Merlin Röhl yana kan hanyar komawa ɗakin sutura a Finch Farm safiyar Alhamis sa'ad da ya tsaya. Leighton Baines da Billy McKinlay, mataimakan manaja David Moyes guda biyu, suna tsakiyar labari tare da 'yan wasa — suna dariya, suna yin alamu, cikin rai cikakke a wannan lokacin. Röhl ya ciro Leica M6 dinsa.

"Mun dawo daga horo kuma mun zauna a gaban ɗakin sutura, 'yan yara kadan, Leighton da Billy suna ba da labari," in ji Röhl. "Suna dariya duk lokacin, suna nuna juna da yatsu. Wannan yanayin yana da muhimmanci sosai a gare ni. Alaƙar da ke tsakanin mutane. Na ɗauki hotuna 20, 30."

Rayuwa ta hanyar ruwan tabarau

Wannan yanayin hankali — na tsara lokaci da ajiye shi — ya samar da littafin hotuna da aka wallafa yanzu. Life with Everton yana ba da ra'ayin cikin kulob daga ciki, an ɗauke shi a baki da fari, wanda Röhl ya fi so. Wata hoto tana nuna Michael Keane da Vitaliy Mikolenko cikin wasa na chess a ɗakin sutura, duk ɗan wasan biyun ba su san an ɗauki hotonansu ba.

Dan wasan tsakiya na Jamus, wanda ya shiga Everton a aro daga Freiburg kafin ya sanya hannu a kwantir na dindindin, yana ambaton Henri Cartier-Bresson a matsayin tushen wahayyinsa. "Mafi shahara shi ne Henri Cartier-Bresson! Almara!" in ji shi. "Da farko, na duba hotunansa na ce 'hotuna masu kyau'. Da zaran ka san ƙari game da daukar hoto, ka san yadda ya kasance gwani." Wata hoto musamman tana kaɗa zuciyarsa — aikin Cartier-Bresson na shekarar 1932 mai suna Hyeres, France, wanda kuma aka sani da The Cyclist, inda ƙaramin haske na keke ya riƙe tsarin gaba ɗaya. "Ya kasance cikakke a sane da yadda ake sanya waɗannan ƙananan abubuwa. Wannan shine abin da ya burge ni a hotunanshi."

Baines — da kansa mai daukar hoto mai hazaka — ya kasance taimako na aiki da kuma nau'in jagora na tunani. "Sa'ad da muke magana game da bangarorin tunani, zamu iya kama juna a wasu ra'ayoyi," Röhl ya bayyana. "Leighton yana magana kwanakin nan game da yadda wani abu zai iya samun muhimmancin gaske, kuma wannan abu ɗaya zai iya rashin muhimmanci. Sa'ad da ka ji rauni, muhimmancin yana ganin girma sosai — amma watakila ƙaramin rauni ne na tsoka na adductor, kuma idan aka kwatanta da matsalolin lafiya na gaske, ba komai ba ne. Hakan yana taimaka wajen sanya abubuwa a matsayinsu."

Kwakwalwa mai aiki sosai

Röhl yana fada a bayyane dalilin da ya sa daukar hoto ya zama dole ba shakatawa kawai ba. "Akwai wasu kwanaki da nake komowa gida daga horo ina tunani game da abubuwa da yawa — tarihin kaina, rayuwar sauran mutane. Wani abu yana da bukata taimakawa kwakwalwata ta kwantar da ita kaɗan. Sai na dauki kyamara."

Wannan tunanin yana da zurfi sosai. Röhl ya girma a Potsdam tare da iyaye biyu masu aikin likita waɗanda, in ji shi, sun ba shi 'yancin bunƙasa a kowane fanni na rayuwarsa — na ilimi, na fasaha, da kuma na wasanni. Sa'ad da kulob dinsa Ingolstadt ya so ya horar da shi cikakke ya kuma ba da shawarar ya bar makaranta, iyayensa sun ƙi. "Iyayena sun ce: 'A'a — je makaranta, sami Abitur naka'. Ban buga wasanni kadan ba. Na sami Abitur. Bayan haka, na sake buga. Ya yi aiki."

Abitur — daidai da A-levels na Jamus — ba ta da tattaunawa a gida, ko ta yaya makomar kwallon ƙafar sa ta kalli kyau.

Kaka, Bellingham, da hangen nesa na kwallon ƙafa

A filin wasa, tunanin Röhl yana bayyana ta wata hanya ta daban. Yana bayyana kansa a matsayin ɗan wasa mai "zana hotunan da yawa — yana tunani, yana mafarki game da wasu tsare-tsare, hotuna, da yanayi." Gumurzu dinsa tun yana ƙarami shi ne Kaka. "Yana da farin ciki na wasa, sauri, da ƙarfin fasaha. Wannan shine abin da har yanzu nake mafarki game da samunsa a filin wasa."

Daga cikin tsararraki na yanzu, Röhl yana nuna sha'awa ta musamman ga Jude Bellingham, wanda ya ɗauke shi a DFB-Pokal a shekarar 2021 sa'ad da kulob dinsa na farko Ingolstadt ya ziyarci Borussia Dortmund. "Oooh, wallahi na ji daɗi sosai," in ji shi yana tunawa. "Ƙarfinsa na riƙe kwallo a yanayi mawuyaci abin al'ajabi ne. Zai iya buga kowane matsayi, yana riƙe kwallo — sa'an nan kuma ya zura."

Röhl yana da shekara 19 a wancan lokaci, ɗan wasa a Bundesliga 2 tare da kyamara a jakarsa da Abitur a aljifinsa. Hanyar daga nan zuwa kwantir na dindindin a Everton — da kuma littafi da aka wallafa — ita ce ta zuciyar bincike fiye da yadda ta kasance ta hazaka.