Luke-ing up!
Nicholas Veevers
Monday, 15 November, 2010
Luke Garbutt is aiming to make the next step of his international career.
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Young Lions ace Luke Garbutt is preparing to get back into action with England tomorrow night, as the U18s take on Poland at Wycombe’s Adams Park on Tuesday evening.
The game serves a couple of purposes for U18s Head Coach Noel Blake, as he wants to keep the group of players in this age group together and familiar with each other following the successful European U17 Championship campaign last season whilst also looking at potential players who might be able to step up into his U19 squad for the next round of their European Championship qualifying next spring.
Garbutt was part of the England side which became European champions in May and he's joined in the U18s by another three members of that squad but he’s more than aware that they all now need to rise to the next level if they want to progress further.
“We all strive to do better things and become better players, so we now want to go on and achieve more,” explained the 17-year-old former Leeds United defender, who is now plying his trade with Everton.
“That means trying to get into the U19s squad and hopefully going on to win the Euros again next summer with them.
“This game gives us a chance to try and impress and show that we’re good enough to step up to the next level and we’re all fully aware of that.”
After working under John Peacock at international level for the past two seasons, Garbutt knows that he must now impress his worth upon a new coach in Blake but having already experienced the style of the former Birmingham and Stoke City defender in previous years, he admits he’s looking forward to it all.
“I’ve worked with Noel a few times,” he told TheFA.com. “He was the assistant to Kenny Swain when I was with the U16s a few years ago and he’s a really good coach, probably one of the best that I have worked with.
“I’ll enjoy working with him over these four days I’m sure.”
* There have been four changes to the original squad. Jamal Blackman, George Thorne, Rob Hall and John Cofie have all withdrawn to be replaced by Jordan Pickford of Sunderland, George Moncur of West Ham, Pat Bamford of Nottingham Forest and Jake Fowler of Middlesbrough respectively.