RESILIENCE IS A byword for any successful goalkeeper.
Gavin Bazunu is well aware of the demands by now.
The last 18 months, in particular, have highlighted the delicate nature of the profession.
Bazunu felt primed for the big-money move to Southampton in the summer of 2022 after eye-catching loan spells away from Manchester City in League Two and League One.
The Premier League proved a different, and difficult, beast.
Relegation followed, during which time he lost his place as No 1 and came under the kind of scrutiny that he had previously escaped since making his Shamrock Rovers debut in the League of Ireland Premier Division at the age of 16.
“Every time I step on the pitch, I’m fighting for my place, whether that’s for my club or my country,” he said after training with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin yesterday.
“Never sitting anywhere secure of any position, I know every day I feel like I am fighting for my place.”
Such an attitude is no surprise given he doesn’t turn 22 until February, and even though club boss Russell Martin made a point of declaring his unwavering support when Bazunu was critised at a Southampton fan event, he is well versed in dealing with the spotlight.
“It’s part of the game. I’m 21 years old but I’ve been around the game a long time. I think, for me, I listen to the people who are going to allow me to be better. As a goalkeeper especially, the scrutiny is so heavy at the top level and for me, I just listen to the people who I know are going to make me better.
“I’m looking at myself all the time and I think the manager we have is brilliant. He’s not just a great man-manager, he’s also great in terms of his tactics and how he goes about the game and the way he speaks with the players is brilliant. He talks to you on a level, he doesn’t talk down to you.
“So he’s been brilliant for me to keep my confidence up and to go into every game with full belief.”
Sustaining such confidence is not without its challenges, and Bazunu explained how he uses psychological support both inside and outside the club.
“It can be difficult because of the reach of social media these days, sometimes it’s impossible to stay away from it. You don’t want to have a complete blackout because then you never learn to take it on and be able to almost block it out,” Bazunu continued.
“You have people around you and I think young players now have to work, not just on your technique and your tactics, it’s the mental side of the game that’s a massive part if a player is performing consistently at a high level.
“Every player you see out here performing at a high level has different mental tactics and mental fortitude to work against blocking those things out.
“Finding that balance is a massive part of it because at the end of the day we’re footballers but we’re all human beings and you have to be able to live your life outside of football. I do have someone I work with both in and outside of the club and a lot of people around me in my circle who I listen to a lot and they are the ones who keep me strong.
“It’s a massive thing. Playing first team football since the age of 16 has led me to a lot of exposure – being at that professional level for five years now, I’ve got a lot of experience in terms of blocking out things and being resilient. I don’t feel I’d be anywhere near the level I am now without that mental strength.”
It’s been needed to navigate those challenges until this point and the next decade has the potential to see Bazunu’s influence on the international team become even stronger, leaving the kind of legacy similar to Packie Bonner and Shay Given.
“That’s definitely my goal. That was a goal ever since I was a kid but when you get to this level you can’t start thinking like that, you’ve got to take everything one week, one session at a time,” he pointed out, citing the current make up of the squad for these upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers with Greece and Gibraltar.
“I think it’s been mentioned in the group that we have a lot of the senior players who are not [here] so it’s time for a lot of the younger lads, you know we call them young lads but a lot of us have a lot of experience playing at international and club level, so it’s time for us to step up and take that role.
“I think we have a great squad and like I said we’ve been called young players with a lot of potential, but I think it’s now time for us to step up as a group and really show how good we are as players and to build this really good culture within the squad and within the team and start putting in high class performances and getting results.
“I think there has never been a sense of anyone working off their own hymn sheet,” Bazunu added, reaffirming his backing for manager Stephen Kenny.
“We’ve always been together as a team and we’ve always been a really strong group. Every player on the pitch, every player on the bench, every player in the squad has always been working in the same direction.”
