premier League
Gruev will soon have his own personal memories of the Premier League, having helped return Leeds United to the best league in the world.
"It is very exciting," he said, without sounding remotely giddy. "I think also my family and my friends are very proud of this. And it is very exciting, but also you have to have in your mind that now you're one of the Premier League players and you want to compete against them. So it means, of course, you have to have respect, but that's it, you know, because you have to focus and you want to show that you're also better than other teams."
A model answer, from a model pro. Excited but not too excited. Grounded you might say. Daniel Farke describes himself as a realistic pragmatist so it's no surprise that he loves a player like Gruev. The Bulgarian gets stuck in. He looks after the ball. He runs all day. Marcelo Bielsa would relish the midfielder's unselfish willingness to cover distance. And he's got an incredible engine. A whopping 86 minutes against Manchester United was followed up by 91 against SC Verl. No one else in the Leeds squad has got even remotely close to that. And he is at least a steady 6 or 7 out of 10 every week.
Even he was surprised by the scale of his involvement in Stockholm on Saturday, when many others played just 45. "Yeah, a little bit surprised," he said. "But I enjoyed it, to be honest. It was a nice game, I think. We also played really good. And as a player, you like to play as much as you can. As a first test, also I felt really good that I could also go over 85 minutes, which is, I think, a very good sign."
Leeds United’s ‘metronomic’ midfielder
Gruev's on-field attitude mirrors his personality. Metronomic. Level. Consistent. That's not to say he's boring or there's nothing going on in his head - he loves his politics, his podcasts and his philanthropy - but he is not one of those you'd put money on losing his head over a dispute in a training game. His voice is not one of the loudest or one of those heard most often.
"I think there are different kind of players - some are more like this [quick to anger] and some are less in terms of training sessions," he said. "Of course, every one of us wants to win every game. And also in training, you can see competitiveness. I think it's nice because it's what makes football special, you know, because in this short exercises we do sometimes at the end, nobody remembers, or nobody will care if you win or not but as a player, you always try to win, and you want to win, and you enjoy it more if you win. But I think it depends a lot on the player.
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"But still, I think the higher you get on the level, the more you can see that the players really want to win in almost everything, not even on the pitch, even if you play sometimes table tennis or basketball or tennis or padel everybody wants to win. This is a good thing I think."
Remaining level headed in a game is one thing but there are other considerations and pressures that come to bear on a player at this time of year. Gruev has watched not one but two new signings come into a midfield picture that was already quite strong. Sean Longstaff and Anton Stach bring 'big league' experience to the table and turn the dial right up on the competition for places in the middle of the park. On the surface Gruev does not appear unduly concerned, but what is he thinking?
"Not a lot, to be honest," he said, in his deadpan way. "It's normal that you sign good players, also in your position, because we need a lot of good players, and it's the Premier League. So it doesn't matter which team you play for, you will have to handle competition. It's quite normal and so it's not going around too much in my head when I see some new players coming."
Gruev has the temperament for the top flight
The 25-year-old might not stand as tall as Stach or boast Premier League battle scars like Longstaff, but what he does know is what it's like to play for Leeds United. He knows what it takes. And he believes he's got that.
"[As a Leeds player] I think you have to perform under pressure," he told the YEP. "And this is something which I don't know if it's possible to learn it, but it's very difficult. But I think if you're mentally not so strong, sometimes you can break under this. So it's important to be mentally very strong and to concentrate on the things you can influence. This is quite important - even last season, when we had three draws in a row. But you have to keep calm and stay as a team together. I think this is really important, because, of course, sometimes, fans or the press, the media is emotional, which is quite normal.
“It's part of the game. Also we are sometimes very emotional. You lose one game, but three days later, okay, you see where you stand, in which position and it is very important, especially in Leeds, to be mentally strong."