Aaron Wan-Bissaka lifts lid on dark days after resurrecting Man Utd career

11 August 2023 , 06:50

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Aaron Wan-Bissaka lifts lid on dark days after resurrecting Man Utd career

Aaron Wan-Bissaka admits he's had a mental battle at Manchester United - having been snubbed for long periods before enjoying a return to the first-team.

The right-back was a £50m addition early in the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era but, after a positive start, began to slip down the pecking order. Erik ten Hag's arrival did little to revive his fortunes and he looked set for the exit door.

Towards the end of last season though Wan-Bissaka forced his way into the starting XI and became a regular, legitimising the stance he took to "train for myself" when he battled with himself about his purpose having been continually overlooked in Manchester.

He told the Daily Mail on his struggles: "It was a hard time and the only thing you can do during a hard time is keep working. I got my head down, gaining that hunger to fight for my position and wanting to play, wanting to impress the manager and help the team. It’s quite hard to motivate yourself to train hard because you’d be telling yourself, 'what am I training for when I’m not going to be playing?' But I just had the mindset, 'I’ll train for myself, just to get the best out of myself'.

"It can go both ways. You can just sit there and complain about it and not care, or you can actually try. I thought the best way was for me to try. It’s obviously never good. But I just had to deal with it. I had support around me, my family, telling me every day, 'Just keep working hard, have faith, your time will come'.

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"So that helped me get through each day. I always have that faith in myself to get myself out of situations like that. I had my head screwed on and I was ready to do what it takes. Probably after January, I felt it I was in the right direction. I felt good about myself. I was happy. I just wanted to keep improving."

Aaron Wan-Bissaka has worked his way back into the starting XI

Wan-Bissaka was expected to be moved on by the Dutch coach with a January move touted, only for him to justify his quality and, in a major u-turn, a new improved deal could be on the cards for the former Palace man, who has previously been in England contention.

The 25-year-old copped notable criticism having been dislodged by Diogo Dalot, who was first choice in the early part of last season. That said, Ten Hag has been credited for keeping Wan-Bissaka's spirits high as he continued to work and dodge the flurry of abuse.

"Twitter can be a dark place, so I avoid it," he admitted. "I used to, but it's easy now, I just don't do it no matter how the performance is, good or bad. When I was at Palace, I used to see players from other clubs, what they go through and what to expect. So when it happened it's hard to deal with it, but you just block it out and focus on the main thing which is football."

Samuel Meade