Sanchez's journey to the Spain squad

A call-up to the Spain national side was the cherry on top of a journey to the Albion first team that Rob Sanchez began at the age of 15.

Signed from Levante by Albion in 2013, a lanky Sanchez caught the eye of club legend and one of his predecessors, Michel Kuipers.

“I remember when Robert first came in and joined the youth team,” Kuipers said. “I could see that he was built to be a goalkeeper and and was very agile for his size. He had a strong level of confidence in his ability and I always liked that about him, he always believed in himself.”

Sanchez signed his professional contract with Albion in 2015, progressing through the youth ranks and enjoying his first piece of success with the Under-23s, as they were promoted to the top-tier under Simon Rusk in the 2017/18 campaign.

Aged just 19, and having worked incredibly closely with now under-23s interim coach Shannon Ruth, he headed out on loan for the first time in his career, joining League Two Forest Green Rovers.

It was relatively straight froward move,” Rovers’ director of football Rich Hughes recalls. “Our goalkeeping coach Pat Mountain had identified Robert as his number one target.

“We went to an Under-23s game between Brighton and Aston Villa at Villa Park and Pat explained what he liked about him. Ten minutes into the game, Robert came out and gathered a cross near the edge of his box and sent a diagonal ball out that started a counter-attack. Pat looked at me and said ‘see’.”

The goalkeeper’s ability was one thing, but what he was like as a person is what impressed Hughes.

“Robert was confident, but in a nice way. When he first arrived I don’t think he expected League Two to be as much as a challenge as it was, but he really got to grips with it. He was always pleasant, polite and respectful to all of the staff and that’s what you want from a young man coming from a Premier League club.

“It was an up and down period for him, he made some mistakes, he let one roll under his foot in the last minute of a game. He was nearly in tears on the pitch when he made that error, which was almost good to see – some loan players come and don’t really care, but he was bothered and invested and that’s one of the hardest things to cultivate in a short period of time.”

Sanchez would go onto play 17 times for the Gloucestershire based side, before being recalled by Albion in January 2019 when first choice Mat Ryan headed off on international duty to the Asian Cup with Australia.

A step up the EFL pyramid came last season when Sanchez joined League One Rochdale on loan, with Albion’s loan manager David Weir impressed by his time at Spotland.

"He did very well, he played a vast majority of the minutes and had played in League Two the season before. That was progression for him and he definitely developed over that period, he was asked to do some different things at Rochdale and that’s the challenge he had.

“He came back from Rochdale and had 50-odd games under his belt. He was showing signs that he could become a really good goalkeeper."

The third-tier season was cut short due to the pandemic, with Sanchez making 35 appearances in all competitions for Dale.

The  Albion first team coaching staff had seen enough and he played back-up to Mat Ryan for the first six games of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.

A somewhat unexpected top-tier debut came for Sanchez at the beginning of November at Tottenham Hotspur and despite losing 2-1 he impressed between the sticks.

“He was ready for his debut, he was ice cool in the warm-up,” goalkeeping coach Ben Roberts said. “But you’re only as good as your last game and nobody, including him, is or was at the time getting carried away.”

After a six-week period back on the bench, Sanchez was named in a Premier League XI for the second time, keeping a clean sheet at Fulham. Since then has played every minute in the top-tier for Albion.

Defender Adam Webster believes he and his teammates have benefited from having a presence like Sanchez behind them.

“I have been really impressed by Robert – some of the saves he makes are unbelievable,” the former Bristol City man said. “He is so laid back he's nearly horizontal and that carries over to the defence. He is a big presence and he's so powerful.

“When he's coming for crosses it eases the pressure on the backline and we want him to do that. At Liverpool in the 93rd minute we had a 1-0 lead and we were defending a corner but he came out to the penalty spot and grabbed the ball with about five men around him.

“We all celebrated after that because it was such a big moment. When you've got a keeper doing that it's amazing for the team.”

That talent has always been there though according to Roberts, who has been with his goalkeeper every step of the way.

“Hindsight is beautiful isn’t it, but he’s always been a talented boy. I can say that about others, but what Robert has been able to do is to continue improving on all aspects of his game, he has taken his opportunities when they have presented themselves.

“When he’s gone out on loan he has done well, it’s not always plain sailing, but he’s responded and that’s what we want to see. We knew he was ready for an opportunity here and that’s why he was kept around this season. We’ve had high hopes for him, without a shadow of doubt.

“His progression to the first team and the Spain squad hasn’t necessarily been a surprise, but at the same time there are a lot of people who haven’t taken their opportunities in football and don’t necessarily keep progressing every year.”

The path taken by Sanchez is one that Roberts and the coaching staff in the senior and Academy set-up have been put in place with the club’s full support.

“As a club, Brighton have been incredibly supportive of what we have wanted to put in place – bringing in the young goalkeepers we want to so we can make every age group as challenging as possible.

“From day one when Rob trained with David Stockdale and Niki Mäenpää, that was been brilliant for him and the standard has gone up every year. He trained all the time with Tim Krul who has played the last four or five games for Holland. He has trained with the Australia captain and had to push himself to reach those levels and surpass them – he just needs to stay at that level and keep that hunger. I’ve got Casper Ankergren coaching with me every day and he has been just as key, as well as the other goalkeepers in the group at the moment in Jason Steele and Christian Walton.”

Despite not getting onto the pitch for his country these last ten days, Roberts wants to see the Spaniard use the experience to better himself, starting this Sunday at Old Trafford.

“You can take some great experiences from international duty, but Rob is in his infancy as a Premier League goalkeeper, so it will be an important test for him to be fully focussed on Manchester United when he’s back in the group on Friday. It will be nice at the end of the season to reflect and see how far he has come, but at the moment we are focussed on the job at hand.”