Brighton and Hove Albion summer signing Mats Wieffer has insisted he is ready to battle for his place in the team, even if he was initially intimidated by the competition.
Feyenoord Pings cover comments from the midfielder today to Voetbal International, in which he looks to allay any fears about his fitness or suitability for the Premier League.
Wieffer joined Brighton in a €32m deal as part of their major spending to strengthen their squad this summer.
He arrived at the club with a big reputation after being targeted by the likes of Atlético Madrid and Liverpool but is yet to firmly establish himself in the Seagulls midfield.
He’s so far only made four appearances in the Premier League totalling 191 minutes, managing just 90 minutes in the 3-0 win over Everton on the opening weekend.
That is slightly concerning given he cost so much but Wieffer insists there is nothing to be concerned about, particularly physically, even if he was initially intimidated by the condition of veteran James Milner.
“I was injured in my upper leg, but not in the leg, which meant I had to miss the European Championship, but it did throw me back,” he said.
“I just had bad luck. Now it’s a matter of watching a lot of images every day and training hard. “I have to battle it out a bit with Carlos Baleba, who is doing just fine. But I feel that things are getting better.
“Conditionally there is no problem anyway, I don’t need an extra program at Brighton to become physically stronger. That was the case at Feyenoord.
“When I first entered the club’s training complex to have an ECG done, James Milner was the first player I saw. I thought: if everyone here looks like that, we’ve got a problem.”
