'Everything's just a little bit quicker' - Struijk on Premier League
- Published
Leeds centre-back Pascal Struijk speaking to BBC Radio Leeds on playing in the Premier League and new additions to the team: "You can always see that when there's new transfers, they are coming for your position.
"I'm never expecting to start because that's not the decision from the coach.
"But it's my job to perform the best that I can in training and on the pitch basically every single game to keep my position.
"The competition is high so I need to keep my performances as good as possible to keep my place."
On whether he was confident about staying at Leeds this season: "I was never doubting that I was not going to be at Leeds because I'm still on my contract.
"But there have been some stuff that personally I've had - some interest here and there.
"For me, to play in the Premier League with Leeds, I've done it before and I really wanted to do it again.
"It is a big jump up compared to the Championship. Everything's just a little bit quicker and everybody's just a bit more relentless.
"You get punished if you make a silly mistake or you just make that one pass that isn't right.
"It was different for me before because I was younger and was trying to get into the team whereas now I am trying to stay in the team. The pace and the relentlessness of the Premier League has definitely gone up."
On how he has improved as a person: "Massively. As a person on the pitch, making decisions and being smart. Taking leadership. This is all like the stuff that I've been growing into.
"I'm a lot more secure, solid and well-spoken around the team. People trust me. This is a role that I've grown into over the seven years. As a person, on and off the pitch I've really developed."
On dealing with the extra attention of the Premier League: "It's pretty normal and I am quite used to it. I don't get too distracted by everything else that goes on around me.
"It was always going to be difficult and different to last season because we were not going to be as dominant as we were last season, when you have really good teams with really good quality.
"There is a lot of quality on so it's not going to be very easy for us."