Southampton centre-half Jannik Vestergaard has been reflecting on a ‘challenging’ first season in English football following his arrival at St Mary’s Stadium over the summer from Borussia Monchengladbach.
The 26-year-old Dane arrived with some fanfare given his size and build, and plenty of fans were hoping that he would be a proper replacement for Virgil van Dijk following his departure to Liverpool, but the £18million signing definitely took his time to settle into the club and with us struggling in the Premier League, that clearly didn’t help him either.
Going into the weekend’s clash with Leicester City, he now has 14 appearances to his name and having been dropped by former manager Mark Hughes, he’s enjoying an uplift in both matches and his own form following the appointment of Ralph Hasenhuttl.
Speaking to the Daily Echo Vestergaard conceded it had been a troubling start for him and the club in 2018/19, but he felt there was reason for optimism moving forward.
One thing he was clear on was that he was only focused on improving his own form, and not comparisons with other players.
“I think it’s been a challenging six months for the club and for me personally. I think the past couple of weeks have been a turning point for me, I know that is a bit cliché, but I have found myself and had some consistent, good games after the Cardiff game. I’m trying to be myself, I’m not trying to be Virgil van Dijk. I’m trying to find back to myself and to my level to show what I know I can do. I think the last couple of weeks have been a good step towards that and now it’s about doing it on a consistent basis. I’m not going to talk about what others can expect because I don’t know their expectations. I can only talk about myself and what I have felt. I have felt like I could recognise myself more and it’s about building up from there.”
If Vestergaard can continue to show improvement, with no pun intended, he could be absolutely massive to our hopes of turning the season around and having something to enjoy on the pitch again.
