Jake Hesketh believes that he still has a future at Southampton, with the midfielder impressing on loan at Burton Albion.
Speaking to the Guardian ahead of Burton’s Carabao Cup Quarter-final against Middlesbrough, Hesketh revealed that he still believes he has a future at Southampton.
The loan to Burton is Hesketh’s first spell away from Southampton, and the midfielder has impressed at the Pirelli Stadium. Hesketh scored the volley the secured Burton’s passage to the quarter-final, with the Brewers taking on Middlesbrough this week.
Hesketh told the Guardian:
It’s nice to know they are watching because as much as I want to impress people here and prove myself to everyone, the people at Southampton are the people I probably want to impress the most because that’s the team I ultimately want to get into. Whenever the time comes that I go back, I want to impress the new manager and put a case forward to be in his team.”
The midfielder also spoke of his frustration of not getting game time at Southampton, after injuries disrupted his early career at the Saints.
They left me wanting more. It was the most frustrating time for me.
To be a year out of it, you start to think: ‘How am I going to get back there?’ It all looks miles away again.
It’s difficult to be in and out, to feel like you’re in and around it, and then suddenly you start to question whether there will ever be another opportunity. There were times when I was out of form, the self-doubt creeps in and you do go through difficult stages, definitely. I was seeing my mates play, obviously I was really happy for them, but I was sitting there frustrated, not at not playing because that is never a guarantee, but at not even being available.
