The Hotspot | Alexéi Rojas: ‘I’m passionate about sustainability – I told Arsenal: we need to fix this’

The 21-year-old goalkeeper wants to impress on football the need to change old habits for the sake of the planet

“I’m a bit of an outlier as a person, I like being unique in who I am and what I do,” says the former Arsenal goalkeeper Alexéi Rojas, who combines saving shots with saving the planet. “I would say that was one of the biggest pulls for me to become a goalkeeper. I like being different.”

There is plenty to make him stand out. By 15, Rojas was changing the way people thought at Arsenal, transforming attitudes at the academy’s Hale End training ground where he would cycle, rather than get a lift from his parents. Rojas’s interest in the climate crisis began thanks to his mother, who works in wind energy. He would visit her office to learn more about renewables and their potential.