Back in the days when he was Barcelona goalkeeper, Victor Valdes must’ve had plenty of thinking time.
Marooned inside his own penalty area match after match as Xavi, Iniesta, Messi et al Tiki-Takad their opponents to death further up the field, he probably pondered what life would hold for him when he decided to call time on his football career.
Now at Middlesbrough and approaching his 35th birthday, Valdes’ playing days appear numbered. And today, we’ve been given an insight into what he intends to do when he hangs up his boots.
Instead of looking to secure his coaching qualifications or dipping his toe into a bit of media work, the Spaniard has decided to make the leap into the world of dating apps – launching his own to take on the likes of Tinder.
‘Hola!’ is yet to be launched but is due to be available in the iOS App Store and Android Play Store very soon.
In the video below (it’s in Spanish), Valdes explains:
“We think that in the dating world, you can feel attracted to someone on the bus, the metro, in a cafe, or in a college or club.
“But, you don’t necessarily have the courage to approach them and break the ice. Therefore you need this app.”
“I think there’s a tool that we need for this and by taking advantage of our mobile phones we can create a visual code based on a colour and on the message ‘Hola'”
At this point, Victor begins to explain how it all works…
https://twitter.com/1victorvaldes/status/781231496971554816
“Here I’m on the app and the system says ‘Hola’ and gives me a brown /orange colour. The system is giving me a completely random colour.
“Then, I show this message to the person I want to start a conversation with and that person can search for me and my profile thanks to the colour I’ve shown them. Then, we can start a conversation in a private channel.”
That make sense? Of course it does.