Every word of Mateus Fernandes’ first interview

Ben: Welcome to Spurs! What are your first thoughts on joining us?

Mateus: “I'm very happy, I'm very excited for this next step. Of course, it's a massive club. I already know the city, the country. I spoke with the manager. I think he was the main key for me to join Tottenham and the project. We will fight for Premier League, we will fight for the first place.”

When Roberto De Zerbi talks, he makes you excited, right?

Mateus: “The way he spoke with me, with my family, it was very special for me and for my family. So, yeah, I'm very excited to meet him, to meet the fans, to meet everyone and try to do my best and enjoy the moment as well. I think we need this type of people, not just as a manager, but as a guy to try to take everything of you. It can be very special for me. I fully believe in him and this club. The way he spoke about me to my family, with me, made the decision easy.”

What did he tell you about the project at the moment?

Mateus: “You want to do a strong team, not just to play a few games, but to go to the pitch away and at home and to play eyes to eyes, you know, with blood, with energy, with fight. And this is the way I play football. I play football to win, to beat the other team, to beat the other players. So, we are in the same level. Now it's my job to do my best to help the team, to help the manager and to help the club.”

Tell us about your game - when you look at your heat map, it's everywhere! What's your position?

Mateus: “For me, I feel more healthy when I play, like, number eight, box to box. When I was in Southampton, I was playing more in front, like a winger,  but I always played deeper when I was in Sporting. So, I can play winger, I can play striker, I can play midfielder. I just want to help the team, to help my teammates, improve my game as well. I know that I need to score more goals, give more assists, fight even more because I want to win titles.”

You seem very comfortable under pressure on the ball. Do you like that pressure?

Mateus: “I always learned this when I was in Sporting, to play with the ball, to try to control the game, trying to use my head, you know, because it's not just about who runs more, or who fights more. It's just who knows the timing to pass, to attack, to defend. So, everything that I am today, it's because I was before and I learned before. I'm ready for this next step. I'm ready for this pressure. It's one thing that I work for. So, I'm very excited to play for a big club, for a manager that wants to win titles. This was the main reason.”

You can see from the moment you joined Southampton, you tried to work on your English so you could communicate well. Why was that important to you?

Mateus: “Now I'm more ready to be on this level, because when I joined Southampton, I was, my English was very bad. I just spoke Portuguese and Spanish and no one spoke Portuguese and Spanish there, it was just English. So, this helped me a lot. I was living alone, so now I have my girlfriend, I have my family here. I'm stronger now, so I'm ready for the next steps. That's it, everything is about trying to improve. Now I'm going to the club with a different pressure, with maybe a different mentality. What I believe, what I can do, I believe in me. I know that I can improve the team and improve the club. I'm here to help the team, to help the manager and improve with him as well.”

Who do you lean on to give you advice or support when you're making big decisions like this?

Mateus: “My family, they always have a good part of my decisions. My girlfriend, my agents, everyone around me. I spoke with them, I spoke with Pedro as well. I played with him at Sporting.”

What did Pedro tell you about us?

Mateus: “He spoke about everything. He spoke about the manager, the mentality change in the group, the training ground, the stadium. Of course, London, it's a city that I know now, but he spoke about the city as well. He told me many, many good things about the club, so I'm ready. I told him I'm ready to fight for titles and this is our way. Now I try to do my best.”

You had a brilliant season last season – what do you put your form down to?

Mateus: “Now I'm in a good way, but I know everything can change quickly. if I do, I don't know, one, two games not too good, the people can start to put pressure on, and this is the football, this is the way of football. I'm very confident about me. I know the quality that I have, what I can do for the team, what can I do to improve the team. I try to look for one game and then when I play, I try to look for the next game. I don't try to look for the future, try to win the present. I think it's the most important.”