Dunk's England and Europa League target

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Albion skipper hoping for milestone moments with Albion and England this month.

Bruce Talbot

2023-09-07T12:00:00Z

Lewis Dunk will be aiming to play against Ukraine and Scotland for England during this international break.

In the space of a few days this month Lewis Dunk could play for his country and lead his home town club in their first match in Europe.

But Albion’s captain insists his football journey still has a long way to run.

Dunk is with the England squad preparing for Saturday’s EURO 2024 qualifier against Ukraine in Wroclaw, Poland. Four days later they head to Hampden to face Scotland in a match to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first international between the teams.

Dunk then returns to Albion to prepare for two standout fixtures – a trip to Old Trafford in the Premier League next Saturday and our Europa League opener on 21 September against AEK Athens.

“When I sit down and think it’s been a great journey so far and an enjoyable one – and it’s not ending anytime soon,” said Dunk. “I’m 31 but still learning every day, especially from this manager (Roberto De Zerbi). I feel good in myself and want to keep pushing myself at the highest level by playing in Europe and being in the England setup.”

England captain Harry Kane looks to challenge Dunky for the ball.

Dunk won his only England cap in 2018 before his club form last season earned him a recall from Gareth Southgate in June, only for injury to rule him out.

“Getting called up after a long time and then injury ruling me out was obviously frustrating, but I had a good conversation with Gareth [Southgate] at the time and he said he would be watching at the start of the season. I’m delighted to be back,” added Dunk.

“It was a long wait and after five years of not being in the squad you start thinking ‘is it time that I won’t get back in again?’ All I did was focus on my playing for Brighton and trying to be the best I can and I’m here now.

“Once you make your debut you think I could stick around, but it is not always the case – there are many players who played games and are not in the next squad. At the time there must have been people performing better than me. So, you look at yourself, try to improve and keep working hard and now I’ve earned a way back in.”

Not surprisingly, after such a long gap since his first cap, Dunk says he is a completely different person on and off the pitch.

“I’m five years older, five years wiser and I’ve learnt a lot football-wise and life-wise in that time, as you do. I’ve come here [to this squad] with a confidence I probably didn’t have before.”

The skipper's first and only cap for England came in 2018.

That process of change on the pitch has accelerated under Roberto De Zerbi, who celebrates a year in charge of Albion later this month.

“Since he came in I see football in a completely different way,” said Dunk. “The idea of what I did before I thought made sense but then you learn something different, you start to believe in it and it makes sense. You think ‘why didn’t I know this?’ and ‘why didn’t I do this before?’

"I’m talking about our style of play and when to release the ball. All our games now are about pressure, playing with opposition teams when they are pressing high and pressing low. When to pass the ball, the timing of that and the timing of movement. Before, I didn't really know about that.”

For the next few days the coach Dunk hopes to impress is Southgate. So, does he sense a change in the England camp from when he made his debut against USA at Wembley five years ago?

“We had a meeting the other day and Gareth is talking about winning the Euros and the whole squad is thinking about winning the Euros so I would say mentality is the biggest change. It’s not ‘How far can we get in a tournament’ it’s winning a tournament.

“Being around these top players I can see why he thinks that. I come up against them all the time in the Premier League but on the training field you see how good some of the talents are in this group. We’ve got a good togetherness too.”