New Brentford signing Josh McEachran has insisted that his move to the Bees was heavily influenced by the role of head coach Marinus Dijkhuizen.
Having finally departed Chelsea after several years on loan to other clubs such as Middlesbrough and Wigan, the 21-year-old midfielder was seeking to settle down at one club.
And the English youngster insists that the personal touch shown by Dijkhuizen helped convince him to sign for the club.
“I met the manager about a month or so ago,” said the former FA Youth Cup winner. “He came around to my house and was speaking to me with his assistant, saying how he wanted to play and how he wanted me to have a key role in this team.”
“And the style of play is a key factor as well because I’m not going to go to a side where it’s ‘miss out the midfield and go long’…the style of play and the manager had a big impact.”
The central playing midfielder admitted that he didn’t have any farewell words with Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho upon his departure - which may have lacked the personal touch that his new head coach provided.
“No, I haven’t spoken to anyone since I left yet. I’m going to go back and say bye to everyone but I haven’t spoken to them yet.”
McEachran admitted that Brentford wasn’t quite the step up that he was facing when Real Madrid were after him as a Chelsea youngster, although he is happy to get games under his belt to get back to his best.
“I wanted to take a step backwards to take a step forward.”
“I thought I just needed a fresh start, to get settled somewhere where the team will play good football and the manager is going to trust me and rely on me.
“I feel like I’m settled here, even though I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks. “
