Moving to a new country isn’t always easy for young players, but when the club give them time to adapt instead of rushing them into cation unprepared, positive results tend to happen.
This seems to be exactly what Middlesbrough are doing with their January signing Julien de Sart, who has only made three appearances for his new club since joining.
Speaking to DH while on international duty, the youngster also revealed the differences between how clubs operate in England and in Belgium, and gave a little bit of insight in how trusting the manager is.
He said: “An English dressing room, it’s real work. What you need to know is that there isn’t a set time for people to arrive in the morning, but everyone is there at 9 to start training at 10.30. We all go to eat together at around 9.30-9.45, we all go to the dressing room, we talk, we read the papers.
“We all interact together, which is a different to Belgium where everyone is on their own. Basically, there are no restraints. The group puts together their own set of rules.”
The youngster went on to explain how this would never happen in Belgium, with Standard asking their players to arrive at a certain time, eat at such and such hours, which could become frustrating to the squad.
He continued: “The biggest difference is that the dressing room is a place of work. There are no phones, they’re all in the lockers. We talk a lot, we go for a workout before and after training, we eat together. We’re a group who live together. We have more freedom, but we set our own limits.”
Sounds alright, doesn’t it?
