Central defender Adedeji Oshilaja is hoping for another great season with Gillingham.

With the new SKYBet English Football League season about to begin, KSN has been speaking to Adedeji Oshilaja who has returned to Priestfield on a season long loan from Championship Cardiff City after spending two similar spells in Kent last season.

We caught up with Deji at the club’s official photo shoot this week and started by asking how pre-season had been.

“It’s been good and the boys have been excellent and worked very hard. To be fair, the Gaffer and the rest of the staff have worked us really hard and everyone’s raring to go!”

“Everyone’s buzzing about the games coming up at the weekend and we’re all looking for a place in the team. The squad this year is going to be so competitive and we’re all now just looking to get the season started on Saturday and get the chance to stake our own claim to be in the Gaffer’s starting eleven. It’s going to be hard as we’ve made some top signings this year but I’m really looking forward to it!”

Last season, a lot of so-called experts were taken aback by the Gills season – would that add to the weight of expectation going into 2016/2017 we wondered.

Deji told us, “I don’t think that there’s any extra pressure on us this year after getting so close last season as we did so much better than outsiders would have expected. We knew what to expect from ourselves and there’s the belief that we should have made the Play Offs, but at the same time we still had a great season which no-one should forget. But this year, we’ll try to go that one stage better!”

“When you look at the games we lost at Priestfield at the back end of the season, the performances were sort of there, but the results obviously weren’t. We knew ourselves that we weren’t as good as we could have been.”

“But that’s now all in the past and we’re now looking ahead to build another legacy. Increased expectation comes with football, but the boys aren’t feeling any more pressure than we felt last year – we’ve got the confidence and are raring to go.”

Deji finished our chat with a message for the Gills faithful. “I do hope that the supporters are excited as we’ve brought in some great players,” he said.

“In training the new boys looked really bright and very sharp. I’ve loved coming back along with the other “new” signings and I really think that we’ve got a good balance this year, and I hope the supporters will be excited watching us play.”

“I feel like I’ve come to a place where I’m wanted and a place where the players and the staff appreciate my qualities and obviously that’s always the best for a footballer and I’m really happy to be back at Priestfield.”

Pictures supplied by Kent Pro Images.