YOU won’t find Jayson Molumby pulling into Millwall’s training ground in a Ferrari or some other flash motor just because he’s signed a new deal with a Premier League club.

The game is rife with stories of young players signing long-term contracts and squandering their cash and their talent.

Molumby last week agreed a deal until 2023 with Brighton and, okay, so he isn’t suddenly a multi-millionaire, but he’s on a lot more than most other 20-year-olds.

They’re not known as trappings for nothing, but there is little to no chance of Molumby getting carried away.

That’s because of his innate determination, the club he’s currently at, the club he asked to go to on loan to try to prove himself in the Championship, and ultimately to Brighton.

He has cherished his time with the Lions.

“I absolutely love it here, it’s a special club,” Molumby told Southwark News. “People have the perception of Millwall before coming in that it’s a bit rough or this, that and the other.

“But it’s absolutely unique when you’re inside it. The lads, the feeling around the club is unique, I’ve never experienced a place like it.

“I’ve probably similar traits to what the club’s about. A hard worker who gives everything every game. My determination is quite similar to this club’s. It’s a family club.

“I was at Brighton where they have a £40million training ground, the best of everything. You come somewhere like here and it could be tough to adjust and you think, ‘jeez, I don’t want to be here’. You might feel you want to be back at Brighton and the big, lovely training ground.

“But what it is here is it’s very grounded, this is what football is. There’s no bullshit. It’s proper football, hard-working staff and lads, and ordinary people who really want to do well.”

Molumby revealed there are two team-mates in particular who have taken it upon themselves to guide him: Jed Wallace and Shaun Williams.

He continued: “You always want to hear from people you trust, and I always say Jed and Willo are the main two people with me. They’re very honest and open with me. When I come off the pitch and I’ve had a good game the first two people over to me will be Jed and Willo. If I come off after having a bad game they’ll be first to me as well and say, ‘not good enough’.

“They do it in such a helpful and positive way where they just want the best for me and to get the best from me. They want to improve me as a player, they’re brilliant like that.

“They’re both specific in what they want and in what they think I should do better. I’d rather them telling me what I need to do rather than saying, ‘well done’ all the time. I’d prefer honesty, and they’ve been really good, they’re really good guys.

“You’re not going to please everyone, you’re never going to be everyone’s cup of tea. At the end of the day if the gaffer and my team-mates are happy with me that’s the main thing.

“The gaffer needs to know the different personalities, and he’s been honest with me as well. He’s given me pointers, what he wants more of, what I need to improve. I’m trying to do that for him but for myself as well to try to get better.

“There have been games when I’ve been way off it and coming off the pitch thinking, ‘there’s a level and I was nowhere near it today’. I’ve had games where I’ve not been good enough.

“The hardest thing is probably mentally. I think I’m alright now getting myself mentally ready for games. When you have three games a week you have to get yourself up for them and go again and go again and go again. It’s a lot to get yourself mentally ready and physically ready for what’s coming.

“Maybe the first few games when I had a run of three or four on the bounce I found it a bit tough, but now I’ve learned a lot and feel like I’m ready for every game.”

The only thing missing from Molumby’s game – or the 33 of them he has played this season – is a goal.

He thought he had broken the barren run with the second at Nottingham Forest last Friday, only for Matt Smith’s big foot to get in the way and get the last touch.

Molumby hadn’t seen that, and celebrated with a rehearsed dance, an in-joke with his team-mates that he refused to reveal the story behind.

“It was a just a bit of banter between the boys,” he said. “I was waiting a while. The boys said just before going out, ‘if you score you have to do that dance’. So I said I would. It’s just a little dance between us, I can’t give too much away. When I scored it was in my head straightaway.

“I just saw the ball hit the back of the net and I thought it was my goal, but it wasn’t meant to be. I was delighted for [Smith] because he’s won a lot of points for us this year. He’s come on and scored in games, he’s been brilliant and he deserved it, to be fair.”

Molumby is certainly deserving of his new contract with the Seagulls, after battling back from a year out injured in his late teens to impressing so much at Millwall.

But Republic of Ireland under-21 midfielder Molumby has no plans for any extravagant purchases.

He joked: “To be honest, I’m not sure I’m at that level where I can buy all these things!

“I want to look after myself and do the right things, from a financial and mental point of view and not get into anything I shouldn’t.

“I’m really happy to extend my stay there because I’ve been there since I was 15. I’ve got a lot of people I’m close to there as well. The security [of the contract] is brilliant and I want to try and go and impress the gaffer during pre-season. If not then I’ll look at something else.”

It’s put to Molumby that, as things stand, Brighton could get relegated and Millwall could win promotion to the Premier League this season, but he won’t be drawn into saying where that would leave his thinking in the summer.

“Hopefully Brighton stay up and Millwall go up,” he smiles.

Image: Millwall FC