Austria Diary: Matty James

- The midfielder is training hard with the squad ahead of the new campaign 

- James talks room-mates, training and initiation songs 

With the Leicester City squad training hard on their pre-season training camp in Austria, LCFC.com asked midfielder Matty James to provide an insight into the trip. 

The entire squad, with the exception of those four players who featured in Euro 2016 – Jamie Vardy, N’Golo Kanté, Christian Fuchs and Andy King – are out in Austria as they take part in gruelling double sessions under the baking sun. 

So Matty, who is on a mission to be at peak fitness for the start of the season after missing last term through injury, gives us the lowdown on training, traveling, team-mates and those dreaded singing initiations… 

Matty James:

For me, this pre-season has been more exciting than it would be for most simply because of what happened last season. I’ve been raring to go for a while and being out there on the pitch again is a wonderful feeling. Lots of players dread it, but not me. Not this season. I was unfortunate that I missed out on such an amazing campaign with the team last year but I’ve worked as hard as I could during the summer and I’ve tried to come back in the best shape I can be ready for the pre-season to start. 

When you come back, and particularly with the lads we’ve got here, it’s like the first day back at school! You’re asking everyone what they’ve been up to during the summer and basically just catching up with everybody, including the staff. Another aspect for the lads that were here last season of course is meeting the new players, who we’re keen to make as welcome as we can. 

We flew out to Austria from Birmingham on Sunday afternoon and obviously we were all together and then one or two lads met us here in Austria. Again we’ve just been talking between ourselves about what the week is going to be like, getting a feel for the place and going over the schedule. You get to the hotel, find your room-mate and then separate the beds if they’re too close together! Drinky (Danny Drinkwater) and I had to take a shelf off the wall to move them apart! 

As far as me and Drinky go, we’ve obviously known each other for such a long time that it’s just natural for us to room together. Other people may suggest that they go with a certain person and the younger lads may room with a more senior player to integrate them more, but us two get on great and we’ve roomed together quite a bit. 

When you’re out here on a training camp you’ve just got to get yourself into that mind-set that you’ll be training two or three times a day and understand that it’s going to be tough. So when you get the opportunity to get your rest, you rest. It’s more about a routine. Eat, sleep and train. Then you repeat it all week. We have a laugh and a joke when we can but as a group we all know what we’re here for and that’s to train and get as fit as we can be. There are no distractions here like you would get at home. It’s just train, eat and recover. 

All the lads do different things to relax while they’re away. For example, yesterday Drinky and I watched something on the iPad. It was an American show called Blind Spots. Basically there’s a tattooed woman who’s been dropped off and they’re trying to work out the tattoos. I don’t want to spoil it, but it’s pretty good! Basically she can’t remember anything and she’s figuring it out through flashbacks. Today I’m just going to relax and chill out. We’re in-between sessions as I’m writing this so I'm trying to chill out and Drinky’s gone to the pool to catch some sun I think. 

As far as training goes, it’s quite a steep hill up to the hotel from training! Going down there is pretty easy, you basically just roll and there’s not much pedalling, but after the session you’ve got a steep ride back to the hotel. People dread it! There are a few electric bikes but the staff have them, players don’t! There are a few players who have hitched a ride in the kit van to save their legs for the double session, but I won’t name names! 

There’s always lads that have been here for a while and been the nucleolus of the team for a few years like Vards (Jamie Vardy) and Kingy (Andy King), so they’re missed at the moment and obviously it will be great once the whole squad are back from the Euros. It’s been good so far though. The new lads have settled in well and we’ve tried to make them feel as welcome as possible. They’re enjoying all the training… I think! We all just want to be ready for that first pre-season game against Oxford, so now’s a great time to put in the hard work while there are no distractions. 

For the new lads and the youngsters there’s always the issue of initiation songs. I’m pleased to report that there are quite a few to do on this trip, so we’re spreading it around the week. There were two last night, two young lads. They were awful. No belief. No desire. Nothing. It wasn’t funny either, just disappointing - a huge let down! They were just mumbling so there’s a possibility they could be doing it again! There are still a few new lads to go too. There’s Luis Hernandez, Papy (Nampalys Mendy), Ahmed Musa and Ron-Robert Zieler, so we’ll see what they’ve got! 

#lcfcaustria