Abad has been in charge of Leeds’ goalkeeping department since 2017 and has worked with a number of goalkeepers in that capacity.

 

The 37-year-old believes that the most important thing for him as the coach is to build a relationship of trust with his shot-stoppers.

 

 

That he feels makes the difference, particularly for foreign players, who are arriving from a different country and leaving their parents and friends behind.

 

Abad is also thankful to the Leeds sporting director for involving him in the goalkeeper recruitment process.

 

 

“Thanks to Victor [Orta] I’m still very heavily involved with the recruitment of goalkeepers”, Abad said in an interview with Goalkeeper.com.

 

“You can sign a goalkeeper who can speak English, but it may not be their language.”

 

 

Abad left his country Spain to go to England in 2017.

 

Citing his own example, Abad insisted: “When you miss your parents, when you miss your friends – something that I suffered – you have to speak sometimes in their language.

 

“Sometimes it’s literally about getting an iPad with Google Translate in and you try to have the same conversation in their language.

 

“The most important thing is that they trust you, and not just as a goalkeeper coach.

 

“This makes the difference”.

 

Abad worked initially with Middlesbrough, though he left the club following the departure of Orta.