Brondby's Luis Binks wants to play for Scotland after England youth caps, EFL and Serie A experience
Brondby defender has plenty experience his CV
Brondby centre-back Luis Binks has declared a desire to play for Scotland after winning England youth caps. The 24-year-old was born in Gillingham but has a Scottish grandfather and is therefore eligible to switch allegiance under FIFA rules.
Binks emerged from Tottenham Hotspur’s youth academy and played for Montreal Impact in Canada, Italian side Bologna and English side Coventry City before joining Danish Superliga club Brondby in July this year. He played for England at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-19 level, whilst also representing Scotland Under-18s.
National coach Steve Clark is not short of centre-back options as he strives to guide the Scots to their first World Cup since 1998. John Souttar, Grant Hanley, Scott McKenna, Jack Hendry, Ryan Porteous and Dominic Hyam have all been named in international squads this year.
Binks would jump at the chance to join them. “I haven't chosen, but if Scotland comes calling tomorrow, of course, I would love to play for them,” he said. “It is a goal for me to be called up for the Scotland team, and I think there is a pathway there for me because some of their defenders are ageing or playing in leagues that aren't as good as the Danish league.”
Binks enjoyed working under Frank Lampard at Coventry and admitted admiration for former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. Speaking in an interview with Flashscore, he added: “Frank Lampard alongside Steven Gerrard were the icons when I was growing up. Gerrard was my favourite, but of course, it was great to work with someone like Lampard. I have also worked with [Cesc] Fabregas, [Sinisa] Mihajlovic and [Thierry] Henry in the past, so it wasn’t any different for me.
“You have to remember, they are not the player you grew up watching; they are now coaches, so it’s a different person that you are looking at. But at Coventry I was in and out of the team, so I thought it was time to go somewhere where I could cement my place.
“I heard about the [Brondby] transfer when I was away on holiday, probably about six weeks before we finalised it. I had other offers from clubs in England, but when Brondby made their offer, I could not turn it down.
“I knew Brondby was a big club because obviously I had heard about [Peter] Schmeichel, the Laudrup brothers, and I had seen lots of people wearing Brondby-shirts when I went on a trip to Copenhagen in March, but I did not know actually how big the club is before I arrived here.”