Interview here with Burnley chatting about the U17s, league, and his time so far at Burnley.
Key point I took is that he's trained with the Burnley first team a couple times so far - awesome benchmark - and he's been moved to a full-time midfielder (had heard he's been playing DM for the Burnley U18s, and NZ tried him out there for the U17s).
But he sounds like a lock for New Zealand going forward which is great, and I love the versatility of him playing in midfield now too. In saying that, I was quietly hoping he'd still be playing at CB given the relative dearth of ball playing and technical CB's coming through.
Still very early days of course, but Bindon and Leuluai as a CB pairing for potentially the next three to four WC cycles would provide an excellent foundation, as well as stability for the national side. Add in the likes of Cacace, Bell, Stamenic, Singh, Garbett, Dibley-Dias, Waine etc and we're slowly cooking away nicely for like the next decade +!
I'm also aware of getting too far ahead of myself here with the up and comers and the expectations and all that carry on etc etc, but I will be looking forward to following his progress at Burnley over the next couple of seasons. Big potential in the lad.
Yes it's always a bit odd to hear anyone of Pacific heritage speak with a broad UK accent. In rugby the large Vunipola brothers (Welsh born but play for England) are similar.
Be very interesting to see how he goes in Indonesia, up against some world class youngsters. From memory he wasn't a big a standout in the U17 OFC tourney, considering he'd been a few years in the Man City youth system.
Great to see young Kiwi's doing things in the world of football, and he sounds like a lock for New Zealand going forward as well, so I don't think we have to worry about other nations coming and tapping him on the shoulder. Great to see his level of passion and commitment at such a young age.