Luis Binks has never followed the conventional route in football, and his path to a potential Scotland debut this weekend is no exception. The 25-year-old Brondby captain, who qualifies for Scotland through a grandparent from Dunbar, is one of eight uncapped players named in new head coach Sebastien Pocognoli's first squad ahead of Saturday's Nations League opener against Slovenia in Ljubljana.
A vacancy has emerged at the heart of Scotland's defence following the departures of Grant Hanley and John Souttar after Pocognoli replaced Steve Clarke, and Binks is determined to seize his opportunity. Speaking from Scotland's training base in La Manga, the centre-half reflected on a career that has taken him from Tottenham's academy through Major League Soccer, Italy and now Denmark.
Binks left Tottenham, where he had progressed through the youth ranks since childhood, in search of first-team opportunities. "I'd been at Tottenham since I was very young, but I just wanted to go and play first-team football," he explained. "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."
That decision led him to Montreal Impact in early 2020, where he found himself under the guidance of club legend Thierry Henry. The timing coincided with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving the then-18-year-old isolated in a nearly empty hotel. When the property he was staying in shut down, Henry personally intervened.
"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," Binks recalled. "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'."
What followed was an unusual period in which the young defender and the World Cup winner were effectively the only guests at the five-star Ritz-Carlton. "I'd go for runs in the morning and he'd be sat in the reception on his own. 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," Binks said, adding that late-night phone calls sometimes led to spontaneous outings. "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."
Despite the informality of those moments, Binks says he was acutely aware of Henry's stature. "There's a big aura around him," he admitted, recalling conversations about Sol Campbell and the qualities that made him an elite defender. "He gave me my first chance in senior football. I owe a lot to him."
Since then, Binks has built a career across multiple countries, with stints at Bologna, Como and Coventry before joining Brondby last summer, where he was quickly handed the captaincy. "I want to win things. That was my whole reasoning," he said of the move to Denmark.
Now, with a first Scotland call-up in hand, Binks is eager to translate his experience into an impact on the international stage. "It's my first camp, my first time meeting everyone, but deep down I want to leave a mark on this team," he said.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport Football.