If there was a secret to the togetherness among the many England Beneath-21s gamers as they retained their European title this summer time then Brooke Norton-Cuffy could have let it slip: a card recreation referred to as Werewolf. Launched to the senior England camp through the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, it pits a small knowledgeable group referred to as the wolves towards the uninformed majority often known as the villagers as they try to deceive one another to win, in a format much like the favored TV present The Traitors.
“We have been enjoying each evening,” says Norton-Cuffy. “It actually helped us bond since you get to know folks. This present day when everybody could be on their telephones, you sit down, you have got fun, you have got a joke … the group was actually, actually tight, everybody was collectively, and also you noticed that on the pitch once we ended up going and profitable it.”
Such is the lifetime of a younger participant that Lee Carsley's squad had just a few hours to rejoice their dramatic late victory over Germany earlier than they went their separate methods. In Norton-Cuffy's case, it was to board a flight to Genoa – the membership he joined in August 2024 after a decade at Arsenal – earlier than heading off on a well-deserved vacation.
“It was a fast, fast turnaround, so I'd say we most likely didn't get to take pleasure in it as a lot as we must always have, however I believe that's simply soccer,” he says. “However I don't really feel prefer it was a shock for this group to go and win it. All of us felt like: ‘We should always win the event, and we're going to win the event,' so once we did it, it was like: ‘OK, we've completed it, we're happy with ourselves, let's take our holidays, however now everybody's received to go and rip up at their golf equipment.'”
Norton-Cuffy has actually taken that momentum into the Serie A marketing campaign. Having missed a big portion of his first season owing to accidents, the 21-year-old from Southwark has change into a daily underneath the Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira and says he's recurrently recognised across the port metropolis.
Genoa are Italy's oldest membership, based by a bunch of English expatriates in 1893, and the brand new away shirt that Norton-Cuffy helped to advertise options the St George's Cross in a nod to their heritage.
“I really feel like a whole lot of Italians appear to have linked with me in that manner, as a result of I'm English, and due to how the membership was based,” he says. “It's surprisingly come collectively very properly.”
Norton-Cuffy is following within the footsteps of one other flying full-back from south London in Djed Spence, who spent 4 and a half months at Genoa on mortgage from Tottenham in 2024. Norton-Cuffy determined to go away Arsenal after profitable loans at Lincoln, Rotherham, Millwall and Coventry, turning down gives from two Premier League sides and golf equipment in Germany.
“I wished to return right here, play and expertise a brand new fashion of soccer, expertise a brand new tradition and put myself outdoors what I'd say is my consolation zone, as a result of I might have simply stayed in England and performed for an English group. However I stated: ‘Let me attempt the problem overseas. Let me study a brand new tradition.' The Italian league is thought for its defensive talents, construction, fashion of play. So I stated: ‘Let me come and enhance on my defensive facet of the sport, but additionally present what I can do going ahead and produce my very own fashion to this league.'”
Norton-Cuffy is thought for lung‑bursting runs down the proper and places his power right down to a carb‑loading regime that begins three days earlier than a match. Lots of his meals are supplied by Genoa however he discovered to cook dinner at Arsenal – one of many expertise younger gamers are taught on the Hale Finish academy.
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“They helped me mature into a person, with stuff on the pitch and off the pitch,” says Norton-Cuffy. “At Arsenal, you're going there and also you're studying to be higher daily. In the event you're not studying about soccer, you're studying about easy methods to cook dinner. It's come in useful, 100%. They all the time made certain you have been doing all of your psychology work, stuff like that. After which on the pitch, clearly it's Arsenal Soccer Membership: the extent, the usual is extraordinarily excessive, so I really feel prefer it has helped me out rather a lot.”
Genoa have made a gradual begin, taking two factors from 5 league video games, however enjoying underneath Vieira stays a dream come true for Norton-Cuffy. He credit the previous France midfielder, who changed Alberto Gilardino final November, for enhancing his positional expertise: “He was an ideal participant, he's an ideal supervisor now and he's helped me rather a lot since he's are available in. The target is to get as excessive as attainable. First we have to hit the 40-point mark, I believe it's, ensure we're secure, after which look from there, however I believe this group is able to performing some excellent issues.”
Inside minutes of England's summer time triumph, Carsley was focusing on a hat-trick of victories for the under-21s in 2027. Norton‑Cuffy, a part of the underneath‑19s squad that received their European title in 2022, is anticipated to begin the under-21s' qualifiers towards Moldova and Andorra this month and says Carsley has additionally been a significant affect on his profession.
“After I had troublesome moments final yr, he would take the trip to offer me a name, say: ‘Maintain going, you recognize your high quality,' offer you a little bit pep speak. He's all the time there. While you're enjoying for the under-21s, they stress it in each single camp: the objective is to not be within the under-21s, the objective is to be in England's first group. So it's depending on what I do for the under-21s and the way nicely I do at my membership. It's for me to push myself on the market and that's on me.”
