Ruben Dias interview: I like to live a normal life and shop in Co-op like everyone else

Ruben Dias is into his sixth season at Manchester City, having joined the club from Benfica in 2020 - Guzelian/Lorne Campbell

“I would be a hell of a manager,” claims Ruben Dias, laughing. And it is easy to see why. Dias, one of the world’s best defenders, possesses an intense focus, a desire to go to “war” on the pitch and he finds the pressure of playing for Manchester City “addictive”. Having won the lot, Dias wants to do it all again. “I’m very much hungry,” he tells Telegraph Sport.

The 28-year-old Portuguese is supremely dedicated, mapping out and “visualising” what he will do the next day before he goes to bed, including this interview. Inevitably it leads to him being the first into the City training ground each morning. And it has always been like that.

Dias also wants as normal a life as possible and lives in the centre of Manchester, where he loves popping out to the local Co-op or walking in the park, despite his own fame and that of his partner, the TV presenter and radio DJ, Maya Jama – who, frankly, outdoes him when it comes to being recognised. But more of that later.

“I guess there is some extra powder on it at the moment,” Dias says of this season, in which he has freshly signed a contract extension that commits him to City until 2029, with the option of a further 12 months, having joined from Benfica in 2020.

“It feels massive,” he adds. “I feel like it was always going to be the decision I wanted, the opportunity to be at this level, for another four or five years, making a total of nine, 10.

“Just that by itself, it’s a hell of an achievement to add to all the trophies I’ve already won and hopefully more to come.”

Dias (right) has won at Manchester City four Premier League titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup, a Champions League, a European Super Cup and Club World Cup - Getty Images/Michael Regan

Which brings us to what he means by “extra powder”. Last season was the first of Dias’s five campaigns at City in which he not only failed to take home a Premier League winners’ medal, but did not pick up a trophy.

“It most definitely hurt and I feel like, after so much success, there was always going to be a moment like this,” he admits. “No team can win for ever. Even though that’s the ambition of all of us. The fact that we pushed to those four Premier Leagues in a row, that’s never been done before, it’s already something extraordinary.”

Dias acknowledges that City fell short but, with the competitor in him coming out, he pointedly adds: “At the end of the day, we were third in the league in probably the most difficult league in the world. And three points behind Arsenal, who supposedly did a great season.”

Still, it was certainly not good enough. And Dias’s take on what went wrong – and what is needed to put it right – is revealing, especially when I put it to him that, maybe, City had become complacent?

“No, I mean, I feel like it’s even we can call it exhaustion, out of being consistent for that many years, from everyone, the effort, both physical but also mental, to be able to perform year after year,” he explains.

“I don’t think complacency would be the word. Because we’re all trying to push as much as we can and do the best we can. Everyone wants to come the day after the game and feel the happiness, everything going well. That’s the ambition of all of us. Sometimes things have to take a quick turn and the so-called transition has to happen in order to keep the same ambition.”

So we were the complacent ones in assuming City would just keeping winning?

“Maybe so, because at some point people were very much like ‘it’s City, they’re going to win’. And none of the wins came easy. And none of those times in which things seemed automatic came easy,” Dias argues.

“There was a lot of hard work and a lot of time into building that identity. We’re in the process of making that happen again. It’s like everything else in life – you should never take anything for granted. And even on those times now looking back, you need to appreciate them because to get to that level – that allowed other people to be complacent about the way we were – it’s by itself a compliment on the work we did.

“It had to do with us being that good, that we made it look that easy and that’s what we’re in pursuit of again.”

Dias has warned new recruits that they need to be ready to ‘go to war’ - Shutterstock/Adam Vaughan

That pursuit has involved a significant overhaul of the squad; first in the January window and now this summer with players including Omar Marmoush, James Trafford and Tijjani Reijnders signed and Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker leaving.

“I feel like it’s the circle of football, circle of life,” Dias says. “Many of the players that went, they did a lot of years in this club and it’s just a natural cycle of everything. So, eventually, it was always going to come.

“It’s new challenges, it’s renovating your ambitions and renovating your energy, your resilience. And, in a way, and beautifully so, it always starts again.”

For Dias, there is a simple test that the new recruits need to go through. “That’s when I know what kind of people I’m going to war with,” he states.

“The ultimate goal is to go on the pitch, look to your right, your left, front and back, and feel like ‘I’m going to war with these guys. And you know what? If I make a mistake, they will be there for me. If they make a mistake, I’ll be there for them’. And that kind of mentality, with the quality of opponents you’re fighting against is the only way to do it.”

Dias’s work ethic is well known. “It’s more because every night I will plan my day, all the things I have to do and I’ll make my timings accordingly,” he says.

“So, last night, I’m thinking – I’ve got this interview to do, I’ve got a meeting, I need to spare myself some time to do my treatment and then go to the gym and prepare for training.

Dias is meticulous in his preparation, including getting ready for this interview with Jason Burt - Guzelian/Lorne Campbell

“After training, I’ve got to do my other session of gym, then I’ve got to go to the pool. And I kind of just visualise it all in my mind. Because of that, most of the time, I’m normally one of the first ones to arrive. But it’s not because I’m trying to be the first. It’s just because I have these things that make me feel at peace and make me be myself.”

‘If I can be a role model, that’s making a real difference’

That dedication includes having a real pride in being a “role model” – not least when it comes to young footballers; Dias is cited by the Portuguese FA as the ultimate professional in its coaching of the under-age national teams.

“I might have all the titles in the world,” he says. “But, also, to have these people that I crossed paths with say these things about myself. I mean, if you’re talking about making an impact, I feel like that’s a real difference. That’s real, real meaning to whatever I’m doing.

“If sometimes I have doubts and moments of crisis I look at it and I feel like this is exactly what I should be doing. And because of it, I have a lot fewer doubts than someone would normally have.

“I feel very accomplished with everything I’ve won and I want so much more still. Not so much for the silverware itself but because of the message it will send to the world and everyone that got to know me.

“As a Portuguese person to come to this level, fight against the world and say that the Portuguese kind of quality seal is there. I’m an ambassador of it.”

Dias is often among the first players to arrive at Manchester City’s training ground - Guzelian/Lorne Campbell

‘If you don’t have ambition at City, you’re going to get exposed, my friend’

That is a lot of responsibility to take on board. So, how does he deal with the pressure?

“I embrace it. I like it. Sometimes it can be intense, for sure. More because you don’t have the adequate time to breathe from it. But, at the end of the day, we build on this, it becomes our life,” Dias says.

“I feel like I will be able to disconnect when the time comes. But it definitely becomes addictive because you want more and more and even when you do good, you want to keep on doing good. When you do bad, you want a quick chance to do good again. It becomes the life, it becomes the sport.

“You can’t really relax your mind. When you are playing somewhere else, you might be like ‘yeah, I want to be great and I want to be this kind of player I’ve imagined in my mind’. But when you come here, you better make sure that ambition is real, because if it’s not, you’re going to get exposed, my friend.

“So being here and being comfortable being here, a club like Manchester City in which you’re expected to win everything, every time, every game to be in that space, it’s already quite an achievement.

“And I’m very much hungry for more. Because of all the things I know, the legacy, all the messages I’m sending to all the young kids, all the people in my family that were born in the same place as me to look at this and see all these possibilities.

“I’m kind of on a mission to open everyone’s minds, open everyone’s hearts and open everyone’s ambitions that you can do everything you set yourself on.”

Dias loves books but concentrates so much on his football, during the day, that he just wants to “go home and clear my head”.

“That’s why I end up not reading as much as I would like to,” he says before raising meditating in his sleep.

“One time I was having the conversation with someone about meditation and they were like, ‘oh, you should do it, it’s great’. And I’m like ‘b----- hell. I don’t need that’. Me and my kind of arrogant way of ‘I don’t need that’,” Dias explains.

“But then talking to this person, I realised that I was kind of doing it while I sleep. You know, when you go to bed, then you are visualising everything that’s going to happen the next day, everything that has happened, a discussion you had and you are just going in your mind about the different perspectives of it. And the person in question, he was a psychologist, he said ‘my friend, you’re already meditating without even knowing’.

“I will do that many times when I sleep about whatever situation is troubling my mind. I’ll do it even in other kinds of places, when I go to my park and I’m just looking at the horizon and I feel like I’m exactly in the place I’m supposed to be, and then the mind just drifts and you start to think and analyse things you would do meditating.”

Dias cites meditation for helping him relax and process the stresses of being a Premier League footballer - Guzelian/Lorne Campbell

It is, Dias admits, an extremely intense way to live his life, while also sounding like he is committed to remaining in football. Such as becoming a manager, one day?

“Maybe I will and maybe I even think I would be a hell of a manager,” Dias says. “But I’ve always said the first thing I will do when I finish my career is travel the world and I’ll just come back whenever I come back.

“I won’t say I’ll do it for six months or a year. But even then, I’ll have questions like ‘do I need the routine again? Do I need it?’ And only then I’ll be able to set myself for anything else – be it a manager, sporting director, whatever related to football, because it will always be my craft. It will always be what I’m so good at.

“At the same time it’s a goal and a focus and a mission of mine to be able to be free from it and be completely independent.”

Living life as one half of celebrity couple

Which, finally, brings us back to Jama, the host of the hugely popular reality dating show Love Island, and their relationship.

“I feel like I’m a much more relaxed person when I get home,” Dias says. “I love to go to a park. I love nature. I love to go for a walk. Obviously, sometimes, I can’t really go for a big hike because I need to rest. I love dogs. I love movies. I love music. I love to go to a nice concert.”

Dias insist he leads a normal life with celebrity partner Maya Jama (left) - Instagram/@RubenDias

And choosing to live in the centre of Manchester?

“I don’t stop myself from doing anything,” Dias says. “Maybe if I go to a bowling place or something, maybe I will avoid them just because it might be a bit more intense.

“But I will not stop myself using restaurants or go normal shopping. I’ll go to a Co-op, whatever. I’ll go to a mall if I want. Whatever I need. I mean as normal as I can get, I’ll go everywhere.

“Some people will see me and respectfully come and ask for a picture and I’ll be more than happy to do it. I feel in England, people are quite good when it comes to being respectful. There’s always going to be an exception, anywhere in the world. But I feel like the majority, it’s OK.

“I’ve obviously been caught eating a burger and ‘can you take a picture, please?’ But I feel like I can find a balance, which I’m happy to live with.”

Maya Jama’s high profile as host of Love Island does not get in the way of the couple living as quiet a life as possible - ITV /Ian Hippolyte

Has that become more difficult, given the high profile of his partner?

“I think in a way, maybe she would like to avoid certain kinds of situations just to be more comfortable, also being a woman,” Dias says.

“It’s obviously more difficult to tell someone to stop if they’re being rude. And I’ve kind of got an easier way to do it myself. But being together, I just push it to be normal and we try to be as normal as we can. I feel like we can.”

And what of the attention they inevitably receive?

“No, I think that’s the last thing you think about,” Dias says. “We are just both aware of it and there’s no way around it. But at the end of the day, you don’t make it about it. You make it about everything else and then that’s an extra you have to deal with and, obviously, be smart with it.”

Recommended

Kyle Walker interview: I take the money for the outside noise

Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential guide to the day's agenda from The Telegraph - direct to your inbox seven days a week.