Luis Binks: From Montreal to Scotland Debut
Luis Binks leans back among the palm trees in La Manga, Scotland’s temporary base this week, and laughs at the absurdity of it all. Every footballer has a story. His sounds like a fever dream.
At 25, the Brondby centre-half and captain is on the brink of a first Scotland cap, chasing a debut against Slovenia on Saturday. A vacancy has opened at the heart of Sebastien Pocognoli’s defence since Grant Hanley and John Souttar were ushered out after the Belgian replaced Steve Clarke. Binks, eligible through a grandparent from Dunbar, is one of eight uncapped players in this new-look squad.
New manager. New faces. New tales.
Binks’ begins in North London and takes a sharp detour across the Atlantic. After years at Tottenham, he decided at 18 that the academy bubble wasn’t enough.
“I’d been at Tottenham since I was very young, but I just wanted to go and play first football,” he recalls. “That was my biggest thing, to not get caught up in the whole youth system. I feel that if you get caught in that, it’s not real football. I wanted to test myself.”
The test came at Montreal Impact in early 2020. A teenager, a new league, a new continent – and Thierry Henry as his manager.
He signed in February. By March, the world shut down.
“I’d signed in February and then we went into Covid lockdown in March,” he says. “I hadn’t yet found an apartment. I was in one hotel and Thierry was in another. The one I was in was then shut down.
“He was staying at the Ritz on his own. They wanted to move me to a hotel by the airport and I didn’t want to go because there was nothing there. It felt like prison, almost. One day I get a call from him, saying: ‘Do you want to move to where I am? You can go on the other floor’.”
The Ritz-Carlton in Montreal is a five-star hideaway with 129 rooms. For a spell, its guest list read: Thierry Henry. Luis Binks. That was it.
“I’d go for runs in the morning and he’d be sat in the reception on his own,” Binks says. “When I’d get back from the run, he’d still be sat there. I’d spend a few hours with him, just trying to pick his brains.”
The scenes sound almost comic. A teenage defender, one of the greatest forwards of his generation, and an empty luxury hotel in a locked-down city.
“I remember one night I was sat in my room just playing PlayStation and he rings me and goes, ‘Do you want to get a pizza?’” Binks says. “There’s me and him driving around Montreal looking for a pizza. It’s a bit surreal, but that was how it was.”
He tells it now with a shrug, as if it were any team-mate, any coach. It wasn’t.
“I’m saying it now like it’s just anybody, but there’s a big aura around him. I was nervous at the time, but I asked him who’s the best defender he’s played with and against and why and it was a good time.
“It’s a bit of a blur now, but I always remember him talking about Sol Campbell and just saying what made him great and how I could improve as a defender.
“I owe a lot to him because he gave me my first chance in senior football.”
From a deserted Ritz-Carlton with Henry to the fight for a Scotland debut under Pocognoli, Binks’ route has swerved and twisted. The next chapter could begin on Saturday.
