At the start of pre-season training ahead of the season, Joel Latibeaudiere did not feature at all due to a knee injury which he suffered on international duty with Jamaica.
Despite seemingly being fit and regular appearances on the bench since October, the Jamaican was forgotten until the 20th December due to a strong partnership between Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching.
However, amongst the festive period, this bought bad run of form, injuries, illness and suspension which meant Latibeaudiere had his chance to prove himself for the first time under Frank Lampard.
Since the turn of the year, he has started eight league games and has cemented his place ahead of Liam Kitching in recent weeks – the Sky Blues haven’t lost when the former England U20 captain has played this season.
This leaves Latibeaudiere in a very good place heading into the end of the season with a possible Premier League promotion as well as the chance to try and reach the World Cup with the Reggae Boyz for just the second time in their history.
The 26-year-old has seen it all in the last 12 months and said: “It’s [been] a hell of a year, isn’t it, already?”
After coming through the ranks at Man City, he was blocked of any opportunities by stars such as John Stones and Aymeric Laporte as well as Taylor Harwood-Bellis looking like the next big City star, he was forgotten and eventually moved away.
At 20, he joined Steve Cooper’s Swansea, Joel said: “I knew it was the right time to branch out and go and get some first-team football.“
“I wanted to play first team football and the chance came for me to go to the Championship.”
Despite leaving Man City, he saw it as a “massive step forward” as he could finally “play competitive football in a massively competitive league.”
His desire to want to play football has served him well since – Mark Robins bought the Jamaican to the CBS Arena and made 74 appearances in a range of positions in the squad before finally settling as a centre-half.
As mentioned previously, injuries has held him back in this amazing season for Coventry City but it is nothing new for the 26-year-old who admits to having injuries before.
Joel said, “I’ve had injuries before, in the past when I was younger, they put me in good stead and I knew what I needed to do.“
“I needed to be patient, you get frustrated and then you have little setbacks and other days you feel ready to play.”
“[Again] it’s just being patient, relying on teammates to get you through the darker days and just working really hard and listening to the medical team.”
Joel Latibeaudiere is convinced the success of the Sky Blues this season has been thanks to the quality of Lampard’s training sessions since he came into the club.
Joel said: “I genuinely think that is why we have been so good this season, training has been such high pace and really intense but everyone is buying in an listening to every bit of detail.“
“In my youth career when we won things, the level was always up there but I think the gaffer and his staff have bought the winner’s mentality.”
“But I also know how important it is to train as you play, and I believe that is how he [Lampard] trained when he was part of his winning teams.”
The former Chelsea and Everton boss has praised the Jamaican defender on several occasions throughout the season when he has stepped into the team for his professionalism.
It came to the point where Lampard couldn’t continue to leave him out of the team anymore and since he has come into the team, he has steadied a rocky defence replacing an out of form Kitching.
