Marcus Browne has revealed that a positive mindset played a big part in his nomination for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for February.
The talented attacker returned from frustrating knee and back injuries to captain West Ham United’s U23s to a superb 1-0 Premier League 2 Division 1 victory at Liverpool.
Browne, who also impressed as skipper in a 1-0 home defeat by Sunderland earlier in the month, is now looking to build on his impressive comeback by catching the eye of first-team manager David Moyes and add to the solitary senior appearance he made in the UEFA Europa League back in August 2016.
“The knee problem – patella tendinitis – got really bad and I had some time out,” the 20-year-old recalled, “but when it got better, I felt it was the right time to feature in a game, but then my back began to become sore.
“I told the physio and medical department and I rightly got taken out of training to give it time to settle. Initially we thought it would heal in a few days, but it didn’t and it just refused to get any better and was giving me a lot of grief for a long period of time.
“It’s so frustrating being injured, especially coming back from a long-term injury and then picking up another one so soon. Coming in every day, the boys would be going out to train and I’d have to go and work with the physio department team in the gym trying to get myself back.
“I was limited to just really low-level things in the gym, and I couldn’t get on the pitch. Instead, you have to focus on other things, such as eating right and looking after yourself.”
Nothing else really crossed my mind apart from getting myself physically right and back in the team
Marcus Browne
The Academy of Football, which Browne joined at the age of eight, helped with that, with Head of Player Care and Psychology Lori Hedman-Nice spending hours with the promising forward.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Lori, working hard to try and put my mindset in the best place it could possibly be returning and getting through my injury. I’d sit in her office for up to three hours breaking everything down and trying to put plans in place to help me.
“Football is what I do and it’s what I’m good at so nothing else really crossed my mind apart from getting myself physically right and back in the team.”
All the hard work clearly paid off, with Browne joining Blackburn Rovers’ Lewis Hardcastle, Chelsea’s Reece James, Derby County’s Lewis Walker, Manchester United’s Tahith Chong and Stoke City’s Tyrese Campbell in being named on the Premier League 2 Player of the Month Shortlist for February.
The winner will be announced on Friday 9 March at 9.30am on the Premier League website and @PLYouth Twitter handle.