GROWING up, Abdiel Arroyo used to get complaints from his mother for burning through shoes playing football in the streets of Colon.
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It's a work ethic - passion for the game - that has earned the athletic striker 45 caps for Panama, a trip to the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a new adventure at the Newcastle Jets.
The 25-year-old is confident the same approach will produce results in the A-League, starting with his home debut against Adelaide United at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
In his first interview since joining the Jets in late July, Arroyo said he was "loving" Newcastle and was "adapting quickly" to Australian football which was very different to Central America.
"I am enjoying the challenge," Arroyo said through interpreter Jen Arenas. "The players are very fit. They are good players and know what they are doing. To be honest, it has been quite easy to adapt. Unfortunately, I had an injury [hamstring] but I am getting back to full fitness."
Arroyo showed glimpses of his pace and power in a largely frustrating debut in the Jets' season-opening 1-all draw against the Mariners.
There was one moment - a portal - in the second half, where the slick striker hesitated on the ball and then exploded away from the defence. You sense, once the he gets in sync with his teammates and accustomed to the combative nature of the A-League, the goals will flow.
"That is what I have in mind," he said. "It will help team. I have to practise to make sure I am better."
Arroyo was still a teenager when branded with the nickname "Pistolerito", which means gunman in Spanish. It doubles as his Instagram handle.
"I was playing a game and was compared to another player, a well known player, in South America," Arroyo explained. "It stuck."
"Pistolerito" scored eight goals in 18 games for Arabe Unido in Panama last season before travelling Down Under and has netted seven in 45 caps for his country.
Asked to nominate his most important goal, the humble front-man replied: "The next one."
Jets operations manager Joel Griffiths, the 2008 Johnny Warren Medalist, and club CEO Lawrie McKinna scouted Arroyo. Both know plenty about scoring goals.
Language barrier aside, coach Ernie Merrick, who has a great record with South and Central American players, is confident Arroyo's best is not far away.
"Arroyo is still learning our combinations and plays and what is expected of him," Merrick said. "It is a little bit different to the way he played in Panama, where the ball came to feet a lot. We expect him to get in behind the defence a bit more. His training session on Tuesday was the best I have seen. I expect more from him this week. I didn't feel he was in the game much against the Mariners and I think he is still learning how we play. His training on Tuesday was the best so far. He scored goals and we want the same outcome on Saturday."
Arroyo, although only 25, is well travelled having played previously in Croatia, Colombia, Uruguay and Portugal.
The Jets bring in an interpreter in the lead up to games and Arroyo has a translation app on his phone to help with communication.
"I have been able to adapt to the culture quite easily," he said. "The biggest challenge has been the language barrier. Most of the time, I can understand what is happening. Although I don't speak the same language as my teammates, on the field there is only one language and we understand each other."
As for the banter in the dressing sheds: "Sometimes I understand, sometimes I don't. I am able to get an insight to what is happening."
Arroyo calls home every day and is in regular contact with his girlfriend Yumeyli Carrington, who is awaiting a visa to join him in Newcastle.
The eldest of three children, Arroyo was raised in a working class neighbourhood in Colon, a port city at the entrance to the Panama Canal.
"I used to play football every day," he said. "My parents brought me up well. They had to buy me lots of shoes because I was always outside kicking the ball and breaking them. They had to keep buying me shoes. I always played football, but my PE teacher asked me to do athletics. I won some races, but it wasn't my passion, I wanted to play football. Since I was 12 or 13 I have had a passion to make football my career. I have been evolving since then."
When not training or exploring Newcastle, including the "beautiful beach opposite my apartment", Arroyo is at home playing FIFA 20 on PlayStation.
"I play as the Jets and have been scoring a lot of goals," he said laughing.
Jets fans will be hoping he can mirror that form on the pitch, starting Saturday.
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