West Ham defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka has opened up on his initial struggles to get acclimated to life at Manchester United in 2019.
United forked out £50m to secure Wan-Bissakas services from Crystal Palace. His signing was sanctioned by then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
At Old Trafford before his departure in the summer, Wan-Bissaka made 190 appearances.
In an interview with The Standard, Wan-Bissaka admitted that he did not receive adequate support when he made the switch from London to Manchester.
The England international told the newspaper, “It was difficult, very difficult. I went [to Manchester] on my own and it was my first time moving away from home. I had no one up there, apart from my PlayStation.”
“Because Manchester’s smaller, everyone’s aware of everything that’s happening. You have to be mentally strong to avoid the negative stuff it comes with.”
He admitted that he initially used to travel to London after club training to spend time with his family and friends before returning to Manchester in the evening. Eventually, he put a stop to it.
“It got tiring! It wasn’t the right idea for me to be doing that. I had to try and settle up there, and I ended up doing that.”
On whether the United move arrived too soon in his career, Wan-Bissaka replied, “I’ve thought about that. It could have gone any way. I could have told myself it was too early but the other side of me was asking, ‘Is this opportunity going to come again?’ “So, I thought, let me just take it.”
“If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. At least I’d have tried and given it my all. That was my mentality.”
He explained that he returned to London as “a man”, who was “more mature, more grounded and more focused.”
The defender added, “It feels amazing to be home, closer to friends and family and where I grew up. I missed the lifestyle, the things I could do outside of football and going out. Everyone was happy [that I was coming back to London], and I received a lot of messages from people, and I could feel the support.”
Wan-Bissaka revealed that Julen Lopetegui’s ambitious project is what eventually convinced him to part ways with United and join the Hammers.
Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
