Vitezslav Jaros: A Safe Pair of Hands

What do you do when your team is still fighting on three fronts in the spring - in the Bundesliga, the UEFA Europa Conference League and the ÖFB Cup - and your on-loan starting goalkeeper suffers an unfortunate injury? In the case of SK Sturm Graz the answer is, bring in another loan keeper! Vítzslav “Vit” Jaroš has arrived from English Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and is set to feature between the sticks for Sturm until the end of the season, so The Other Bundesliga’s Tom Middler took the chance to get to know the young Czech shot-stopper as he gets settled in Graz.

TM: Firstly Vítzslav, welcome to Austria! How have your first few weeks been with your new team, are you feeling comfortable at Sturm already?

VJ: I’m happy with the training and the friendly games that we’ve had so far, and I think personally I’ve done quite well. The group at SK Sturm is really, really good. The guys always start conversations with you when they see that you’re new, and that helps you settle in, so I already feel like I’ve been here much longer than I actually have. The whole team are used to playing with new goalkeepers as well, so I think that makes it a bit easier.

It sounds like it has started off well then! Let’s go back to the very early days of the journey that brought you here. Where did your football career begin?

Well, there was a football pitch right behind my garden, so I’d go on there with my dad and kick some balls about. I always wanted to play in goal! When I was about five or six he took me to play for my hometown club 1. FK Píbram, and then when I was ten I went on to a bigger club, Slavia Praha. I was just trying to enjoy it, but we played lots of tournaments and I kept winning “Best Goalkeeper”, so from there things really got moving.

They did indeed, because not long later, you were a Czechia junior international, and you had been invited for a trial at Liverpool. The first day in England must have been pretty special, surely?

It was exciting, and it was quite scary at the same time, going abroad to one of the biggest clubs in football, but it was definitely one of the best things that could have happened to me! You’re training, learning English, getting qualifications and playing matches all the time. The gap between the Premier League and the Czech league at academy level is unbelievable; there are so many staff, kit men, groundskeepers, and every team from U-16 upwards has their own pitch, which is really good.

You won the 2019 FA Youth Cup in your time with the Liverpool Academy. That’s just about the biggest thing a youth player can win in the UK, isn’t it?

Yeah, it’s probably the biggest! If you look at the last few years, Manchester United hosted it at Old Trafford when they were in the final, and there were 80,000 people at the stadium to watch a U-18 game. Our win was massive for us, and really enjoyable with the tight-knit group that we had at the time. That was one of the most enjoyable seasons I’ve ever had. There was no stress, it was just footy school, and winning games!

Alisson Becker is the number one goalkeeper at Liverpool, and he’s one of the world’s best. Can you learn a lot from being around someone like him?

I think you’d be stupid not to try and learn from him! He’s a really kind person, always trying to give tips and talk to you if you need a bit of guidance. It’s just really good to work with him and the rest of the group. The training is really complex so you work on everything and improve in all areas. In the modern game you need to be able to use your feet, be good at clearing up, and still do the basics like collecting crosses, making saves and stopping the ball going into the net. I’d say my distribution is one of my strengths, and it’s something that I enjoy as well, if I miss one pass I’ll be fuming with myself! I’m trying to be a perfectionist with my feet, but an all-rounder as well.

Obviously, the boss, Jürgen Klopp, is a legendary football coach. What’s it like to work with him, and how much input did he have in your choice of coming to SK Sturm?

I see him in training on a daily basis of course. Most of the time you just say “good morning” and carry on with what you’re doing, but if you ever need advice, his door is always open and you can have a chat with him about anything. Before I came here I spoke to him about Sturm and he said, “It would definitely be good for you, so go and enjoy it.” Getting first team football is so important, so I was very much open to going on loan.

Klopp described a previous loan spell of yours in Ireland at St. Patrick’s Athletic as “fantastic.” You won Player of the Year, and the team won Ireland’s FA Cup, too. Can that experience help you out in Sturm’s cup matches?

Yes, definitely. I’m so proud of winning that cup, and I think once you’ve been through something, from a pressure point of view, it makes it a little bit easier when these big moments come around again. The buzz after winning that cup was unbelievable, so it’s a good motivator to make you want to go and experience that buzz again. It would be really nice to do that with Sturm, but it’s going to be tough.

Did you see Sturm’s ÖFB Cup win from last season? How much did you already know about the club and the league?

I’ve seen a few clips, it looked unbelievable, and I can’t wait to play in front of the Sturm fans. As a keeper you always get a lot of things shouted at you from the fans, and I love it, it’s class! I wanted to come here because it’s a top division, the standard is good, and the team have been doing really well in recent years, plus European football is always a bonus. When I was growing up I was playing junior games against Rapid, Austria Vienna and Red Bull Salzburg every now and then. So I knew about Sturm Graz, and as soon as the offer came in I thought, “that sounds nice.” I spoke to [WSG Tirol keeper] Adam Stejskal about the league as well, and he was really positive.

As an up-and-coming young goalkeeper, what goals are you setting yourself for this loan spell, and for the future?

I think the keeper’s journey is a bit different. As an outfield player you might play five minutes of first team football here, ten minutes there, and then slowly get introduced to the team, but that doesn’t happen for a third or fourth keeper. That’s why going on loan is so important.

I’d say there are dreams; for many that’s to be in the Premier League, for me it’s to be playing at Liverpool; but in terms of goals, I try to take it a year at a time, evaluate, and then go again. For this half a season, it’s about playing as many minutes as I can, playing the best football possible, and enjoying it. I think that’s the main one!

Redakteur: The Other Bundesliga

Fotos: GEPA pictures