For the first time in his professional career, Andreas Weimann has found himself in a new environment for the start of pre-season.
For the first time in his professional career, Andreas Weimann has found himself in a new environment for the start of pre-season.
After spending eight years with Aston Villa, the Austrian forward is embarking on a new adventure that has taken him from the West Midlands to the East after putting pen to paper on a four-year deal with Derby County last month.
The 23-year-old has just completed his third week as a fully-fledged Ram and Paul Clement and his side are now halfway through their pre-season preparations.
Although the footballs were out from day one, the first two weeks was importantly about elevating fitness levels. That, though, was taken to another level over the past seven days.
“The past week was my third week that I’ve been here now,” Weimann told Rams Player HD. “I’ve had a lot of training time with the rest of the boys and that has been a great way to get to know them. It’s been a very enjoyable few weeks since I joined.
“We have really stepped it up in the past week. The first two weeks were more about getting the fitness levels back up to where they should be and the past seven days were very tough, the toughest yet, but it’s still been enjoyable.
“It’s better that the games have started again as well, which is giving us all something to look forward to at the end of the week so we can put what we are working on in to practice.”
>Fitness, though, is not the only thing on the agenda as Derby County’s first team continue to apply themselves to learning a new way of playing.
Under Clement, the Rams’ new Head Coach, Derby have been working on adopting his methods and have had two occasions to put them into practice thus far – first against Grimsby Town then Northampton Town.
With a new coaching regime in place, Weimann does not feel like he is having to catch up with the rest of his team mates.
He added: “This is what pre-season is all about. It’s about getting ourselves in the best shape possible for the new season, but it’s great to get some game time under our belts as well.
“It’s what we do on the training pitch, at the moment, which is more important. It’s a good chance for all of the players to get to know the new Head Coach’s plans and how he wants us to play.
“I’m a new player, but this is a new time for all of us because there isn’t too many of the boys here that have worked with Paul before.
“It’s a new thing for all of us and it is something that we are all enjoying.”
With the past week being described as the toughest yet, the players returned will be taking up another notch during their impending week-long trip to Arnhem, Holland.
With a gruelling training schedule planned, the Rams will also play two more friendlies – one in Germany against SV Meppen and the other against FC Utrecht – as the 2015/16 season draws ever closer.
A key week for Derby, Weimann believes that the trip out to Holland represents a ‘great chance’ for him to get to bond and get to know the rest of his new team mates even better than he has done over the past three weeks.
“These six weeks that we have had for pre-season are a great chance for us to buy into his plans and buy into how he wants us to play,” Weimann added.
“It’s an important period for us and the aim is that we go into the opening day game against Bolton and each and every one of us know what he wants us to do and what is expected of us.
“We’ve been in every day since we all reported back and I’ve got to know everyone now.
“In Holland, though, we are going to be together all the time – not only out on the training field, but away from it. That will be a great chance for me to get to know the rest of the squad even better."
