Former Norwich City winger Yanic Wildschut believes Daniel Farke's training methods helped him improve as a footballer, even though his playing time was limited under the Canaries head coach.
Wildschut was a much-maligned figure during his spell at Carrow Road after, by his own admission, struggling to show his quality after a deadline day move to Norfolk in January 2017.
The Dutch winger played 20 games under City's current head coach in all competitions, and despite struggling for consistent game time, Wildschut believes he became a better player under Farke's stewardship.
“As a coach and as a person, I had a really good relationship with him even though I wasn’t playing that much. He always used to make the German-Dutch jokes and I had a really good time," Wildschut admits.
“I enjoyed it under him but it was just at the end when, playing-wise, it didn’t work out. But I don’t have a bad word to say about anyone at Norwich. As a player, I think Alex Neil’s style suited me more than Daniel Farke’s style but I became a better player by doing some of the stuff we did with Daniel.
“Everything has meaning and patterns. You knew what you were going to do and I felt like I became a better player in the short spaces. I needed long spaces to run but he made me better.
"His style works for Norwich and so I think the club and Stuart Webber made a good choice by signing him," Wildschut said.
The Dutch U21 international had loan spells with Neil Warnock at Cardiff City and then cash-strapped Bolton Wanderers before being released by the Canaries in 2019.
Even though Wildschut's City career didn't take off under Farke, the pacey winger enjoyed the intensity of the early training sessions under City's current first-team staff.
“He was very demanding. We would go out with Chris (Domogalla) and then Eddie (Riemer) for possession and when the games started, that’s when he started getting involved and he would let you know what you needed to do.
"There was a lot of fun with games where you could win Champions League points and the losers would have to collect the plates of the winners.”
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