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George Edmundson admits the last couple of months have been so stressful that it might have impacted his form.
The centre-back enjoyed an excellent start at Boro after joining on loan from Ipswich Town, making a quick impression with Boro fans. He quickly earned the trust of head coach Michael Carrick too, who was keen to make him a permanent signing in last month’s transfer window.
With Ipswich having a recall clause in the initial loan deal though, Edmundson was forced to play on through the uncertainty of his future as the two clubs tried to negotiate a fee for a permanent deal. That was until January 21, ahead of Boro’s clash with West Brom, when the Tractor Boys recalled him. Leaving the centre-back in limbo, he’s relieved to get his future sorted after eventually making his switch to Boro a permanent one, and he’s now hoping to put it all behind him and recapture his early form.
“I’m really excited,” he said in his first club interview. “There were a couple of stressful days and it’s been a stressful month but I’m happy to get it over the line and I can crack on now. All the lads have been really great with me, the staff and the management.
“But I’ve played a lot of games and as a footballer that’s what you want. It felt like the right fit for me to kick on now. I feel like if you look over the past month, I was in and out of the team. I think that was more to do with what was happening off the field and whether I was coming or going.
“Now, I can get back and focus on football and get the club where it belongs. I’ve only been here half a season but after my first week it was like I’d known the lads for four or five years or grown up with them. They helped me settle in and now coming back we just pick up where we left off.”
Though Edmundson’s return to the side proved a difficult night as Boro lost 3-2 at home to Sunderland, the 27-year-old defender remains convinced that promotion is achievable this season.
“Obviously get promoted, that’s our goal here, but just to improve really,” he said when asked what his loan goals were. “I work a lot with Woody, me and him get on really well. And even though defensively we should have had more clean sheets, for whatever reason moments in games haven’t gone our way.
“But if you do watch my individual performances from when I first started to now, I feel like I’ve really improved defensively, I feel like I’ve taken my game to a new level. I want to keep improving and be the best version of myself and hopefully that helps the team win more games.
“We have Rav and Dael, two top centre-halves, really, really good, so we’ll battle it out. We push each other. That competition is really good. It’s good if you have good characters fighting for the same position. The lads are great, no matter who is playing and who isn’t, we support each other. It’s a bit like a goalkeeper’s union, we’re all together and feed off each other. We all know we can bring different things to the team.”
While Edmundson’s form may have dipped slightly over recent weeks (which hopefully does just end up being because of his future uncertainty that can now be pushed to the back of his thinking), moving forward, he’s hoping to hear the song Boro fans have for him way more.
“I think it means more to my mum and dad, they buzz off it,” he said. “Every time I ring my dad after a game he’ll say ‘George, I’ve recorded them singing your name again’. He loves it and my mum does. I don’t think I’ve really ever had one before. I think I had ‘he’s one of our own’ at Oldham but this is my first proper song, so I’m really chuffed about it.”
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