Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba says he "feels more relaxed now" after admitting there was pressure on him early in the season.
The Cameroon international's performances in the early part of the campaign were disappointing amid interest in him from Manchester United and expectations he put on himself to repeat the impressive form of last season.
He told Your Site: "I feel more relaxed now. The noise about me outside, I didn't understand. I didn't look on the websites. I'm more focused on me, myself and for my team-mates."
A shy but likeable character, Baleba spoke openly about some of his struggles on the pitch and there was a sense of growing maturity around the 22-year-old.
He was praised for his performances at AFCON where he helped Cameroon reach the quarter-finals in his first major tournament.
His displays for Brighton since he returned have been better than before the tournament in Morocco but he is still not the Baleba that was bursting through opposition midfields on a regular basis in the 2024-25 season. He was also taken off just 22 minutes into his most recent Premier League start against Aston Villa after picking up an early yellow card.
Despite the season's ups and downs, he says playing with a smile is key. "All my qualities, I need to improve on that. The most of the qualities I have is I need to enjoy more football, because when I play, I'm so serious that I want to do the right thing or to do the proper thing on the pitch."
So how are the coaching staff and team-mates helping him?
"All of them told me to be free, to be relaxed and just enjoy and think about football."
It is not easy for Baleba and his team-mates to play with a smile on their face at the moment. A run of one win in 13 league games has seen them drop down the Premier League table to 14th. He is calling for calm heads to avoid being dragged into a possible relegation fight.
"It's important to stay calm because if we are in distress about the relegation because we are down on the table, if you think a lot about that, I think we cannot play well on the pitch," he said.
Brighton will try to end their poor run with a victory against seventh-placed Brentford on Saturday. Midfielder James Milner will become the all-time leading Premier League appearance maker with 654 should he feature in the starting line-up or come on as a substitute and Baleba describes Milner as a "legend of the game".
He added: "For me personally, I like the person and I like the player because he helped me a lot and he taught me about football. Every game before the start, he said to me to enjoy. He's always behind me and he's a really good person. "
