Leif Davis has widely been tipped to break into the England squad, but the Town defender says that incredible dream is not something that is on his mind.

England’s left-back issues have recently been publicised with Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell struggling for fitness and a lack of other options available prompting suggestions the Blues man could be in line for a call-up.

Now that he has become a regular starter in the Premier League, Davis will be hoping to catch the eye of incoming Three Lions head coach Thomas Tuchel, but says all of his focus is on his club football at Portman Road.

“It would be incredible,” he said. “It would be a dream to play for England and to play for my country. But I’m just focusing on what I’ve got to do on a Saturday, every weekend that I play for Ipswich is my main focus.

“I’m trying to do everything I can to keep improving then if that comes it comes and if it doesn’t it doesn’t. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and improving every week.

“I’ve never had any contact with any England age groups, but I don’t think that matters at all. If you’re a good enough player then you’re a good enough player to play for the country.

“You’ve just got to show why you’re good enough to play for them, work hard and then when you do get that opportunity you’ve got to grab it with both hands and try and keep that opportunity that you’ve taken to try and get in the next camp as well.”

Town travel to face Brentford in their first ever visit to the Gtech Community Stadium this weekend and are still looking for their first Premier League victory of the season.

The Bees have notably been fast starters recently, going on a run of three consecutive matches of scoring in the first minute before netting after two minutes the following weekend.

Davis says a fast start will be key in West London, highlighting that ensuring the team are switched on from the outset is crucial against every opponent in the top flight.

He said: “In every game you’ve got to be switched on from the off. I think they’ve scored the earliest goals in the Prem this year. We’ve got to be switched on from that first whistle because we know how dangerous they can be. Once that’s happened we can settle the game down and do what we have to do.

“It’s difficult as anything can happen. Brentford have scored a lot of early goals and can score within the first minute of the game starting, so the game can change around at any time.

“We scored first against Man City and then they scored three in about 10 minutes, it just shows the quality of the game. We just need to keep pushing and doing what we’re doing and everything will fall into place.

“I think we’ve been a bit unlucky in some of the games that we’ve drawn as well, especially the Fulham and Aston Villa games at home – we had a lot of chances in the game to get the three points and it was just the luck that we didn’t have.

“The spirit that we have in the changing room just didn’t get us over the line at the final whistle.”

Among Davis’s newer teammates to join the club this summer are Jack Clarke and Kalvin Phillips, two players who Davis knows from their respective periods at Leeds United.

Davis is pleased to have reunited with former colleagues and says both Yorkshiremen are still getting up to speed in Kieran McKenna’s system.

“It’s been good,” he said. “For me, I know their qualities so I know what they can do. Clarkey has shown in little bits and so has Kalvin, but I think they’ve still got a lot more to come from what I’ve seen them at their best.

“It’s nice to play with some familiar faces but it’s been hard for them as they’re adapting to how we play. Clarkey’s used to be out on the touchline one-v-one but now he’s got to play inside. It’s taking time for him to adapt to that position that he’s playing in the left-10 role.

“And especially Kalvin as he’s been used to playing in a single pivot in the middle, but he’s enjoying playing alongside skip [Sam Morsy] and skip does a lot of the dirty work for him and they cover each other really well.

“He’s loving it down here, he’s spoken to me about it and he’s said he’s been really happy as everyone has since they’ve come in which is a good thing.”

Away from the pitch, Davis has spoken about his love of flying and how he switches off from football by playing FlightSim, a system where real-life flights can be flown virtually on a simulator.

While it is primarily an activity to enjoy, he says there are some concentration aspects of playing that he can use to help in football matches.

“It’s a thing that I’ve always done,” Davis said. “You don’t have to look at your phone or think about football, it’s something that switches me off from everything. You’ve got to focus on that one thing or your plane’s going down so you’ve just got to focus on that all the time.

“That focus helps me take it into training because you know what you’ve got to do and how good you can be when you’re focused. If you switch off for one second then that’s when disasters can happen.

“But it’s a hobby that I’ve always had and hopefully I can get my license after football or whenever I have the time for do it.

“The [Boeing] 737 MAX is the new one, the 737-800, Airbus A320s you can fly on it. I taught myself to do it which is good because there’s a software called VATSIM which is the software where other people in the world are playing on and they’re speaking to air traffic control so there’ll be someone on the computer in London doing the air traffic control and I’m doing the flying so I’ve got to speak to him.”

Davis says piloting planes is something he is interested in after hanging up his football boots and spoke about his experience in the cockpit when on the Blues’ pre-season tour to Austria last summer.

“My Private Pilot Licence would be the start, then I can decide what I want to do after and hopefully a successful career.

“I’ve been up a few times in a little Cessna, but nothing like flying a big plane. I actually got the chance when we went to Austria in pre-season and I got to go into the cockpit to do the landing with the pilot, which was one of the best experiences I’ve ever done and probably the highlight of my year! It was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, seeing how they do it in person.

“[The captain] was actually talking me through it and I was saying ‘are you not doing this?’ and he said ‘I’m just about to do that’, so I knew a lot of what he was doing. He was shocked, he kept looking at me, ‘how do you know this?’ and I just kept my mouth shut, I’m not going to tell you I fly on FlightSim and all that.

“It was mad how I knew everything he was doing. He asked if I understood how I spoke to air traffic control and I said ‘yeah’. I just taught myself it.”

Davis is not the only professional footballer who has the same unique hobby, with a former Town loanee also a keen aviation enthusiast.

He said: “I think Chris Wood at Nottingham Forest has got his pilot licence as well so I don’t think it’s just me that would love to do it, I think there are other players out there who have their licence already.

“It’s just a different hobby to everyone else, look at Ben White who doesn’t even watch football and when I was at Leeds with him he hated football, he just didn’t like watching football it. His hobby was probably something else whereas mine’s doing that.”

Davis added: “I actually get so excited when I fly and am on the plane. I got invited to the RAF base up the road, I had a few messages from the people that are up there fixing all the jets, so that would be a good experience to do that.”

Photo: Action Images

cooper4england added 07:57 - Oct 25 Great footballer...... not so great on a lad's night out! (Joshing before you get your knickers in a twist!).
0

ArnieM added 08:54 - Oct 25 I think the new England manager should at least be picking him to have a look at how he does in these low level, so called internationals. What Leif has shown, is he can make a big step up in the PL, so why not in sn Englsnd shirt. Put it this way, had his club shirt been one of the so called big clubs, he'd probably already have a number of England caps. The game stinks frankly.

0

Karlosfandangal added 10:31 - Oct 25 Another massive step up playing for England and 2 players that have been around to displace. Would like next year for an England call up. Just let the lad settle into Premier football first.
0

bobble added 12:02 - Oct 25 England is hardly a giant step up for him as they rarely win anything ,,,
0

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 12:07 - Oct 25 Sky's the limit, Leif. You are a great servant for ITFC first and foremost, but if you make it into the England squad, then I'll be very happy.
0

Blogs 298 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls