Pedro Porro is searching for the right words in Spanish, the ones that best convey what has driven him and, as so often, he leans on the wisdom of his grandfather, Antonio, the biggest influence on his career. “He always had three sayings,” the Tottenham full-back says during a break in preparations for Sunday’s home north London derby. “Vista larga. Paso corto. Mala leche.”
The first means “long view” or “big picture”, the second “short steps” and they are fairly self-explanatory in terms of what is needed on a life journey. The third is more problematic and has everyone reaching for Google to translate, Porro included. Yet “bad milk” is open to various interpretations.
According to the dictionary, it can mean bad mood or tendency to moodiness; also spite and meanness. Apparently, it is often used to reflect the belief that bad character could be passed down to a baby through a mother’s milk.
It does not scan entirely. “Fury,” Porro offers, looking up from his phone, and this is more like it. An edge, a hardness, even a nastiness that is needed to thrive. Porro is reminded of something he told the Guardian’s Sid Lowe in March 2023 when it was tough for him at Spurs after his mid-season move from Sporting Lisbon: “Let me loose in a prison and I’ll end up owning the place.”
Porro smiles because it was another phrase that Antonio taught him. And then he is off, opening up, sharing so much. Mala leche. Top dog in prison. It is more a state of mind conditioned by his childhood, one he will carry with him into the heat of the derby.
“Since I was small, I have had to fight for everything,” Porro says. “You had to be tough in my house. Often there wasn’t any food. I know others have that situation, too, but that is how it was. That is why I have had to be tough. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, this spirit. It’s a winning spirit, as well. It can be positive within the game. It’s been part of me since I started. If you want to reach the absolute top level, you have to be strong mentally.
“This toughness is something that is going to hold me in good stead against Arsenal. I just try to be focused 100% for every match I play. That is something I realised when I arrived here. You have to be 100% prepared every time you pull on the shirt of this team. It’s going to be a tight match, a beautiful match. I just hope it goes well for us.”
Porro, who turned 25 on Friday, grew up in the small town of Don Benito in Spain’s landlocked Extremadura province, in the west of the country. He always had a ball at his feet, the typical street footballer, and it was Antonio to whom he owes his career. He was also close to his maternal grandmother, Maria del Carmen, who died in 2022.
“I lived with my grandparents because my parents were always working,” Porro says. “They had to work really hard to put something on the table for me. It was my grandfather who wanted me to get into football; in reality, he was my father in football, the one who took me to all the different places to play. He still calls me. He has said that he can die easy and peacefully knowing he has seen his boy reach the top of the game.”
Porro’s path has been far from straightforward. It was a difficult time when he left home at 14 for a youth contract with Rayo Vallecano in Madrid. He impressed during his first full professional season at Girona in 2018-19 and yet the club were relegated from La Liga. Then there was the move to Manchester City in the summer of 2019 and the immediate loan to Real Valladolid. He was there and not there at City; a weird feeling. Valladolid did not work out.
But everything changed for him at Sporting, where he went on an initial loan from City in the summer of 2020, and one way of charting his story there is through “the Legend of the Shorts”. Porro smiles even more as he remembers it, how he turned up for his presentation in a pair of heavily ripped denim shorts that, for reasons unknown, he did not change out of. Rocking the green-and-white Sporting shirt with the shorts was a strong look and there were raised eyebrows, mockery.
Then came the cult hero bit. After Porro settled and started to show his best form, there were memes of him in the shorts with pictures of various attackers in the pockets. The shorts even featured in Porro’s tearful farewell video. He puts them on a hanger in his locker, packs his bag, turns and leaves, the final image being of Sporting’s badge and the shorts. “Obrigado, Porrito,” is the closing message: “Thank you.”
“The transfer to Sporting was going through, I was on the beach and I didn’t have anything to wear … I was just wearing the shorts,” Porro says. “When I left, they sort of passed into history. It’s an anecdote that keeps on running and I think it shows my personality, as well. I’m happy to laugh at myself.”
Porro’s difficulties in his first few months at Spurs were well documented but the club’s supporters are not talking about them now; not after how he grew last season. It was the latest example of the steeliness of his resolve, not to mention his swashbuckling talent.
What the fans want to know is why Porro was overlooked by Spain for Euro 2024; the manager, Luis de la Fuente, had Dani Carvajal at right-back with Jesús Navas in reserve. Porro had won his third cap in March – 12 months on from his second, which was two years on from his first. De la Fuente did not pick him again in the international window just gone.
Now for the derby, which offers Spurs the opportunity of revenge against Arsenal for last season. “Set pieces,” Porro says, unprompted, a nod to how his team conceded twice on corners in the first half. Spurs were 3-0 down at the interval; they ended up losing 3-2.
The main pre-match line takes in the absences of Declan Rice and probably Martin Ødegaard for Arsenal. Surely, they raise Spurs’ hopes? Porro does not look at it that way. His focus, as ever, is on what he can do. “We are a different team this year,” he says. “I think you can see that in the first three matches, even if the results in football don’t always go the way they should.
“It’s our second year working together and it’s a matter of becoming more familiar with each other. Confidence and trust comes from that.
“I was at the supermarket in the week and found myself among some Spurs fans, who were all talking to me about the match. That’s a really beautiful thing. You are out and about with your family and you see that support. It’s something that fills you with energy. Come Sunday, we are going to be really prepared for it.”