ONE OF A MOVE
It hurt Taylor to leave Leeds but he loves life with Dyche Arteta in fear Brexit will trap Lion cubs
BURNLEY defender Charlie Taylor has his regrets about the way he became Public Enemy No.1 at Leeds.
But the 26-year-old Clarets’ leftback has never been afraid to take the hardest of decisions – as his teenage loan spell playing under Terry Butcher at Inverness Caledonian Thistle proves.
And when he steps out against Arsenal today, Taylor will be looking to produce the kind of performance that has prompted boss Sean Dyche (below) to tout him for England.
“It’s always good to get praise from your manager,” said Taylor. “And when you play in big Premier League games against Arsenal then I suppose it puts you in the shop window a bit more.
“But I’m honestly not thinking about England. It would be too much of a distraction if I did that.
“I’m just happy that the boss has that belief in me – because it makes me feel like running through a brick wall for him.”
Taylor certainly knew he was making the right choice when he heard Dyche wanted to take him to Turf Moor in the summer of 2017.
The Leeds-mad Yorkshireman burst through from the youth-team to play for United as a 17-year-old.
Progress
And when his progress stalled, he took up loan offers from Bradford, York, Inverness and Fleetwood rather than stay in the comfort zone.
When he returned to Elland Road after helping the Cod Army win promotion to League One in 2014, his form was good enough to prompt the sale of skipper Steve Warnock.
In 2016, he was named the fans’ player of the year – but by then interest from top-flight clubs like Liverpool, West Brom and Stoke had prompted Taylor to tell Leeds owner Massimo Cellino that he wouldn’t be signing a new contract.
The news did not go down well with the Italian – and boss Garry Monk accused the defender of refusing to play in Leeds’ final game of the season before he moved across the Pennines.
“As a youngster growing up, all I ever wanted to do was play for Leeds – that was my dream,” said Taylor. I loved my time there, but the way it ended was the biggest regret of my career and if I could go back and change it I would.
Regrets
“I don’t have any regrets about signing for Burnley. I think I was proved right in the way things have worked out. I made the decision with my head rather than my heart because I didn’t know whether I’d get the chance again to play in the Premier League.
“I still live over that way and I get stick when I’m in town. But I am still a Leeds fan and I would love to go back there next season to play them in the Premier League.” Taylor reckons his stint in Scotland playing for England legend Butcher helped toughen him up for life at the top.
“I didn’t know where Inverness was,” said Taylor. “When I put the details in the satnav of my Corsa it said it was an eight-hour drive. But I didn’t have a second thought. We had a great season and the lads were great.
“Playing for Terry
Butcher was an eye-opener. He would shout and throw stuff if you did not play well, but it was what I needed as an 18-year-old.
“The standard of football might not have been great, but the standards he set for you were never allowed to drop.
“I’ve tried to maintain those levels everywhere I have been. It’s the attitude everyone at Burnley has to have.”
MIKEL ARTETA is warning that introducing a post-brexit restriction on foreign players will damage the England national team, not improve it.
The FA is preparing to limit the number of imports at every club. It believes a quota system will increase the homegrown talent emerging on the Premier League scene – and, therefore, benefit the Three Lions.
But Arteta said: “I agree England are on the right path. The age group they have is incredibly good, with the quality they have now.
“But that’s because they’re surrounded by senior players, some foreigners, some English, by foreign managers, English managers, English owners, foreign owners.
“There is variety and that’s what makes them good. Culturally, mixing everybody together is a good thing.”
Those are not the remarks of a top-flight foreign coach solely worried about how the new rules might affect his club’s ambitions.
Arteta is a massive England supporter. The Basque-born 37-year-old added: ”I knew I didn’t have a chance to play for Spain because my peers were much better than me.
“I’d have taken the opportunity to play for England because I feel very English. I’ve spent 85 per cent of my career here.
“It’s difficult to say what Brexit will do. Nobody knows the situation we’re going to be in. It has to develop first.
“But I had the privilege to play in this country, which is the best in the world. I’d love others to have the same opportunity.”
Arteta also has a lot in common with Turf Moor boss Sean Dyche – he hates diving. Dyche has been critical of the north Londoners over simulation in the past, but Arteta said: “Diving? Yes, I am completely against it.”