RICH-BAGHUELOU Jay

General
CHANGE OF POSITION
He initially played as a forward, but switched to a centre back defender after moving to England to join Dulwich Hamlet. "Previously, I was a striker in Australia before Dulwich Hamlet converted me to a centre back in their academy. It was pre-season at Dulwich. I was a striker, I wasn't the best striker. I was just an aggressive player. In pre-season they said, 'We want to try you at centre half'. And I've been there ever since and that's when I started to get noticed by other clubs." (cpfc.co.uk, 12 Jun 2020)

JOINING PALACE
He left Australia as a teenager to pursue a football career in England. He played for part-time clubs Dulwich Hamlet and Welling FC before he was offered the chance to train with Crystal Palace. "I was playing for Welling United and [Crystal Palace academy coach] Shaun Derry came down to watch me in a game against Tonbridge Angels. But I had no idea that Crystal Palace were coming to watch me. Eventually it progressed that my agent told me there was an opportunity to train with Palace in the week and then play for Welling at the weekend, Welling only train once a week as it's not full-time. It's just little things like doing proper warm-ups beforehand, people talking you through every aspect of what you need to be doing and where you need to be. It's all there for you to become the best player you can. You can't take those things for granted. I know where I've come from and I want to play at the highest level possible so I always have an understanding that all this could be taken away and nothing is a 'given', I've always got to work hard." (cpfc.co.uk, 12 Jun 2020)