BARNSLEY FOOTBALL CLUB

Our next blog post from Denmark comes from Matty Wolfe, who discusses his run of football as he aims to regain match sharpness following lengthy spells on the sidelines and his culinary expertise (for want of a better word).

I’m enjoying it; I’m just getting to terms with the place, the new atmosphere and the new people, but everyone is lovely – just like at Barnsley – and I’m just enjoying playing football and working hard.

I’ve played 85 minutes in central midfield twice, and I think I’ve done well. On the Thursday, we played a cup game against a lower league team, so we got there and did what we had to do. We were 4-0 up pretty quick and then saw it out.

On Saturday, it was just men versus boys. They just battered us. At half-time, it could have been five or six and it was only one, so we got away with it, but we got absolutely battered in the end. But it was nice to get some minutes in my legs because it’s the most I’ve played in a while.

I think the most I’ve played consistently without injuries is about two or three months, so it’s very important to get six months of games until December and come through it injury free. That’ll help my fitness and hopefully I can play to my best afterwards.

After doing all of my back work, I feel really good and it feels stronger than it has ever been. It used to be in the back of my mind, but I don’t really think about it anymore. I obviously do my stuff after training to keep on top of it but, other than that, I just crack on. My gym routine is very varied; there’s a lot of core and back work, and then I’ll obviously do my upper body and legs.

Rafael van der Vaart is the assistant coach here now and he had an amazing career playing for some of the best clubs in the world and at the highest level with Holland. For me, this is an opportunity to learn from someone of that quality and really take advantage of this loan move by developing my technical and tactical skills as much as I can.

I had my loan move last season at Notts County and it’s similar in a lot of ways, but the main difference is the culture, really. We haven’t sampled the cuisine yet, but we’ll have to put it on the bucket list.

There’s a lot of fish here because we’re next to the docks. We’ve got some salmon, actually, because me and Jordan are going to do that wish some potato wedges in the communal kitchen. I’m the chef, so this absolutely reeks of a KFC!

I’m obviously missing my family, friends – mum, dad and my grandad. The football is on on Saturday and I watch all the games with my grandad, so I messaged him to say I wish I was at home to watch it with him. So, I’m missing him a lot.

At the moment, you have to quarantine when you get back to England, so it’s difficult for people to come and visit because they work. But, once restrictions are lifted, I think they’ll get themselves over for a nice little break.

Esbjerg is one of those towns where everyone knows everyone – it’s that kind of place. There’s a little town centre with the food and shops; that’s where everything is. It does get quite busy, but mostly it’s quite peaceful, relaxing and quiet. Not like Manchester or anywhere like that.

Matty.