M’Baye Niang explained his need for “a fresh start” at Watford and his mistakes at Milan. “Sometimes you have to take a step down to come back stronger.”
The striker joined Walter Mazzarri’s Watford on loan in January and there is an option to buy at the end of the season for €15m.
“When we’re young, we all have problems,” he told The Guardian.
M’Baye Niang explained his need for “a fresh start” at Watford and his mistakes at Milan. “Sometimes you have to take a step down to come back stronger.”
The striker joined Walter Mazzarri’s Watford on loan in January and there is an option to buy at the end of the season for €15m.
“When we’re young, we all have problems,” he told The Guardian.
“Certainly, go back two or three years, and I was still making mistakes. Silly mistakes. Mistakes which hurt me. Now I’d like to think I am a bit more mature, a bit wiser, and I understand more about life and the way things work. These days, I can fall back on my experiences to help me. I can learn from those mistakes.
“It’s still early to say I feel ‘at home’ here, I’ve only just arrived, but I’d like to stay in England. It’s a style of football that I adore. You need to be strong to do well here, and I have that. I’m all about strength, pace, skill, taking people on.
“I’m working. I can do that freely here, enjoying my football, playing regularly, learning. I know I was at Milan, but sometimes you have to take a step down to come back stronger.
“I have always lived by the principle that, whatever happens, it’s never about ‘failure’. It’s about learning so you can improve and return to the top.
“I was at a big club, playing with big players. Now I’ve come here because, obviously, I need to learn more. So I will get my head down and work like a dog. If I do that then I will return to the top level again.
“I have real opportunities still ahead of me. If I do everything I can, I’m convinced I’ll improve and succeed. It wasn’t that my relationship with Milan broke down, but maybe I did need a change. My career needed it. We both recognised that.
“So I am here, playing in the best league in the world and enjoying a fresh challenge. That isn’t a sign of failure. I’ve joined a good club, a good team in the Premier League. I’m still young, and I know my objectives, my targets: play well for my club, help the team, win trophies, score lots of goals … the same targets they have always been. Now it’s about working, getting that consistency, and I hope that will allow me to find my way back to a big club. Voilà.
“I had seasons at Milan when I played, and others when I didn’t and was out on loan at Montpellier and Genoa. They changed managers so often since I joined them and, not wishing to make excuses, it does not make life easy for a young player if the Coach is always changing.
“And, of course, football is all about hitting that level all the time, and I wasn’t consistent enough. Maybe that’s what counted against me most of all.”