James reveals best advice he's ever received

James has had the opportunity to work with the Reds’ all-time record appearance-maker in recent years whilst on international duty and was handed his first Wales cap by him in March 2019. Our winger scored a priceless header for his country in Tuesday's World Cup qualifying win over Czech Republic to continue his excellent recent form.

 

Dan James' late header gave Wales a vital 1-0 victory over Czech Republic in World Cup Qualifying Group E as both sides ended the game with 10 men in Cardiff.

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 30, 2021

Another thing Giggs has given the 23-year-old is a stand-out bit of guidance that continues to stick with him, as he told co-hosts Sam Homewood, Helen Evans and David May in the most recent episode of the UTD Podcast, which is available now via your regular podcast provider.

“When people ask me what’s the best advice you’ve ever been given, it would probably be from him [Giggs]. It was just ‘be yourself’,” our no.21 revealed. “I relate back to maybe the end of last season, I came away from that and tried to be like other players, I looked at other players and thought I need to be like him and be like that.

“It was this season and I kind of thought I’m here for a reason and I looked back at loads of old clips of me being me and then looked at my new clips [and thought] I’m not doing that [anymore].

“It was a reality to check for me in that you can take from him and you can take from different players around you but ultimately, you’re here because of what you do, and it goes back to what Giggsy said to me to just ‘be yourself’, that was so important.”

James also discussed how he’s been able to take that advice into the current season and why his drive to show his own qualities on the pitch have continued to spur him on to show his best form for United.

“I hadn’t played as much at the start of the season, and it was about do I want to accept this and just be in the background, but I was like no, I want to be here, I don’t want to be anywhere else,” he added.

“I spoke to the gaffer about it, and I think it was before the Champions League game versus Istanbul [Basaksehir] and I said, ‘I’m ready to play’ and he said, ‘I can see that in training, I can see that in the way you’re putting yourself [in the frame], and you look back to you again’. I said, ‘I am and I’m ready to play’.

“He played me in that game, I came on and scored and from then on, it was about what I can go and do now and how I can get myself back in this team.

“It was just about doing everything I can in training every day.”

You can listen to the full Daniel James episode of UTD Podcast episode now.