Daniel James reflects on “ups and downs”

It is easy to forget that this is only James’s second full season in senior football after making his mark with Swansea City.

“That was the thing,” he responded. “To come in from Swansea to here, as you’ve said, was a big difference. I expected a big difference but it was a lot bigger than I thought. 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.”

McTominay added: “It’s a culture change. You have to adapt to your surroundings, it’s not just going to be a straight click. In your first month, you’re scoring goals and stuff like that, but you’re still playing well. You’re finding your feet in the Premier League, one of the toughest in the world, so it’s not like clockwork or dead easy. It takes time to adapt to different things that are going on in your life as well.”