IF YOU TRY THAT AGAIN, I’LL SNAP YOU!
Welsh ace Brooks loves to nutmeg defenders, but he’s been warned...
David Brooks, the willowy winger who has danced his way into PFA Young Player of the Year contention, does not get away with his most impudent flourishes free from threat of retribution.
In a breakthrough season at Bournemouth, the 21-year-old has often been seen to nudge the ball through defenders’ legs, proving to be a natural at the nutmeg.
‘i wouldn’t call it a speciality but when the opportunity arises i like to attempt it and thankfully they have been coming off,’ he says.
‘ Players haven’t really said anything apart from the obvious.’ Which is? ‘“if you do it again, i will snap you” — but i am not naming names!’
The matter-of-fact appreciation of this brutal aspect of life as a dribbler reveals the confidence with which Brooks plays and speaks. That extra attention is par for the course when you have scored six, mainly eye-catching goals and made four assists in your debut Premier League campaign.
Brooks has also shone for Wales since making a debut in November 2017 and on Thursday in Cardiff he became the first player to be named young and senior footballer of the year at the same time.
He beat Gareth Bale to the top prize and knows the nation will be looking to him to provide moments that will hopefully help Wales qualify for Euro 2020.
He is not fazed by his new status. ‘The word pressure gets thrown about but i don’t see it as pressure,’ he says. ‘it is not really any different if someone expects me to do it or not. i go out to do my best — to score goals and create goals.’
That will of course be the aim tomorrow when Wales begin their campaign by hosting slovakia in Cardiff. Brooks needs to recover fully from an ankle injury sustained in last weekend’s Premier League draw with Newcastle but the signs are encouraging.
‘i think Mo diame caught me in a tackle, so it was one of those things,’ he says. ‘Hopefully the swelling goes down. obviously as a forward player you are always going to get kicks and bruises off the defenders. You have to deal with them.’
after a Nations League campaign that had glimpses of promise for ryan Giggs’ side, we are now at the first properly meaningful matches of Brooks’ international career.
it is a career that could have been with England and, given Gareth southgate’s struggles with injuries, it is not fanciful to think Warringtonborn Brooks would have been in the frame to feature in this squad. Brooks played for England in 2017 at Toulon, having originally been called up for Wales due to a miscommunication.
He was named best player after scoring in the final, but two months later switched allegiances once and for all, first appearing for the Welsh Under 21 side.
despite that summer of playing for England he says he was supporting Wales during Euro 2016, with his mother Cathryn, from Llangollen, hanging Welsh flags around the house. The family, including English dad ian, watched at home in Warrington. Now, the English hope is Jadon sancho, who joined Manchester City the year after the club released Brooks, who then earned his £11.5million move to Bournemouth through performances for sheffield United. Brooks sees inspiration in sancho’s decision to leave City for Borussia dortmund.
He says: ‘i think that sancho’s path, in going abroad, is inspiring for any player. if you don’t make it at one place it doesn’t mean you are not going to make it at another.’
Would Brooks try a different league in future, like Bale in Madrid and aaron ramsey at Juventus next season? ‘i want to play at the highest level possible whether that is abroad or in England,’ he says.
‘The aim is to get up there and whatever opportunities come, i will make the decisions then.’