So the big question for Oliver Burke: Is it true Spanish club Alaves were so keen for him to fit in, that they hired a Scottish groundsman to make him feel at home?
Not quite, but the 22-year-old Scotland forward laughs as he recounts how a friendly voice on his first day gave him a sense of being among friends.
‘I turned up and the guy that is giving me the tour of all the club’s facilities starts talking to me about bagpipes,’ he says.
‘I couldn’t really understand why exactly. I assumed he was just having a bit of fun with me but when we went out on to the pitch I met the groundsman. He asked me how I was doing, in a Scottish accent, and it all started to make sense.’
Falkirk-born John Stewart has been at Alaves since 2016. He won the Spanish Greenkeepers Association’s Groundsman of the Year for 2019 recently. He’s also famous among club staff for playing the bagpipes at social events.
‘We had a great chat about the culture, the town and the club,’ says Burke. ‘He really made me feel positive about being here. It’s nice to have that jolly and friendly welcome. And yes, he keeps the pitch in perfect condition.’
The pitches at Alaves’ Ibaia training ground are about to get a soaking. The grey clouds are rolling in and there is just time for Burke to pose for photographs before the rain comes down.
This is Spain, but not the Spain of sun, sand and Sangria. Alaves is a proud northern club with a tight stadium filled every fortnight with just under 20,000 noisy fans.
They have taken to their Scottish signing who Saturday comes face to face with Real Madrid, and with another British winger who he was often likened to as a youngster.
Was it ever fair to think of Burke as a Scottish Bale as he was coming through at Nottingham Forest and twice becoming Scotland’s most expensive player?
‘I don’t like putting that sort of pressure on myself,’ he says. ‘Yes, that’s my sort of style of football. I like to get the ball and run with it and use my pace but the comparison is crazy.
‘People used to say that I thought I was Gareth Bale, and that’s not the case at all. I’m nowhere near that level. The guy has won so much – Leagues, Champions Leagues, scoring worldies in finals.’
He does find himself on the same stage as Bale this weekend, which is perhaps a measure of how his career is back on track after the opportunities to keep developing dried up at West Brom.
‘My biggest question,’ he says about deciding to move here ‘was: am I going to get game time?
‘I wanted to love the game again. When I was at West Brom I felt very left out. I was training with my team-mates every day and they were great boys but when you are not playing the motivation gets sucked out of you.
‘You know that you are going into to train and whatever you do – if you train really well – you know that your name is not going to be on that team sheet.
‘You stop advancing because while there is a lot you can do in training, you have to be putting it into practice on a game day.
‘I wasn’t developing anymore. There are things you can do in training like learn from the manager and talk with team-mates, but it’s the game that tests you.
‘It’s been like a breath of fresh air here. I haven’t been happier. I feel like a proper footballer again.’
It’s clear he sees this experience not just as another league ticked off the list – he’s already played in England Scotland and Germany.
‘You can call it an adventure but this is my career and this is the sacrifice I have to make at this moment in order to be playing.’
That is more important than ever with what he hopes will be an opportunity to play for Scotland at Euro 2020 next summer.
‘They are always going to track players who go to play in different countries and I’m sure they are checking my progress,’ he says of Scotland coach Steve Clarke and his team. ‘Hopefully I’m putting in the right performances to get the next call.’
There’s a language barrier between Burke, who is just starting with Spanish classes, and his club coach Asier Garitano but that has not stopped extra-tuition designed to take the player to the next level.
‘When I first arrived, something would happen higher up the pitch and my head would still be in that situation and the manager hated that,’ he says.
‘I was getting the ball and doing my thing but he wouldn’t care about all that. Yes, whatever I had done was really good but he saw that as a given. He knows I can do that.
‘He wants to see that I can do the other things. He wants me showing I can track a runner and work for the team.
‘And now I’m getting as much satisfaction from running back and winning the ball as something that I might do going forward. I want to do both.’
Garitano is famous for occasionally organising a training match without a ball just to get players’ positions right.
‘I remember one session when I was out on the pitch on my own and I had to run from cone to cone, depending on where the ball was along the back line.
‘That was really good in terms of reinforcing where I should be and now when it happens in the game it comes automatically. It shows the manager believes in me to take the time to do that.
‘I stayed out there with the coach today to do some crossing on my left foot because they have been using me on the left recently.
‘They want me to have that variety: going inside, outside, having different styles of crosses, dinking it, whipping it in.
‘You are not always going to be able to knock it and run. You are going to have to use the other foot, mix things up, use the brain.’
The improvements could keep him in Spain or they could prepare him for another big club back in Britain.
‘They are good fans,’ he says of the Alaves supporters. He agrees it’s not Celtic Park, but adds: ‘It takes a lot to top that, but they are noisy.
‘I enjoyed it at Celtic and had some great moments and obviously some not so great moments. It’s calmer here. It’s nowhere near the same pressure. There was pressure on the pitch there but there was also pressure off it. Sometimes it felt like you didn’t have a yard of space to take a breather.’
There’s match-day passion in Vitoria but he can live in the centre of town without being the focus of too much attention. That might change if he plays a part in beating Madrid.
‘They are one of the best teams in the world and it’s a massive occasion,’ he says of the game. ‘We are in great form and we are going into it with a lot of confidence.’
Beyond Saturday’s huge fixture what will constitute a good season?
‘I hope things end on a high and I hope it gives West Brom something to think about. I’m still their player, under contract.’
Would a good year here, however, make him more likely to want to stay?
‘My West Brom career has not gone well so far so if I do really well at another club and feel more at home there and feel like I’ve progressed, then I’m going to feel like I want to stay.
‘It felt like even when I did get an opportunity at West Brom I wouldn’t play the next game.
‘I’ve reached a stage now where I want to be part of a team, somewhere where everyone knows me and knows what I can do. To not always be moving because it’s been a rollercoaster so far, but sometimes a little bit too much.
‘This season I want to get recognition for the right reasons. I want to be playing well with Alaves and to be at the Euros with Scotland because that’s massive.’
Groundsman John would be pleased with that scenario too.
Has Burke’s inside man been able to recommend him a restaurant that opens before 9pm in the country that loves to eat late?
‘That’s a nightmare,’ he says. ‘I get people recommending me all these nice restaurants and I turn up to try them, and the doors aren’t even open yet.’
The doors will be opened whenever he wants them to be on Saturday night if he helps Alaves down the mighty Real Madrid.