This interview with David Brooks is from the Euro 2020 preview issue of FourFourTwo. Subscribe now and never miss an issue!
Your first Wales game came in 2017 – the Stade de France was quite the venue for that, wasn’t it?!
To make your debut in a big stadium against the likes of Kylian Mbappe – that’ll live with me forever. I had about 10 family members travelling over from Wales for it, as well.
To be fair, I didn’t come in until under-21 level, so didn’t have the same build-up as Eth. Ben had been involved before but it was Ethan’s debut as well, and there were a few other young lads trying to do the same. So it was a very special night for us.
What about your own rapid rise to the top tier, when Bournemouth bought you for £11.5m after 40-odd senior appearances for Sheffield United? Any nerves?
I don’t really get nervous. I’ve been practising for 12 years or so to get into the game, so you can’t let it pass you by. There have only been a handful of occasions where I’ve felt nervous: my Wales debut in a packed French stadium, and the Sheffield derby, which was the first hostile game I’d played in. But no, I didn’t play many games before coming to Bournemouth, and most of those were off the bench under [Chris] Wilder.
Genuinely, I didn’t even know that I was in contention – I just got a phone call. It was pretty special because of that. I didn’t even know there was a PFA dinner! I got to take my mum and dad. To be nominated with those other players was a real achievement.
How’s this season been, after a long injury lay-off during Bournemouth’s relegation campaign? You were Championship Player of the Month for November.
Yeah, I was playing all right at the start. The whole team had a dip in form, but it’s been about getting back to playing my very best.
How do you find Wales’ fluidity, with Harry Wilson or yourself operating as a false nine if Kieffer Moore isn’t on?
I quite like it. I enjoy playing No.10 anyway, and you kind of end up in that role, in the space between midfielders and defenders. Gareth Bale likes to drift in and the false nine goes where the space is. Not much changes when you’re on the ball, but there’s an effort to be around the box when the ball is wide.
I think I might have been in Magaluf! But I tuned into every game, cheering the team on. Euro 2016 brought the country together. Qualifying again shows what we’re about.
You don’t want to lose your opening game [against Switzerland] – then you’re chasing. We’ll be going out to win the game anyway. Half of the team is playing or has played in the Premier League, and we’ve got fantastic players across the whole squad, so we’ll give any team a game if we turn up. There’s no reason for us to be scared of anyone.
This article first appeared in the June 2021 issue of FourFourTwo
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