Daniel James has opened up about his mixed start to life at Manchester United, while also backing the club to challenge for the title next season.
The young Welshman arrived at United from Swansea in the summer and got off to a roaring start, netting three goals in his opening four Premier League games. However, his form tailed off after that and he has only scored once in 33 appearances since.
"Obviously, I scored against Chelsea and had a good first month so my expectations went from down there to a lot higher,” James said while chatting with United teammate Scott McTominay for adidas' new show The Huddle (via Manchester United).
"You've kind of got to take that yourself really. What do I expect of myself now? I didn't change any of my goals to think I started better than I'd thought.
"I kept the goals the same. I didn't expect higher of myself but, obviously, you have that good first month and, after that, it died down a bit and I didn't score as many."
James went on to admit that the step up from the Championship with Swansea to the Premier League has been even more challenging than he expected.
“To come in from Swansea to here, was a big difference. I expected a big difference but it was a lot bigger than I thought," he added.
"It's not just about playing well but can you perform at a high level in every game, playing three games a week? I was covering 9-10km at Swansea but now, in most games, it's 11km or more, and a lot of that is obviously at high speed.”
Despite his struggles, James is confident of improving next season which he predicts will be a very successful campaign for the Red Devils.
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"I think next season is obviously going to be massive for us. We've had injuries, a few of them long-term at different times such as Marcus [Rashford], Paul [Pogba] and yourself [McTominay].
"I think once we get them all back together, with the rotation of the squad, we have a great chance of challenging for the title next season.”
Source : 90min