Brajan Gruda was one of the new faces to arrive at Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer window.
The attacking midfielder had to wait until October 6th to make his Brighton debut as an injury kept him on the sidelines.
Germany U21 manager Antonio Di Salvo included the Brighton player in his squad for the two matches this month.
According to Kicker, Di Salvo agreed a plan with Fabian Hürzeler, to help the 20-year-old further improve his form and fitness.
Gruda played against Poland on Tuesday. After the tie, Kicker had a chat with the attacker, who provided the latest on his fitness.
When asked if he was ready to feature for Germany U21 yesterday, he said: “Yes, in consultation with the coach and the docs, I felt great this time and got my playing time accordingly.
“The plan was actually 45 minutes – but it’s good that I was able to play another 10 minutes, even if it got harder at the end. Everything is going according to plan, now we can only move forward.”
The German youngster feels he should be able to get back to his best version in a short period of time.
The former 1. FSV Mainz 05 man was determined to be part of the Germany U21 squad this month. Gruda explained how it can help him at the Premier League side.
“I’ve had problems for a while now, I was out for six weeks and hadn’t played a game this season,” he added.
“The question was whether I would be able to do the workload at all because of the pain, but I really wanted to be there and see if it would get better over the next few days with the U21. The lads here are really great, we have a lot of fun – and the games are going well too.
“Of course it makes sense for me to get playing time here: It’s good for my lungs, it’s good for my performance – even though I’m now playing for Brighton again. It was a bit of preparation for the Premier League, I would say.”
Gruda now aims to get more minutes at Brighton and remains confident of achieving it in the near future.
“Staying fit and getting more minutes in Brighton. Of course, who doesn’t want to play? But that comes first through hard training and good performances in the short missions – and then it will be fine…” he said.
When asked if Hürzeler also has the same demands, the German said: “Of course he demands that – but it’s already in me anyway. I’m not letting up, I’m giving it my all in training!”
