Time has a wonderful way of showing us what really matters. It’s why it is integral that you make, create and preserve objects, relationships and moments that you need to exist in the world. To ensure the legacy of what you love lives on.
For Sergio Reguilon and Marta Diaz, the moments that mean the most are the small, insignificant snippets of everyday life that they get to share together – “cooking, or at least trying to, watching his bad choice of films, making TikToks, taking naps in the afternoon” – as Marta splits her time between Madrid and Sergio’s home in London. Despite having to deal with travel restrictions over the past year, their relationship still hinges on one rule. Being near one another is always a priority.
“We can never be apart for that long,” Marta explains as she is met with a nod of approval from Sergio. As two independent cultural figures who often serve others before they serve themselves, it is important to “have a chill life,” as Sergio describes. That’s because they both stand at the forefront of a new and emerging force in Spanish popular culture.
The sense of isolation that sometimes casts a shadow over their relationship is a reminder that there are times where footballers don’t have it all their own way. Two times, in fact. Relationships and social life, is one. Although Sergio is the first to admit that there are no hidden or hardest parts of the job, “it’s the best career you can wish for.” And the second is style.
That’s because a footballers’ wardrobe is often made up of just two different clothing rails; comfort and wealth. Through the working week they spent the best part in training wear. When given the freedom of choice, there is unsurprisingly a tendency to overcompensate. The levels of expectancy have heightened over the past 18 months, too. A flurry of questions thrown towards footballers nowadays look to cash in on some cultural credibility by asking them to ‘rate their teammates drip.’
It’s become another vacuum in which footballers’ opinions are often trivialised. When you meet Sergio, the archetypal alpha male style stereotypes are blown away. He doesn’t get seduced by the hypothetical and he is unfazed by all the attention that comes with arriving as the talent on set. His style reflects that too.