Adelaide United’s Argentine import Marcos Flores believes that he has now settled in the City of Churches and can’t wait to taste success in the Asian Champions League.
Flores admitted grasping the English language had initially been difficult but he was grateful to his team-mates for making his transition from South America to Australia a smooth one.
“I really like Adelaide. It’s a nice city and the club is great. I feel very relaxed here,” Flores said.
“The boys have been amazing as friends, as team-mates and as a club … Every day I learn new words and can speak a little more (Englsh).”
“(Coach) Aurelio’s (Vidmar) Spanish is helpful also.”
The 24-year-old was born in the city of Cordoba and made his debut for Argentine club Union de Santa Fe in 2004 before switching to Newell’s Old Boys in 2006.
Flores later signed for Chilean side Curico Unido where he scored four goals from 24 matches.
The midfielder joined Adelaide in January and began training immediately with the squad, although he had to wait some weeks until he reached match fitness before taking the field.
Flores made his debut for the Reds in the penultimate round of the Hyundai A-League season when he came on as a substitute against Brisbane Roar at Hindmarsh Stadium.
The Argentine’s run-on debut came the following match where the Reds scored an away win over Newcastle 2-1 and he was instrumental in United’s 1-0 victory over the Pohang Steelers in its opening ACL fixture.
It comes as no coincidence then that Flores has featured in United’s last three matches which have all resulted in wins.
While some may call him a saviour to the Reds attacking woes, the philosophical Flores doesn’t see it that way.
“I didn’t come here to be a saviour. I came to learn and improve myself,” said Flores.
“I don’t want to be better than my team-mates. I want us to all be at the same level and play as a team. I want us to understand that when we play as a team we can defeat anyone.”
While livening up the Reds forward line, he believes playing in the Hyundai A-League and ACL with Adelaide United will greatly improve his own game.
“While I am here I really want to develop the physical aspect of my game, which is part of the reason I came,” he said.
“I want to be able to take knocks and get up and run out the full 90 minutes.”
“I look at some of the younger boys and see how they are developed, physically. I was never like that at the same age so I really worked on the technical part of my game.”
The gifted attacking midfielder loves talking tactics, discussing football in general and believes communication in the middle of the park for United will be crucial to its success.
“I think football is a bit like chess, you need to understand the game … We need to communicate, talk and listen and understand,” he said.
“It’s not tennis, everyone doing their own thing. This is football and we do it together. This makes me happy. “
The humble Argentine, who has signed a two-year contract with United, promises to be a nifty acquisition and hopes he can leave a positive mark on the club.
“Above all I’d like that every one of the fans, everyone at the club remembers me as a good person rather than a good player or something that I did on the field,” he said.
“I would like them to say, ‘I hope he returns some day’.”
