Luis Binks: From PlayStation to Scotland's Defense

Luis Binks leans back among the palm trees in La Manga and laughs as he tells it. Every footballer has a story, but his sounds more like a fever dream than a career path.

He is 25 now, captain of Brondby, and on the brink of a first Scotland cap against Slovenia on Saturday. A vacancy has opened up at the heart of Sebastien Pocognoli's defence since Grant Hanley and John Souttar were cut loose 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 ideas. A flood of new faces and fresh backstories. Binks’ tale starts in north London and then veers off sharply.

He grew up at Tottenham, came through their system, did everything by the book – until he decided he wanted out.

"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."

So he did something English academy players rarely do. He left. At 18, in early 2020, he signed for Montreal Impact in MLS. A different continent, a new league, a bold move. And then 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."

Thierry is Thierry Henry, of course. His manager. His boyhood idol. Now his unexpected lockdown flatmate.

"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. Five stars. 129 rooms. Two guests.

Henry and Binks had the run of the place. A Champions League legend and a teenage centre-half, marooned together while the pandemic raged outside.

"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. The reality was priceless.

"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?' 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 casual shrug, but he knows how absurd it all sounds. This wasn’t just any team-mate, any coach.

"I'm saying it now like it's just anybody, but there's a big aura around him," Binks admits. "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."

Those conversations cut deep. Henry talked him through the art of defending, the details that separate the good from the elite.

"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."

The lessons stuck. So did the gratitude.

"I owe a lot to him because he gave me my first chance in senior football."

From PlayStation calls with Henry at the Ritz-Carlton to fighting for a place in Pocognoli’s back line, Binks has travelled a strange road. If he steps out for Scotland against Slovenia, it will be another surreal chapter – only this time, he won’t be looking for pizza. He’ll be looking for a permanent place in the heart of a new era.