"When it's more deep, speaking Spanish is way easier for me. Sometimes, you just want to express things in different ways."
Jonathan dos Santos sets the tone from the start. His English is just about perfect, although the man himself isn't willing to admit it. He's been speaking it publicly for years. Throughout the course of the interview, Dos Santos understands every question, ponders, and then switches right into Spanish.
If this interview was about a result or a goal or a trophy, he'd conduct it in English. Before and after the questions begin, he's fluent as can be, laughing and joking about everything from the language switches to the Leagues Cup. It comes easy to him.
But that isn't what this interview is about. No, this is about something a bit more personal, a bit more, as he says, deep: himself.
The 34-year-old midfielder has been in the spotlight for nearly two decades. The world watched him, alongside older brother Gio, take two continents by storm. People watched him go from Barcelona youngster to Mexico star, from teenage starlet in Spain to 34-year-old maestro pulling the strings for arguably Liga MX's biggest club. So much of his life has been lived in the public eye, which can seem twice as hard when you're playing in the spotlight before passionate fans in Mexico.
But, for all the watching the outside world did, Dos Santos isn't fully sure that there was much understanding. People have seen him, but do they know him? The world has seen the midfielder, but have they seen the person?
That's the topic for this interview, and that's why he's speaking in Spanish - to be precise, to be thoughtful, to ensure that he gets his points across. After all of these years with the world watching from afar, Dos Santos is ready to offer a closer look.
"We aren't just machines; we're humans," Dos Santos says. "We like to live our lives apart from soccer. I like fashion, I like travel, I like being with family and friends. Sometimes when we get a chance, I like to go out to parties. I know as a soccer player, you need to be focused on your game but you also need to enjoy life.
"Players are even more open to showing their lives outside soccer now, and the people like it. I think before, people used to think that maybe you won't be focused on your game if you get to live your life, but I think you could be focused on both. Really, you just need to be happy."
Dos Santos sat down for with GOAL for an exclusive, wide-ranging discussion, touching on the things that make him happy, his views on American and Mexican soccer and how he intends to let fans see another side.