Victor Munoz Opens Up on the Toughest Adjustment Between LaLiga and the Premier League

Changing leagues is never just about changing jerseys. Victor Munoz is finding that out firsthand this season after leaving Osasuna for Liverpool, and session by session he's starting to understand why everyone talks about the Premier League as something different.

The winger was, in fact, manager Andoni Iraola's first signing at Anfield: he put pen to paper on a six year contract after a deal worth 40 million euros (about $45 million) that saw Liverpool beat out Newcastle for his signature. That's no small fee for a player coming off a breakout season in Pamplona.

This week, with the Spanish national team gathered to face Czechia in Oviedo for the Nations League, Munoz sat down with reporters and laid out pretty clearly what this new brand of soccer is demanding of him.

I definitely notice differences between LaLiga and the Premier League. LaLiga is much more tactical. Premier League games are more physical. The intensity in training over there is very high, you can feel that difference. It's helping me grow.Victor Munoz

A product of Real Madrid's youth academy, Munoz has played five Premier League matches for Liverpool and has already opened his scoring account. It's a modest start in terms of minutes, but a reasonable one for someone still processing such a big jump in such a short time.

Everything hit him at once. He was part of the Spain squad that won the World Cup this summer, though an injury kept him off the field for the tournament. Now, during this international break, he did get on the field as a substitute against Croatia on Tuesday.

Asked how he's handling that whirlwind of events (a World Cup debut that never happened, a big money transfer, settling into a new league), Munoz was candid:

Everything is happening so fast that I don't have time to fully process it. My family and I try to enjoy every moment... I'm in a good place right now.Victor Munoz

The Shadow (and the Mirror) of Lamine Yamal

Within the national team, Munoz now finds himself competing for a spot with none other than Lamine Yamal, one of the top names in the Ballon d'Or race. Yamal himself had been the headline act days earlier in Seville, scoring two goals and adding an assist in a 4-1 win over Croatia.

Far from seeing it as a threat, Munoz frames it as a privilege.

I try to learn a lot from him. He's a good friend of mine and we spend a lot of time together. Having that kind of competition, watching him train, it's a privilege for me.Victor Munoz

Between the physical demands of the Premier League and the internal competition within the national team, the winger seems to have a clear sense of the path ahead: learn fast, even if the pace of events hasn't yet given him time to fully take it all in.