For Aidan Morris there is nowhere better for him to learn the English game than under Michael Carrick in Middlesbrough.
“He played when I was a big man who grew up,” he tells Sky Sports. “It is now quite cool to work with him.
Growing up in Florida, just before Major League Soccer really started to break through, it was all about the Premier League for Morris.
“Cristiano Ronaldo was certainly my hero. But when I started to learn more and understand my position, they were boys like Scholes and Carrick.
“But regardless of that I am a fan, you see the caliber of the level where he played and the quality he showed. That was a big thing for me to move here, because there is just a lot of knowledge.
“I just try to appear every day and let him know:” Give me as much information as you can, I am here to learn and grow. “
“There are always few details in the training or try to prepare for the opposition.
“We always have to deal with teams that are in a low block. So he will give me instructions on how I can simply take away on such teams. To set a good pace and have a good rhythm during the game.”
Before he came to Middlesbrough, Morris was in MLS at Columbus Crew, where he played more than 100 times.
The highlight was undoubtedly in one of his last games for the club last June, when he met Inter Miami.
Lionel Messi unfortunately was missing that day, but he had to go in midfield with Sergio Busquets.
“It was such a cool experience,” says Morris, 23,. 'You could still see his calmness and calmness.
“And it was in Miami, so I was able to have a lot of my family for the game.”
Within two months after that match in Florida, Morris stood in line for Middlesbrough in the championship of this season.
A knee injury that kept him aside for two months outside of Christmas and New Year, he quickly adapted and became an important gear in the midfield of Carrick.
“There can be a large stigma around the championship where it is seen as just crazy, hectic and chaotic,” he says.
“That is it, but it is nothing that I have the feeling that I was not prepared. There is intensity in the MLS, it might just be a different kind of intensity. The MLS can be a little faster
“It's about controlling the chaos, and I think that's the most important thing I learned.
'You will never be decisive without contact. Someone will always be on you and touch you. “
Middlesbrough always dominates the ball. They play in the form of their manager, and that is why Morris was recruited.
“I have to be in an environment where I have the ball most of the game,” he says.
“Don't get me wrong, I don't mind doing the dirty work. But it is a large part of the player that I am that I can dictate the game.
“My team was also in Columbus. We were based on that. That is why the move to Middlesbrough was the right one for me.”
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