“It’s really cool” – Crystal Palace player loves his chant and appreciates fans

Matheus França seems to be very happy with his first season at Crystal Palace.

Signed from Flamengo in a €20m deal, the midfielder had a tough year of adaptation, with just 12 appearances and some injury struggles, but apparently doesn’t see any problems in that.

França was this week interviewed in Brazil, and said that his biggest obstacle at Crystal Palace so far was the language.

“The biggest difficulty, without a doubt, was the language and communication. I’ve always taken English lessons, but when you get there it’s very different. Adapting to the language and culture was very difficult, but now I’ve adapted. My family, my parents and my wife were very important in this. They gave me a lot of affection so that I could perform to the best of my ability on the pitch,” França told Globo Esporte.

The player also recalled his presentation at Crystal Palace, and is very happy with the treatment he gets from the fans.

“They associate samba with Brazilians. They like samba a lot. When I got there, there was a samba parade during my presentation. It was really cool. Every game when they start “nanana”, I already know it’s my song and it gives me an extra thrill. I think it’s really cool and important when the fans create new songs. I really enjoyed it and felt embraced by the fans.”

Asked about his dreams, França doesn’t seem to occupy himself with his long-term future, and has his feet on the ground to succeed for Crystal Palace as soon as possible.

“One of my big dreams and that of my family was to play there (in England). I’ve been able to provide assists, I’ve been the star of the match and I want to score my first goal in the Premier League. These are small dreams that I’m going to realise and there are big dreams too, which I’ll think about later. Let’s take it step by step.”

França arrived at Crystal Palace last summer, and it was only in October that he got his first chances to play. He then had a few other opportunities, mostly at the end of games, to show what he was capable of. In March, he went through groin surgery which took him out for the rest of the season.