Matt Dibley-Dias: The Story So Far

As his pre-season preparations begin to get under way, midfielder Matt Dibley-Dias sat down and looked back over his long journey up to this point.

How have you been keeping yourself busy during the quieter periods?

To be honest, I took the first couple of weeks off but then decided to get straight back to it. I’ve been doing some athletics work and some technical sessions with a couple of trainers to stay on top of everything and make sure I don’t slack off!

I’ve improved my game for next season and I’m really excited to see how it goes. There’s a lot of anticipation for it and I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully personally and as a team it’s going to be another good season.

You were a regular for our Under-21s last season, making over 20 appearances across all competitions. How pleased are you with your progress over the last couple of seasons?

Looking back, last season was one of my best ever personally. I’ve picked up some pretty big injuries in the past, but I got more minutes than I ever have done last season.

As a result I feel physically good and fitter than ever. I was loving my football all season and managed to train with the First Team which was amazing.

Going back to when you were a young boy growing up in Kilburn (North West London), did you always dream of becoming a footballer?

I don’t think I had much of a choice if I’m being honest! My dad put the ball at my feet from really early on and it all developed from there really. I used to play with my friends because I always enjoyed football and it kept me busy. So yes, I did always want to be a footballer I think deep down.

Footballing ability is something that clearly runs through the family, and your grandfather is a perfect example of that isn’t he?

My grandfather, Manoel José Dias, played for Flamengo and then for Corinthians who were the two biggest teams in Brazil.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet him, but my dad regularly tells me stories about him. He played at such a high level, so I feel I need to try my very best to live up to that and do the same.

How big of a part did family play in your early interest in the sport?

Family was so important for me. If it wasn’t for my dad, I don’t think I’d be here doing this now to be honest, so I owe him a lot. He even had me playing futsal as a young kid to help develop my technical aspects. I think that was one of the best things I’ve ever done.

Even at that early stage, do you remember standing out?

Luckily for me, I grew up playing with other really good footballers and quite a lot of those players have actually pushed on, so I wasn’t the only one. We did realise that we were quite good growing up, though, and we were doing things that the older boys couldn’t do.

How would you describe your journey, right from the start up to the point when you joined Brentford?

It was actually Arsenal Development who first approached me while I was playing and they asked me to come to one of their sessions. If I’m honest, when you’re younger you go around everywhere, so I’ve probably played for most clubs in London at some point or another!

Someone who is quite close with my dad went to Brentford and took me there. Ever since then I kicked on at Brentford and tried to develop my game.

You then joined us at Under-14s level when Brentford’s Academy closed. That must have been a strange time for you, right?

Yeah it was one of the strangest moments of my life. I was going to Brentford and we were talking about the future and then the week after I’m being told that it’s over and I’m going to have to find a new club. It was really confusing and they didn’t tell us too much at the time.

Looking at it now, it was a blessing in disguise and I haven’t looked back since to be honest.

You’ve been working your way up our Academy for a long time now. What have you found to be one of the biggest challenges along the way?

You definitely can’t do certain things other people your age are doing. After school all your friends would go out and about, but you have to put in the extra work if you want to take it seriously.

Another challenge for me personally was the travel. None of my parents drive, so I was having to get the train back and forth to most places which I found tough. I was regularly getting back at 11pm with school the next day.

You make a lot of sacrifices, but you do that for a reason and looking back I’m obviously really glad that I did that.

It’s very generic I know, and every player says it, but it’s true. You have to work really hard and everything else takes care of itself. You need to believe in yourself too.

You managed to get yourself on the First Team bench a couple of times last season. Although you didn’t play, how special were those experiences?

The experience is crazy. Just being in that environment and seeing how everything works is incredible. You’re walking around and there are cameras everywhere you look, so yeah it’s all pretty surreal.

As a midfielder yourself, when you’re surrounded by players like João Palhinha and Andreas Pereira, you must really admire them. How much have you learnt from these types of players?

You learn so much. You don’t even need to necessarily talk to them. If you just watch them play up close, you can learn so much from all of the players and they’re all really good with me as well.

They help me get used to it and they made a real effort to help integrate me into the group, so I’m thankful for that.

How did you find out you’d be in the squad? 

I remember for the Leicester game, there was a message in the WhatsApp group chat with the squad list on it. I saw my name, was a little bit shocked but if I’m honest at the time I didn’t know if it was real or not!

I sat there and refreshed my phone a few times. I remember asking Luke [Harris] and he confirmed to me that I was in the matchday squad.

Do you feel any different since spending time with the First Team?

Now that I’ve had a taste of it, I definitely want it even more than I wanted it before. It was so much fun and so beneficial, so I’ll keep working as hard as possible to experience that again.

Finally, what one piece of advice would you give to a young player, perhaps in their early stages within an Academy?

My main advice would be to stay resilient. There will be ups and downs along the way for sure and often they’re things you can’t necessarily even control. Tough spells are bound to happen, but just keep pushing and pushing and you will get through those moments.