By Paul Lagan
PHOTO: Paul Edwards
Jay Dasilva has revealed that a loan return to Charlton Athletic felt “comfortable” when the Chelsea left-back decided on a second stint with the South London club.
The England under-20 international did not get a sustained run in the Addicks line-up until April following a temporary January switch but finished the campaign strongly.
Charlton boss Karl Robinson made re-signing Dasilva a priority in the summer.
He has already featured 15 times in the current campaign.
“Towards the back end of last season I played a lot of games and felt comfortable coming back here,” said Dasilva. “I knew that I would play a lot of football here this year. That was a big thing for me.
“It was quite a tough period [when he did not initially feature after arriving in January] but I stayed patient, came in training every day as well as I could. I waited for my time and when it came I just took it.
“It was a good first loan. I’d have liked to play a bit more but it was a good learning curve for me. It was probably what I needed.”
Dasilva won the European Championships at under-19 level with England earlier this year.
“I’m in the under-20s at the moment and the aim is to get into the under-21 squad,” he said. “It’s about getting exposure to mens’ football and as much experience and minutes as I can to get me to there.”