While some Premier League stars will try any excuse to skip an international friendly, one Welsh teenager is undertaking a 14,000-mile round trip to make her debut.
Lauren Purchase, 14, lives in Malaysia with her parents, Dacre Purchase and Caroline Morris who were pupils of Llanfair Caereinion and Welshpool High Schools respectively. She is the great grand daughter of former Welshpool mayor, John Gwilt.
Last week she received a call-up to the Wales U15 side after impressing during summer training with the regional North Wales Elite squad, and will be hopping on a plane to be back for the friendly against Scotland during the next national camp at Dragon Park.
“It’s a dream come true to have received a call-up so there was no way I wanted to miss the opportunity,” said Lauren, who has lived in Asia since she was four. “My parents have been really supportive every step of the way so this is an achievement for us all. We are really looking forward to it.”
Lauren is a student of the Alice Smith British International School in Kuala Lumpur and plays in the boys Air Asia League for her club, KLYS. She has also spent most of her summers when home joining football schools held at The Flash, Welshpool.
She has been on the radar for the U14 Liverpool set-up and this summer was selected to attend a national camp in Cardiff after she played for Wales in a friendly against Man City.
The match against Scotland, however, will represent her first full international in a Welsh shirt.
This article first appeared on www.mywelshpool.co.uk
