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Former Manchester United academy star Will Fish has opened up on an eventful summer which saw him secure a permanent move away from Old Trafford to Cardiff City.
The Athletic published Fish’s first-hand diary account of the events of finishing his season at Hibernian before securing his move to Wales.
The 21-year-old has made no secret of the love he has for Hibernian, where he spent two years on loan, or for the Scottish capital Edinburgh as he claimed, “I enjoyed Hibs. I fell in love with Edinburgh as a city. I love my golf; I lived by the beach in Portobello and became real good mates with a couple of guys away from football.”
The Mancunian asserts that he was in two minds at the start of the summer as United had discussed the possibility of a contract extension and then a loan to the Championship. However, he claimed “I had it in the back of my head that I was open to leaving on a permanent deal, and making a name for myself.”
Fish then went into detail of the fantastic experience he had going on tour with United to America and praised the skill of players like Marcus Rashford and Casemiro.
Commenting on the under-fire English attacker he opined, “what a step up, playing against lads like Marcus Rashford. People don’t realise how good Marcus is. He gets criticism online but, trust me, when he’s running at you one-v-one, you can easily get in trouble.”
He also praised Jonny Evans and Scott McTominay for their role in giving him advice and claimed that the Northern Irishman, who he partnered a couple of times at the heart of the defence during the pre-season, was especially helpful in teaching him the arts of defending.
He then gave a fascinating account of what manager Erik ten Hag wants from his centre backs, saying:
“Erik ten Hag spoke to me only about football. He wants the centre-halves to wait on the ball until the opponent comes to you, then pass it off. Do that right and you can take an opponent out of the game.”
“He wants the team to be in control, to make a back three, almost, with the two centre-halves and a midfielder.”
Whilst enjoying the tour, the young Mancunian claimed that by the start of August, uncertainty around his future was starting to negatively affect his family and the people around him despite him being quite “chilled” about the situation, he knew he had to make a call quickly about his future.
Potential disaster struck when he picked up an injury against Liverpool and soon realized the ligament damage he sustained would likely keep him out for around a month, which obviously complicated a potential departure from United.
Luckily he still had quite a few teams interested in him and speaking on his decision he claimed, “I got to the point where I had to decide on which club I wanted to join, otherwise the interested parties would move on to whoever was next on the list. I chose Cardiff City. Big club, fanbase, city and stadium, and a club that has been in the Premier League recently.”
Speaking to the Championship club’s manager Erol Bulut made him feel wanted and gave him confidence and that’s “the biggest thing you can have in football from a player’s perspective.”
The defender is aware he will not walk right into Cardiff’s first team plans but “I’ve got to do the best I can — try to get into the team and stay in it.”
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