Seagull Aaron’s ready to role on
DANIEL JAMES is the perfect role model for Aaron Connolly – and all the rest of football’s bright young things as they look to make their way in the game.
That’s the message Brighton boss Graham Potter will be hammering home to 19-yearold Connolly ahead of today’s trip to Old Trafford to face James, 22 today, and his Manchester United side.
Potter (right) knows the
£20million
United new boy well, having worked with James at Swansea.
He said: “Dan’s a really good story for any young player.
“He went on loan to Shrewsbury and didn’t play – he wasn’t seen by them as being good enough to play in League One.
“He came back to us at Swansea in the summer — obviously sly
Swansea had been relegated and I’d just taken over and you’re trying to get your head around everybody at the club. Who’s this and who’s that?
“Yeovil wanted him on loan and thankfully we e didn’t send him.
“But that was where he was at. Six months later he was literally unplayable, in the Championship.
“Then he gets interest from Leeds and Manchester United, and it just goes to show that if you have resilience as a young player you always have a chance.
“Dan’s ability to carry on was always at a high level.
“From a football perspective, both Dan and Aaron like to attack the space in behind.
“That was always a good thing about Dan.
“A lot of players, especially young players, want to come towards the ball and have the ball to feet and then do something from there.
“Whereas both Dan and Aaron want to run into space.
“That’s quite a dangerous attribute to have from an offensive perspective — defenders are always worried about looking towards their own goal. You ask most defenders, they’d rather defend the other way.
“Both have that quality to do that, and do it often as well.
“There are of course personality differences, and differences in their career status, though in fairness to Aaron, he’s younger than Dan.
“Dan Dan had had a few more experiences expe and made a few more mistakes, and then t eventually got his opportunity.” o
Potter knows Brighton have as good an a opportunity as ever to record their first league lea win at Old Trafford today given the relative form his hi and d Ole Ol Gunnar Solskjaer’s sides are in.
And while the big games will come thick and fast between now and the end of Christmas, Potter refuses to look at the next six weeks as a period that will define Brighton’s season.
After United, they face Leicester, Liverpool, Arsenal, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and then Tottenham on Boxing Day.
Potter added: “I focus on the next game. As soon as you start to look too far ahead or have an idea about what may or not happen, you can waste a lot of energy.
“In the Premier League, every game you play you can lose.
“That’s the nature of it.
“You should just look at every game as an opportunity to get points and try to carry on developing how you’re playing.
“We’ve not thought about anything else other than
Manchester United.”