ALL OR NOTHING
Terriers loan star Matos leaves it all on the pitch... and Blues boss Pochettino loves it!
ALEX MATOS caught Mauricio Pochettino’s eye by getting in the faces of Chelsea stars in training.
Chelsea boss Pochettino (below) took a liking to Matos after his under-the-radar summer arrival, including him regularly in his match-day squads and handing him a Premier League debut against Fulham in October.
“When I was training over there I gave it 100 percent,” explained 19-year-old Matos, now on loan at Huddersfield
“I left it all out there on the pitch every day, found myself in the squad, and got a debut. I gave it to the players all the time. All the time I was in their faces.
“It’s just football, though, never more than that. You don’t get this chance every day and you have to do what you have to try and impress.
“That determination comes from my father (Jorge). He always spurred me on, instilled that fire in my belly, trying to maximise my potential.
“When he speaks I know I have to deliver. When he got the message about Chelsea he said: ‘It’s time’.”
That was when Matos earned a trial at Chelsea after deciding to leave Norwich for a new challenge. And he quickly convinced the
Blues to sign him after shining during a practice game alongside World
Cup winner
N’golo Kante, to whom he has been likened.
“I have seen the comparisons and I see why,” Matos smiled. “I love to put myself about, I always go in for a challenge no matter what, I like to run and work hard for the team.
“I try to look at his qualities as much as possible because he was a very important player for Chelsea. It was absolutely unreal to play next to him. After the game I got told I was going to get signed. It was amazing.”
To continue his development, Matos followed a welltrodden path by joining Huddersfield from Chelsea in January. Current Blues stars Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill are among those who enjoyed similar spells.
He started the first nine games of his loan, claiming successive man-of-the-match awards along the way. And Matos is now pushing for a recall under Darren Moore’s successor Andre Breitenreiter, hoping to help Huddersfield emerge from the Championship’s relegation scrap with their status retained.
“I just need to finish the season strongly and hopefully help the team stay up,” said
Matos. “It’s very valuable to get these experiences at a young age because it’ll help me further along in my career.
“I’ve developed already. Mostly the leadership skills from players like Jonathan Hogg and Tom Lees. To learn from these players about the club and about their time in the Championship is massive.
“It’s so tight in the league. Every game is pretty much a must-win so there is pressure but you’ve got to be able to ease that pressure and play.”
The Terriers have won only eight of their 36 Championship matches but showed what they are capable of when holding Leeds to a 1-1 draw last week.
And they host West Brom tomorrow looking to complete the double over the Black Country highflyers.