I'M REBOURN
Bournemouth star Brooks: I was forced out of the Etihad in tears after 10 years... there’s a few players there who haven’t done as well as the ones they let go
DAVID BROOKS saw a dream shattered at Manchester City – but fulfils another one against Jose Mourinho’s United for Bournemouth today.
The 21-year-old, brought to the south coast by Eddie Howe for £11.5million in the summer from Sheffield United, has looked to the manner born in the Premier League.
As a kid, United fan and Warrington-born Brooks – a Wales international after picking the country of his mother’s birth over England – was regularly told he was too small and skinny.
The usual agegroup shirts came down to his knees, and kitmen were sent scurrying away to seek out smaller sizes. He confirms: “I have only shot up recently – I was tiny.”
But after a painful exit from the Etihad, the winger blossomed, ironically for England at last year’s Under-20 tournament in Toulon, winning the Best Player award and scoring in the final against Ivory Coast.
After a loan spell at nonleague Halifax, Chris Wilder threw him into the Blades’ firstteam fray and since then serene progress was only checked by a bout of glandular fever.
A YouTube showreel moment of Brooks nutmegging Jack Hunt in a Sheffield derby win went viral and still makes him smile. Top-flight defenders have fared little better this term.
Brooks, with three goals in his last four Premier League games for the Cherries, says: “I’ve always been a United fan and wanted to play them, so was looking out for this game.
“I was at City for 10 years. There wasn’t all the big money being spent until I got to the Under-16s. But soon after I turned up to an awards ceremony and there were about seven players I had never seen before. They were all foreign lads playing international football, and physically stronger. There ended up being a squad of 25 to 30 players at Under-18 level.
“As a young lad you need to be playing. I just wasn’t, so the writing was on the wall. There’s a few players that got kept on at that time who haven’t done as well as those that got released.
“Maybe it does give you that extra incentive, that you really want this. I didn’t leave on the best terms – it was one of them, ‘Go and sort yourself out’, and there were a few tears. Bolton then said I was too small, but Sheffield United saw past that.”
Brooks, revelling in being coached by boyhood idol and “legend” Ryan Giggs (left) for his country, says: “It was a bit of a mix-up that saw me play for England in Toulon.
“They asked and I didn’t feel I could turn the chance down. I think Wales also included me but hadn’t told me.
“There are pictures of me in that England shirt all over social media! At the time Toulon was the right decision for me, and thankfully Wales didn’t turn their back.”