Wolves star Dan Bentley has admitted looking around a couple of times to take in the occasion that was his Premier League debut against Manchester United.
The 29-year-old finally got the nod from Julen Lopetegui to play on Saturday.
Bentley came in for Jose Sa for his first appearance for the club since joining in January from Bristol City.
And he did not disappoint, making a whopping eight saves at Old Trafford.
Wanderers lost the game 2-0 in the end. And it could have been a thrashing if not for Bentley.
He made some fantastic saves in the game. His best perhaps came when he denied Jadon Sancho, who had cut in and shot low and hard.
Bentley showed a really good command of his area, and distributed quite well.
He gave off real confidence, and after the game Lopetegui strongly praised the Englishman, and insisted he had deserved to come into the team. Ruben Neves also lauded his teammate.
Bentley has given a really nice interview to the Wolves official website about his day on Saturday.
The star says he was ‘bursting with pride’ to make his Premier League debut.
Interestingly, Bentley says that he is normally a very ‘in the zone’ and hyper-focused player.
But it being his Premier League debut was enough to take him out of that state a couple of times in the game.
He said: “I’m a very intense player when I’m playing. Very on it and in the game, but there were a couple times I looked around. I felt at home playing in the Premier League, I didn’t feel out of place, but you only get one debut and I was trying to take it in.
“In the warm-up I was trying to stay chilled and be in the moment, which is one thing a couple people said to me before the game. But it’s a personal performance I’m happy with.”
Dan Bentley’s admission makes his performance against Man United even better
Bentley should be very proud of himself for his performance against United.
It’s surely a big thing for any player to make their Premier League debut. But he was making his at Old Trafford in front of 73,000 people.
It is understandable he had to ‘deep’ the occasion a few times.
He was brilliant, and there was nothing he could have done about the goals from Anthony Martial and Alejandro Garnacho.
We shall now see how he gets on in the final two games against Everton and Arsenal. You would imagine Lopetegui will be starting him in at least one of them.