ANDERLECHT midfielder Josh Cullen has encouraged young Irish players to sample football on the continent after making a brilliant impact at the Belgian club in his first season.
The diminutive midfielder decided to move abroad last October after being loaned out three times – to Bradford, Bolton and Charlton – by his parent club West Ham United.
The season-and-a-half Cullen was at Charlton, the fans christened him 'Super Josh' while the Bradford supporters went one better by singing: 'We got him from West Ham, he's better than Zidane.'
The highly-rated 25-year-old schemer couldn’t be happier in Belgium’s top flight and his game has come on leaps and bounds under former Manchester City defender Vincent Kompany.
“I’d definitely advise players to try it, to think outside the box," Cullen said. "I’ve loved the season at Anderlecht, I’ve really enjoyed my time there, found it easy to adapt.
“I’ve to say thank you to the people at the club who’ve helped me settle. I’ve enjoyed my time on the pitch. It’s something I’d definitely advise other players to do if they had the opportunity.
“I've grown up off the pitch and I definitely believe that that stands me in good stead to perform well on the pitch and become a leader as well because you become more independent away from your friends and family…”
Kompany, who has just completed his first season in charge of the club he started out with as a player, guided the Belgian giants to third in the top flight behind runaway leaders Club Bruges and two points behind second-placed Royal Antwerp.
Kompany has praised Cullen on numerous occasions for his technical ability and midfield tenacity with his club performances sufficiently impressing international boss Stephen Kenny.
Cullen, who played U16 for England before switching to the Republic of Ireland at U19 level, appears to have dislodged Jeff Hendrick on the international stage having started in both World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg back in March.
“I know that the manager and his staff analyse every player and every game played,” Cullen said via zoom.
“When I signed [for Anderlecht] in October, and was with the squad the day after, he [Stephen Kenny] reassured me that just because I was playing in Belgium and out of the UK, he’d be keeping an eye on me, as he does all the players, and that it wasn’t going to affect me at all.”
He added: “I don’t think there’s a massive difference [in style between England and Belgium].
“I suppose in England and Ireland, people sort of think European football is tippy-tappy and quite slow-paced.
“It’s definitely not that. We’ve come up against teams that play all styles of football, as you would in the English League. It’s quite similar in that sense.
“Obviously, being at one of top clubs in Belgium, we’ve come up against a lot of teams that have sat back, defended in a low block against us. That’s been one of the main differences that’s jumped out at me. But it’s still football and you still come up against all types of teams and all types of style of play.”
By all the early soundings, Kompany is probably destined for bigger and better things in management – with the Irish midfielder heaping praise on his technical and man-management skills.
“As a manager I think he's been brilliant, to be honest,” Cullen said.
“To work with him every day, the amount of depth he goes into with preparation, not only for games but for training sessions and how clear he is to us as players about the role he wants to us to take up within the team system, it's fantastic.
“Every day he's hands-on in training, his coaching is brilliant, and that comes from his knowledge of the game, the teams he has played in, the managers he's worked under as well.
“As a manager, for me, the first year working under him has been really good, a great guy away from the pitch as well, someone who knows how to manage his players on a personal level as well.”
Cullen is hoping to be retained in Ireland’s midfield for tomorrow night’s friendly against Andorra and next Tuesday’s trip to Hungary as Stephen Kenny aims to claim his first win after 11 previous attempts.
“I just think for us as a team it's turning good or decent performances into results,” Cullen said of Ireland’s displays to date.
“I think we know we're close with some of the performances we've produced as a group over the last year or so, but I think it's now down to us to fine-tune the fine details and be ruthless in both boxes, take our chances when they come and be more solid to keep the ball out of our goal.
“And that's something that we have a great opportunity with this time away and two friendlies and more time to train as a group, it means that we can work on that stuff in more detail.”
