Flemming: You Want to Play Against the Best Teams and the Best Players
Thursday, 3rd Sep 2026 18:53 by Kallum Brisset
Town striker Zian Flemming is in line to make his debut against Liverpool at Portman Road — and the Blues’ deadline day arrival is relishing the challenge.
Andoni Iraola’s side are the visitors to Suffolk under the lights on Friday, aiming for a first victory under their new Spanish head coach after beginning the campaign with a pair of 2-2 draws.
Town return to home soil for their first league match since beating Sunderland on the opening day, where club record signing Emersonn notched his first goal for the club.
The Brazilian could be replaced by recent arrival Flemming though, who says matches like this one are the reason he decided to make the move to the Blues after suffering relegation with Burnley last season.
“For me, just pure excitement,” he said. “This move for me to stay in the Premier League, I'm happy with that. When the move was getting closer and I looked at the schedule and realised Friday we play against Liverpool, I was like ‘I’m back in the Prem’.
“That’s what you want, to play against the best teams and best players. That’s what’s given me so much joy and excitement last year, to be able to measure yourself with the very best and have them push you to the next level. I can’t wait to do that again and experience that again.”
Town’s new number nine scored 11 goals in his debut campaign in the top flight, despite playing for a Clarets side that recorded only four league wins all season and finished 19 points from safety.
Liverpool were one of only two clubs Flemming did not feature against last term, and he is embracing the prospect of battling with former Ballon d’Or runner-up and compatriot Virgil van Dijk.
He said: “I didn’t play last year against Liverpool so it’s going to be the first time. I missed it due to a little injury. We’re going to find out. He’s been amazing and he still is. It’s not really my place to have an opinion on him, he’s miles ahead.
“We’re going to see if I can give him a hard time, that’s the plan. Unfortunately I didn’t face him last year or any of the Liverpool defenders because I didn’t play, but I enjoy coming up against the best players in the world.
“I enjoyed it last year against the other top teams. It’s just two teams with 11 men, and if it’s a duel, it’s just a one-v-one. We’re all flesh and bone, even though he’s probably a bit better than me, but he has to do it on the day as well.
“Not just him, because there’s a lot of focus on Virgil, which is a bit unnecessary because they’ve got 11 incredible players and a few on the bench as well.”
Another of the Reds’ standout names is new signing Bradley Barcola, who is set to make his debut for the Merseysiders against Gary O’Neil’s side after joining from back-to-back European champions Paris Saint-Germain.
The winger’s arrival was confirmed on Monday, in a deal where the total package is reportedly worth around £123 million.
“I'm luckily not a right-back so I don’t have to defend him,” Flemming said. “You know that the teams at the top end of the Premier League sign players for £100+ million, especially this window we’ve seen quite a few.
“I don’t feel like I'm in a position to prove or show people that I'm also a £100 million player because I'm not and I’ll never be, and that’s absolutely fine. I will try and be the best I can be, but I don’t think I can ever be that expensive.”
Flemming admitted his fondness for Portman Road and says it will be a special moment stepping out onto the pitch as a home player for the first time.
He recalled: “I’ve been there once, played there with Millwall and got absolutely battered and were way better than us! The atmosphere was bouncing then, and I probably expect more so against Liverpool.
“What a game, if you don’t get excited for this then I don’t know what you’re going to be excited about. Seeing the stadium empty, but looking at the building, I think it’s a quality stadium.
“This is not just because I’ve signed here, but I’ve always liked the old traditional grounds. I would always pick them over the new modern ones. This is a proper English one, isn’t it? It’s right up my street.”
A busy summer of recruitment saw the Blues add 12 new faces to the squad, so Flemming is not alone in the position of needing to adapt to life in Suffolk.
Despite only being at the club for a few days, the 28-year-old says he has a good feeling about his new teammates and that it is only a matter of time before connections on the pitch start to form.
“To get the right balance and chemistry is probably a job for the manager,” he said. “I’ve only just walked in two days ago and I feel quite good walking into the dressing room.
“You need to get to know the players a little bit, firstly on a personal level. You can’t obviously do that with all of them within 48 hours, but step-by-step you get to know now the lads and train with them.
“The last week that I was at Burnley, I’d played with lads for nearly two seasons. I don’t need to think about what they’re going to do anymore, I know what they do and what they want, and they know exactly what I do and what I want.
“We’re not in that phase just yet, but that’s why I try to have a bit of extra focus on training, not just on what I do myself but also to figure out what the other guys like to do and tend to do.
“I feel like you can pick them things up relatively quickly in certain moments that you see and you try to register all of that. You need to know what to expect when you’re in a game. It will take a while, but it doesn’t feel like an issue for me.”
One of the ways that Flemming may be able to fast-track his settling-in process is through his own version of the popular BBC TV series The Traitors.
Discussing how it was used to good effect at previous clubs Millwall and Burnley, the Dutchman expects it to be a useful way of integrating new faces into the dressing room.
He said: “It’s a bit early to say. Just at lunch, the conversation came up. Not particularly because of me, but it was just a conversation that was held.
“I need to gauge the dressing room a little bit first to see if there’s any potential, enough interest and buy-in to do it because you need everyone on board. I feel like it’s a bunch of good lads.
“I think it’s a great game, and it’s especially a great game to get the group together. You’ve got a few different languages and different backgrounds, sometimes a stupid simple game like that can force you to co-operate with lads you maybe wouldn’t naturally speak to that much.
“The experiences that I have had at Burnley and Millwall whilst doing that have really contributed to the longer-term togetherness of the group.”
_Photo: TWTD_