Versatile Huddersfield Town man opens up on his injury woe and life under Andre Breitenreiter
Left-sided player Jaheim Headley spent time in the treatment room after picking up an injury in Huddersfield Town’s New Year’s Day defeat at Leicester City
Huddersfield Town defender Jaheim Headley felt his ankle injury “came at the wrong time” after the wing-back’s momentum was halted with a two-month setback.
The 22-year-old made 21 appearances in all competitions for Town prior to sustaining the injury in the 4-1 defeat at Leicester City on New Year’s Day.
Headley was included back in the matchday squad for the first time since the setback against Leeds United, coming on as a late substitute. The defender since gone on to feature in matches against Cardiff City and West Bromwich Albion.
“It’s good to be back around the team,” said the wing-back. “It was a long two months, or nine weeks you could say. I thought it came at the wrong time for me, when I feel like I was just picking up some momentum after a difficult start to the season on a personal basis. I’m happy to be back now.
“It’s been a very frustrating few months. Obviously seeing the team do well in parts of that time that I was out, I always feel like ‘oh, it’d be nice to be around whilst they were doing well’.”
Headley wasn’t able to return in time for Andre Breitenreiter’s first match in charge at Watford, but was a second-half substitute against Leeds and Cardiff. He was handed his first start under the new head coach in the 4-1 defeat to the Baggies on Sunday.
The defender has enjoyed the playing style the new boss has attempted to implement, believing that it suits the current squad. On working under Breitenreiter, Headley said: “The first couple of training sessions I was back, he just kept checking on me to see how I was during the session.
“[He was] asking me if I’m okay and if I need to step out, or if I feel like I could continue, just telling me ‘be ready, because you never know what could happen’.
“I feel like obviously it’s hard for him to fully implement it as of now (his playing style), because of the situation we are in, but I feel like you can see little glimpses of it, which look really positive.
“I think we should play with no fear, I think we get the best out of our players when we play like that.”
