The real deal

London: Jose Enrique has been in England so long he is even complimentary about the food. But there is one difference between here and Spain that makes him depressed. "Ask him about the fake tan," cackles teammate Jamie Carragher. So I do.

"Yeah," smiles Enrique, unabashed. "I use a cream because it is never sunny here. You have to use cream or a sunbed because if not you would be so white!" Bronzeness is the only thing faux about this full-back. In every other respect, Enrique is the real deal.

It is true of him as a bloke. Enrique is a genuine, take-me-or-leave-me type of hombre. It is even truer of him as a player.

After years of searching, tens of millions lavished and a flops' parade stretching from Andrea Dossena back to Julian Dicks, Liverpool appear to have found a decent left-back.

Not hard

Not only that, Enrique cost a mere £5.5 million (Dh31.66 million), yet is arguably the best in his position in this season's Premier League. "I just try to do my job," he says. "I know I did well in Newcastle but, with all my respect to them, when you come to Liverpool it's easier. You play with better players, with Luis Suarez or Maxi [Rodriguez] — on the left I love Maxi. Just give the ball to them.

"I already played in front of 50,000 at Newcastle, so it's not hard [to handle Anfield]. And not so much depends on me. Here you have much better players than I am, like Stevie [Gerrard], like Luis. I was a more important player for Newcastle than I think I have to be here."

Enrique and Charlie Adam are the two outfield players to have started every 2011-12 Premier League game for Liverpool. Finding the training ground was harder than finding a place in the team.

The first time he tried locating Melwood, Enrique drove round the perimeter and continued onwards to Stockbridge village, two miles away, and a fan had to show him the way back.

"At Newcastle the training ground is open. Here it is closed. Outside it looks like a prison, with the iron gates, so I kept driving," Enrique laughs.

Feeling lost

He had teething troubles at Newcastle that weren't so amusing. Arriving from Villarreal aged 21, he was stranded and lonely. "I don't want to think about how hard it was. Because you change the country, you change the language, you come here and you want to put a light [bulb] in your home — you can't. You want the internet — you can't.

"When I was training I forgot everything, but then you arrive home in the afternoon and say to yourself ‘What am I doing here?'. You can't go to the cinema because you don't understand the films. You can't go out because you can't talk to anyone. You can't do anything."

He says he stayed because his family and girlfriend urged him to. Salva, his brother and agent ("also my best friend"), always did say he had the perfect game for the Premier League.

Sprinter

Why? Well, the fact he stuck it out at Newcastle, even in the Championship, shows Enrique has character.

A junior sprinter whose teacher believed he would run for Spain, he is quick. And, 6ft, rock solid, he is strong.

"When I arrived from Spain I was 82 kilos and now I'm 88 kilos. You need this in England. In Spain I never did weights and now I go to the gym all the time."

He has a Spaniard's technical qualities but would rather do the effective thing than the flashy one: a quirky stat of the season is that Enrique has shielded the ball out of play more than any other footballer in the Premier League. He just needed experience.

"Villarreal was like Liverpool, all the time ‘attack, attack'. Newcastle is where I learnt defending. I arrived and it was a shock because we were in our half most of the game and I couldn't defend, not like now."

At Newcastle, he began a lasting friendship with Andy Carroll. What of Carroll's struggle to establish himself at Liverpool?

"For any player, the most important thing is confidence. In Newcastle, he was a star. Coming here it's not like this. You have players who are before you and it's hard to understand that for him.

"With more confidence, Andy can make a difference for Liverpool. He's a fantastic guy. I don't tell you that because he's my teammate, I say that because I know him for a long time. He's so friendly with everyone, he's good with Luis. He doesn't always understand [because of Suarez's limited English] but he is trying.

Reluctance

"I know what the people say about what he drinks, how he goes out, but he's a young lad — he can go out, everyone did at his age. Because he's a footballer he can't do it? I don't think so. People say bad things about him, because he's not doing really well, but when he starts to score goals he can shut up everyone."

Enrique yearns to qualify for the Champions League. "I'm 25 already [26 in January] and I've never played there. My big thought is to play in the Champions League."

Doing so is even more important because of Spain's baffling reluctance to cap him. "If I'm honest, I'm really tired about this issue," he shrugs. "I have two seasons where I think, ‘I'll go [be selected], I'll go' and they never called me. So I never think about it any more. When they announce the squad list, I don't look. My brother, my family, tell me who's there.

"I don't think they will call me [before Euro 2012]. I don't know why. I think I deserve a chance. And if they don't like me, okay, never call me again. But just give me a chance."

An opportunity — as Liverpool have found — is all Enrique needs. Maybe that and a bit of sun.