Yoann Barbet knows he and his teammates must keep putting in the hard work if they want to hit the ground running when the new Sky Bet Championship season kicks-off at Huddersfield Town on Saturday 6 August. The Bees squad returned from a tough week-long Training Camp in Germany last weekend, straight back into another hard week of pre-season work at Jersey Road, and, speaking to Bees Player this afternoon, the French defender said that is how it has to be.
“We worked hard in Germany and it was a really good week,” said Yoann. “The team spirit was really good and that can be one of the key things for the season. Now we need to keep going until 6 August because we need to be ready for Huddersfield Town. It was hard work in Germany but it needs to be because if you don’t work hard you won’t be ready for the season. We have not finished with the hard work: we have continued this week and will next week too.”
The 23-year-old defender moved to West London last summer from Ligue 2 side Chamois Niortais and made 19 appearances in his debut season in English football. Yoann was one of a number of European imports to Griffin Park last summer, with fellow French defender Maxime Colin, Austrian midfielder Konstantin Kerschbaumer, and German duo Philipp Hofmann and Andy Gogia among those also joining. Now, with a year in English football under their belts, Yoann feels that they are all much more confident and comfortable in their surroundings ahead of the new campaign.
“We are much more confident now,” said Yoann. “When you arrive you don’t know what you have to do and what the Championship is like. Now we have a year in our legs and we are much more confident. We can help the new players, even if they already play in England. When I arrived I didn’t speak great English, I am not perfect now but I can talk to everybody and you understand a lot of the jokes so it is really good.”
The arrival of John Egan from Gillingham at the start of the month means competition for places at the heart of The Bees defence is fierce with Yoann, John, Harlee Dean, and Andreas Bjelland all in contention. Yoann feels that the good-natured competition is helping to bring the best out of all the defenders as they know they have to be at the top of their game to make sure they are in the starting XI.
“It is a battle but it is a really good battle between us,” said Yoann. “We are always joking and we are in good spirits. It is a nice battle; it is not a war between us. That is really good for us because we help each other to improve. It pushes us because if you do nothing then someone will play instead of you. You need to keep going every day and work hard. You also help your friends because we are a team and we can only go forward with team spirit not as individuals.”