Ilia Gruev needed to show patience last season and in the end, he was rewarded.
After a relatively low-key arrival in the final 24 hours of the summer transfer window on a permanent move from Werder Bremen, the 24-year-old Bulgaria international had to wait two months before an extended run in the team.
Once he was handed his chance under Daniel Farke — when preferred No 6 Ethan Ampadu dropped into centre-back to cover injuries — Gruev soon made the position his own. He was so effective that talk of interest this summer from Borussia Dortmund among other clubs sparked fear among regulars at Elland Road that they could lose a real gem in the starting XI. But after heartbreak in the Championship play-off final and a good rest, Gruev is back and determined to make the new season at Leeds a success.
“The first two weeks, it hurt after the final,” he says in an exclusive interview with The Athletic. “You don’t want to think much about football so you try to do something else. But then when it’s week three or four, you start to work hard and you want to come back to see your team-mates, play football, and you want to start again. I want to do something, show myself and achieve something with this team.
“We met the day after the final and it was devastating and hard. But it was important, too. The boss said that it was a bad feeling but that’s football and we have to learn from it. He told us to go home, do what we want but, when we return for pre-season, we’re starting again and we have to forget about it.
Gruev celebrates scoring against Norwich in the play-off semi-finals last season (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
“We’ve started with a new energy and that’s the good thing about football, you can change things very fast and forget about it because football is a daily thing. When you have a group together, it doesn’t matter if you don’t get promoted, these things help you grow together.”
While several players from last season’s squad have moved on, including regular starters Archie Gray and Glen Kamara, those who remain are largely a group of young and talented players, a year wiser to the demands of the Championship as they target promotion.
Gruev showed maturity when waiting for his chance to impress Farke in his preferred position in central midfield and made the most of it with a sustained run of 33 appearances from late October onwards.
“You have to be a bit realistic,” Gruev says. “In the beginning, the team played well, Ethan was playing well in my position and everything was going OK, so I knew I had to wait. I am quite a realistic person and I know how the business works.
“I spoke to the boss, he was very open, we talked and he asked me to be patient. He told me that when my chance came, I had to be ready to show what I could do. Football is sometimes like that, you have to be patient and it’s important that in those weeks or months, you work hard. When the chance is there if you haven’t worked hard, maybe you won’t use it.
Gruev in action last season (Ed Sykes/Getty Images)
“You have to be professional. The boss is not somebody who has to motivate you every day or tell you what to do every day. You have to work hard and show that you want to help the team and approach every day with good performances on the pitch. We are all professionals and at an age where you have to be there (at the level) because nobody will wait for you. You have to take action and perform.”
Ever the pragmatist, Gruev knows that despite his efforts of last season there will be competition again — likely with Ampadu — for the No 6 spot again. The deep-lying role is where he has spent “95 per cent” of his career and if there was one criticism to be levelled at him last season, it is that he was unable to contribute more goals — not that Gruev needs telling.
“I know exactly what I need to do (as a No 6),” he says. “It’s nice because you have to take responsibility in the position, you have to talk a lot and help team-mates to organise. It suits me well. My dad (former Bulgaria international Iliya Gruev) was more offensive. He often jokes that he was a lot more dangerous in front of the goal than me. He was a very big influence.
“I talk to him almost every day, not only about football but also life and other things. He watches as many games as he can and after, we will talk about the game. It’s always nice to have a person who can help you with small things. He’s not hard with me — when I have a poor day, he will be honest, which helps me. But I know how I played, I’m will not say that I played well when I played badly.
“In football, it’s normal to have good competition. It means we have to train well to perform well but we are a team, so I’m not thinking I need to compete against Ethan. It’s important that in training there’s a lot of quality and this helps everyone.”
With pre-season underway, which Gruev describes as “intense” in its early stages, Leeds are preparing for their first friendly against League Two’s Harrogate Town before a trip to Germany for a training camp and more behind-closed-doors games.
(Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)
More signings will affect the final shape of Farke’s squad but those with the memory of losing to Southampton at Wembley seared into their brains are keen to get the job done by achieving automatic promotion with a top-two finish this time around.
“I don’t expect it to be like last year with the four teams who had so many points,” Gruev says. “But I expect tough matches, it’s not going to be easy again. We have our goals and our games and we have to focus on ourselves. We know what the league is, I played my first year in the league last year, so I know the league better now. So do a lot of players in the team and this will help us.
“As a team, we want to improve. It’s details in professional football at this stage. It’s about one, two, three per cent and we want to improve to show we are even better than last year. This is the goal for the season, it’s small things. It’s simple, working hard every day, have one goal, one focus. We know what we have to do.”
(Top photo: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
