Wales new boy Lawrence 'not familiar' with PL

Wales new face James Lawrence has admitted that he has had to get to know his international teammates, as despite most of them being regulars in the Premier League, he does not regularly follow the English top flight.

Lawrence has been something of an enigma, at 26 he is just now earning his first senior international cap, with even national manager Ryan Giggs admitting that the player had "gone under the radar" in previous years. 

The defender plays for Anderlecht in the Belgian first division, and as such, he is somewhat unknown in comparison to his teammates, the majority of whom play every week in the Premier League.

His career path has been rather unusual; he moved to Europe at a young age, first playing in the Ajax academy, before moving to Slovakia for first team minutes, and then finally ending up with Belgian side Anderlecht.

Incredibly, it has only been realised in recent months that Lawrence is indeed eligible to represent Wales, due to his grandmother having been born in Haverfordwest. 

 

November 8, 2018

In an interview with 'Sky Sports', Lawrence spoke of his career so far, stating: "I think it's quite a long story really. It started when I was small, moving to Europe and playing there. That took me outside the UK and I think they don't look over there that much. Obviously playing for a big club like Anderlecht brought a lot of attention my way and made them aware that I was even eligible to play for Wales."

Lawrence admitted that he is being forced to adjust fast to life in the national set up, having to learn first hand about his teammates because he does not follow the Premier League.

The defender told 'Sky Sports': "I was aware of a lot of the players, obviously some of them I didn't know very well. I'm not that familiar with English football, like the Prem and the Championship. I don't follow it that much so you could say it was all a bit of a learning curve for me coming in and learning who's who and things like that"

 

November 5, 2018

He continued: "It's fine, it's always nice to come into a new squad especially when all you've all got the same goal and everyone is focused on the game on Friday."

Lawrence will also need to learn the Welsh national anthem in the next few days, although he is not worried about the prospect: "I've listened to it quite a lot," he went on. "I've always loved the Welsh national anthem, I thought it was one of the best national anthems out there. Obviously I will have to learn it at some point but yeah I've been listening to it a few times."