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Darnell Furlong completed a summer transfer to Ipswich Town from West Brom, as he is hoping to make a return to the Premier League.
The fullback has stated that this was the reason behind his decision to leave the Hawthorns for Portman Road, with Furlong convinced by Ipswich Town’s ambition.
Furlong was an important part of Ipswich’s convincing 5-0 victory over Sheffield United and appeared to be a fine acquisition for Kieran McKenna.
It appears that he is fully focused on success and driving for success with his performance against the Blades; however, it is important that footballers relax off the pitch, and Furlong is no different, even managing to have a ‘claim to fame’ with one achievement while at West Brom.
Darnell Furlong once got the better of former F1 driver Nicholas Latifi
The Ipswich Town summer signing explained in an extensive interview with the East Anglian Daily Times about how he managed to best former F1 driver Nicholas Latifi.
Furlong explained how he was able to beat the lap time of Latifi at the Daytona Tamworth race track, with the real question being why the former Williams driver was doing laps of the venue that is not far from the West Brom training ground.
He said: “Yeah, that’s my claim to fame! We went to Daytona Tamworth once, which is not far from West Brom’s training ground. His lap time was on the board, and I managed to beat it!
“I watch a lot of motorsport at home, get involved in it whenever I can, while my little boy likes to do a little bit of go-karting now.
“It’s definitely something that’s a large part of my life outside. It’s really nice that I have something to take my mind away from football.”
Darnell Furlong’s love of motorsport has helped him settle at Ipswich Town
It will be easy to point to the fact that Furlong is one of several players currently at Ipswich to have also featured for West Brom, which will help him settle.
However, it is also easier to achieve comfort when you share common interests with teammates, and this is something Furlong has in his love for motorsports with Leif Davis and Ivan Azon.
Furlong spoke about his concern about leaving West Brom and the fear of the unknown, with this being eased through these same interests.
He said: “It’s a strange feeling when you leave somewhere that you’ve been for a long time.
“You get comfortable there – you get to know everything about the ground, everything about your routine – so going somewhere new can be quite daunting.
“Equally, you can settle in quite well and quite quickly with the boys and the staff here because everyone makes you feel so welcome. It’s just a case of getting on with the job now.”