Jephcott learns from his international experience
PLYMOUTH Argyle striker Luke Jephcott came up against some of Europe’s top young defenders in his latest appearance for Wales under-21s.
Jephcott and his Welsh teammates were beaten 5-0 by the Netherlands in a 2023 European Championship qualifier, but there was no shame in that given the quality of the opposition.
For example, the Pilgrims’ striker was up against a French Ligue 1 titlewinner in Sven Botman, who will be playing for Lille in the UEFA Champions League against Sevilla next week.
Botman joined Lille from Ajax on a five-year contract in the summer of 2020 for a fee reported to be around 8-9 million euro.
He went on to start all but one of Lille’s 38 league games last season as they beat Paris St Germain - Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and the rest - to the French championship by a point.
Botman’s centre-back partner against Wales was Devyne Rensch, who won the Dutch Eredivise title with Ajax in 2020/21.
The 18-year-old had made his debut for the senior Dutch national team in a 6-1 home victory over Turkey in a World Cup qualifier last month.
On either side of them in defence were two prospects from German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen, who are currently level on points with Bayern Munich at the top of the table.
They were right-back Jeremie Frimpong, formerly of Manchester City and Celtic, and left-back Mitchel Bakker.
The latter was sold by Paris St Germain to Leverkusen this summer for a reported fee of 7 million euro, potentially rising to 10 million, and with the French club holding a buyback clause as well.
Jephcott, who was partnered in attack by Everton’s Rhys Hughes, did have one good chance to get his first goal for Wales under-21s just before half-time against the Dutch.
They were trailing 2-0 in the 42nd minute when Jephcott had a close range shot saved by Brighton and Hove Albion goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen.
Jephcott was eventually substituted in the 59th minute, by which stage the impressive side Dutch were 5-0 up.
Wales had also lost 1-0 away to
Moldova last Friday in another European Championship qualifier, when Jephcott came off the bench in the second half.
The striker was back at Home Park this morning as Argyle prepared for their League One trip to Oxford United on Saturday.
Asked about his time away with Wales under-21s, Jephcott said: “It was a good learning experience - two very different games against two very different teams.
“Moldova were quite hard to beat in terms of how they set up and how they play, and obviously Holland are a world class team full of very talented players.”
He added: “The Holland captain, the player I was against, he won the French league last year so that was a bit of an eye opener to play against someone of that quality.
“He has played against Mbappe so I think it shows his quality. It’s always a good experience to be able to say that I played against someone like him and I did alright.”
While he was away with Wales under-21s, Jephcott missed Argyle’s 2-1 win against Burton Albion at Home Park last Saturday, which saw them move to the top of League One.
He was also away for the 3-1 Papa John’s Trophy defeat at home to Swindon Town on Tuesday night.