Communicating with others in football – both your teammates and the staff around the club – is equally as vital in reaching the pinnacle of the game...

“Open communication happens daily here at Melwood…”

It comes from the manager – that’s where his quality in his man-management comes out. Sometimes he will grab someone for a conversation in the warm-up or after training, or sometimes he might call people to his office depending on what issues are relevant at the time. He is very approachable and he’s said from day one his door is always open, but it’s important that you don’t always go to him for everything – he probably has got enough on his plate and enough decisions to make! His assistants are vital – Zeljko and Pete – and Pep [Lijnders] is there if you ever need to speak about any matters as well. There’s also the medical team, who you can speak to, and even in the gym, there are people there from the sports science department. It’s important you don’t speak to the manager for every issue – there are other people here you can speak to about different issues.