Former Real Madrid assistant manager Paul Clement says he can’t wait for the new season to start and that there isn’t too much of a difference between coaching Los Blancos and Derby County.
The Englishman took over a manager of the Rams earlier in the summer and has been tasked with getting the club back into the Premier League.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror about his time at Madrid and Derby so far, Clement said the most any manager can ask from his players is that they give their all in training and work hard – whether they are Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Will Hughes or George Thorne.
“What marks those top players is their determination to be the best they can possibly be – and that is all you ask from anybody. It is never a problem working with a good player with a big ego. The problem is only if you work with a player who has a big ego who is not very good,” he stated.
The Championship is one of the toughest leagues to get out of, with ten or eleven teams all genuine contenders for at least a play-off spot every season. And with the league season being 46 games, it is a long campaign.
But Clement says is is ready for the challenge ahead.
He commented: “You play a lot of games on Saturday then Tuesday in this league, but in Spain we were playing Sunday then Wednesday. Tell me the difference? We had three games in a week all the time, playing in the Champions League, the Copa del Rey. It taught you how to handle the intense workload and still prepare correctly.
“I learned how to recover well, how to train the players that are not starting to get them ready for the next game.”
