Patrick Bamford explains why he turned down Ireland call-up in 2018 to follow England dream

Towards the end of last season with fans returning incrementally to football grounds, the Leeds flock took to serenading Patrick Bamford with the word’s “England’s No 9”.

It was, he remarked, all very tongue-in-cheek, an expression of love and appreciation from the home support in the absence of a call-up to England’s Euro 2020 squad.

When the same song rang out at Turf Moor on Sunday it had rather more significance. At 27 the yearning is over. Bamford has finally graduated to the senior squad after last representing England under Gareth Southgate at Under-21 level alongside Harry Kane seven years ago.

Bamford was a Chelsea prospect on loan at Milton Keynes when Southgate called and somewhat difficult to place as a footballer. His private school background seemed to colour the professional game’s perception of him. Indeed one of his ex-coaches at Leeds mistakenly thought his father a billionaire member of the Bamford family that owns an industrial plant manufacturer and expressed surprise that one so privileged could train so diligently.

Read More - Featured Image

“I was like ‘what are you on about?’ He believed, like a lot of people, that dad was something to do with JCB, which is a myth. That’s that one cleared up.” It is one of many notions about Bamford that have grown legs over the years. Though he has a facility in French as a consequence of the A-level he passed, legend added Spanish and German for good measure.

“People have invented a lot of things! I can speak French and understand it. I kind of understand Spanish but can’t speak it.”

It is true, however, that he was offered an undergraduate place at world leading university Harvard on a football scholarship. This was only ever a fall-back option for him and was rejected when Nottingham Forest offered professional terms.

Though he left full-time education at 18, he was sufficiently mature to place in context the bogus impressions of him, and learned not to take them personally.

“I think people, before they knew me, had an opinion of me because they might have heard how I speak in an interview or someone had told them I went to private school,” he said.

“People then create an image in their head before they know who I actually am. That goes for a lot of things. Other people have harder battles to fight. I’m not going to complain about that.”

Bamford has passed through seven clubs since Southgate last worked with him, finally realising his potential at Leeds under Marcelo Bielsa. Bamford of course credits the Argentine guru for the improvements he has made at Elland Road.

“He’s improved me no end and I think that goes for the whole squad. Certain aspects of my game that I didn’t even notice needed improving or even thought about, he saw. He is meticulous and sees every detail. It’s the perfect match because I keep wanting to get better and better.”

Bamford might have been an international footballer already had he accepted the offer from Ireland courtesy of his maternal heritage. It says much about the character he is that he chose not to pursue the Irish link in part because he did not want to deny a player with more authentic claims to the shirt.

“There was a point when, during my first season at Leeds, where [Mick McCarthy] did get in touch. I had a knee injury so I was more focused on getting fit and making sure I could play the rest of the season for Leeds. But, also, I felt because my heart had been committed to playing for England, and I had always dreamt of that, I felt it would be wrong to then play for Ireland, to play international football just because they had asked me.

“If I did that, I might have kept someone out of that team whose dream was to play for Ireland. I didn’t think that would be fair. I had to stay true to myself, worked hard and try to reach my dreams to make them happen.”

And so here he is, an England player on merit, and one that can expect to be busy with three games in six days. Since Southgate chose not to replace Dominic Calvert-Lewin after his withdrawal through injury, Bamford is the only centre-forward in the squad after captain Kane.

If not involved in Budapest against Hungary on Thursday, then Sunday’s fixture against Andorra is positively screaming his name. Patrick Bamford, England’s No 9, living the dream at Wembley.



from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3jxxnKI

Post a Comment

[blogger]

MKRdezign

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

copyright webdailytips. Powered by Blogger.
Javascript DisablePlease Enable Javascript To See All Widget