Jan Bednarek was not happy at being an unused substitute in the opening days of the 2022/23 season and was very happy to moving to Aston Villa and what he sees as a club with far bigger and better facilities in the substitutes bench area.
"It’s really important for me to move to a bigger club.” said Bednarek after signing on a season long loan deal for Aston Villa, "
"I’m happy, excited and looking forward to a new adventure for me,” he told the Villa website.
Despite the fact that he spent the entire 90 minutes plus injury time sat on the bench watching the two first choice central defenders at Villa Park keep the free scoring Manchester City at bay for most of the game he seemed blissfully unaware that he was not Villa's marque signing of the summer but a stop gap loan signing as he waxed lyrical about his temporary employers for the next 9 months.
"It’s a great opportunity for me and another great step, at St Mary's I was being forced to sit in the second row in the bench area, now at Villa I am in the third row, that for me is a natural step higher if i am going to spend most of this season watching the action rather than taking part in it"
"It’s really important for me to move to a bigger club and to improve my seating requirements, and Villa is the best place for me to do that, I often looked at their technical area when I played at Villa Park with envy and thought one day I would like to sit on that"
JAN PERFORMS TRADITIONAL POLISH LOAN DEAL TRANSFER DANCE
The Poland international added:
"It’s a massive club in England. Coming from Poland, I wasn’t aware how big Villa is, Polish TV is not the Ultra HD Sky glass picture you get over here, you really have to sit on their substitute seats to appreciate the quality, we have a saying in Poland, why shop at DFS when you can shop at Furniture Village and that is the difference between me staying at St Mary's & going to Villa Park., the upholstery and the quality of workmanship and when they told me that when they bought the seats they didn't do it on Interest free credit as that Gao Jisheng did, but paid cash on the nail I was sold on the idea"
"I think the fans are amazing, despite the fact that in my first visit there they had all left by the 80th minute as Saints won 3-1, in the second visit there weren't any in the stadium because of covid and in the third they were all laughing at me due to my appalling performance in a 4-0 defeat, the stadium’s amazing and also the training ground. In fact i don't think there is a single thing I won't like, I have heard the bus services are brilliant and even the areas of industrial dereliction are superb I’m really happy to be joining this club.”
JAN BLATANTLY IGNORES RALPH'S REQUEST FOR TEA WITH TWO SUGARS IN A GAME AGAINST ARSENAL
"Stephen Gerrard has spoken to me about building the side around me, it is not about being on the pitch he told me, it is about the bench and knowing that should he need to call on me, he can do so in the confidence that I will pop in to the dressing room and get him a cup of tea in a professional manner. I do regret that I let my standards drop in that circumstance when i was on the bench at Southampton, but if you have a manager who demands a cup of tea without a please or thank you and a player who p*sses in it, then the relationship is irretrievable and you know that he has lost the dressing room.
Stevie G or the Gaffer as I like to call him knows that in any great squad you have to have flair players, you have to have grafters and you have to have those who sit on the bench and get the tea, each is just as vital, not so much as a thanks from Hasenhuttl at St Mary's, I knew my time was up.
JAN BEDNAREK INFORMS THE SAINTS SUPPORTERS HE IS LEAVING FOR ASTON VILLA
"I would like to thank the fans for their support in my time at St Mary's and i was truly touched when I went over to them at St Mary's to explain that I would be leaving , they were so glad to see me further my career they celebrated as if I had scored a goal.