Colchester United midfielder Jay Mingi aims to repay faith

The 22-year-old made his first competitive start in nearly nine months in the U’s EFL Trophy defeat at the hands of Spurs under-21s, on Tuesday night.

Mingi is building up his fitness, having trained alone throughout the whole of the summer after his two-year stint at League One side Portsmouth concluded, at the end of last season.

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He joined the U’s on a two-year contract on deadline day – and the ex-West Ham United youngster concedes he is grateful to Colchester for giving him a route back into the game.

Mingi said: “It’s probably one of the hardest things I’ve been through in my life – not having a club for so long, training by myself, trying to find the motivation to train by myself.

“It wasn’t easy and that’s why I’m just happy and grateful to be signed here and I’m going to repay the manager for showing faith in me.

“I went through a tough battle with Portsmouth – I’m not sure what I can and can’t say about that situation.

“Football is a short career and in this time process, I’ve reflected a lot and it’s made me even hungrier to achieve my goals and my dreams, to make the people that believe in me proud and repay everyone’s faith.

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“It’s a blessing to be a footballer; I took it for granted a little bit, not intentionally but this summer showed me how much football means to me.

“There were times mentally where I did crumble and I lost faith.

“But the people around me – my agent, my family, my girlfriend – they all had a part to play so I’d be lying if I said it was all down to me.

“They motivated me to train and do what I need to do.

“They reminded me why I’m doing what I’m doing and what I’ve been fighting for all my life, so that was the biggest thing.

“Also, my trainer was brilliant throughout the whole process, even away from training, calling me, texting me, seeing what I’m doing, seeing what I’m getting up to.

“I don’t regret anything; I just see it as a learning curve.

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“Maybe, I needed this time in my life to realise what I actually had and how quickly it can be gone.”

Mingi was pleased to get some valuable game time under his belt for Colchester, against Spurs under-21s.

The ex-Charlton Athletic midfielder had previously made two substitute appearances for the U’s, prior to making his first start for the club in the EFL Trophy.

“It was good from a fitness point of view, to get up to speed,” he said.

“I haven’t had a pre-season, so I’m a bit behind everyone but playing (Spurs under-21s) did me no harm at all.

“I feel like I’m building and getting fitter and it’ll come, I just have to stay patient and not rush it.

“It was a tough night and a disappointing result, which is an understatement but that’s football, I guess.

“There’s a lot of room to improve and I feel like tactically at times, we got a lot of things wrong which you can see in the result.

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“There’s no hiding from it and it’s definitely a tough one to take, no matter what the competition is.

“At the end of the day, I’m not someone who likes to make excuses.

“You’re put on the pitch to do a job and we didn’t do that anywhere well enough.”

Mingi has joined a young Colchester squad containing a number of academy players.

But the youthfulness of the U’s camp is something he is willing to fully embrace.

“Coming in here, speaking with the gaffer beforehand, I knew that coming into a young environment is different to Portsmouth where I was one of the youngest in the team,” added Mingi.

“Here I’m middle of the park in terms of age and it just gives you a different perspective on things.

“I think it’s good; people might see it as a negative but we’re all chasing the same thing and we’re all hungry.”