English weather proves an eye-opener for Dubai's Andrea Borg at Peterborough

The teenager has enjoyed adapting to life as a professional at the English League One club, but admits getting used to the cooler climate after living in the UAE has been a challenge.

Andrea Borg
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Trading Dubai for Peterborough initially took some getting used to for Borg, who concedes at first he found the transition difficult.

That really hit home towards the end of last year, when he encountered a typical British winter for the first time.

“It is freezing,” Borg says. “It’s the coldest I’ve ever been. I got ill a lot to be fair: my body didn’t expect how cold it was going to be. Now I know what to do when it gets cold. But for some reason my form turned then, I played my best football.”

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A former student at Gems Wellington, Borg keeps in touch with his friends back in Dubai via social media. Some are now based in London, while his older brother Miguel has moved to nearby Essex to attend university.

Borg stays in digs with a family who “are very chilled” and a teammate from the youth team with whom he has become very close. However, despite being settled, Borg acknowledges some of the sacrifices he has made to make it in professional football.

“I do miss my family, obviously, and my friends,” he says. “And I do miss the heat as well - a lot - when it’s cold over here. I actually miss going to school sometimes, just meeting my friends every day. But I just have to adapt to this life now.

“In Dubai I didn’t do fulltime football at all – it was just twice a week and a game on the weekend maybe. So it has been a massive change for me, because Dubai’s a completely different lifestyle.

"But I see myself playing football in the future and having a good career in the football league… hopefully.”