‘It’s obviously nice’: All-action midfielder flattered by Everton and Wolves interest

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Torino midfielder Matt Garbett admits he’s flattered by interest from Premier League trio Everton, Wolves and Leicester City, speaking to the New Zealand Herald. 

Born in London but made in Turin, Garbett has plenty of stamps on his passport at the age of just 20 and the well-travelled midfielder is now adding Qatar to his globe-trotting collection. The All Whites will take on Costa Rica in a winner-takes-all World Cup qualifier at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Tuesday night, and you can expect Garbett to play a central role.

Understandably, the tireless, tenacious, all-action midfielder is putting transfer speculation to one side as he prepares for the biggest game of his admittedly young career.

But, once tonight is out of the way, attention will turn to the club game again as a trio of Premier League clubs – Everton, Leicester and Wolverhampton Wanderers – look to lure Garbett back to the country of his birth. 

According to The Sun, Leicester, Everton and Spanish giants Sevilla will all send scouts to watch the former Allsvenskan starlet in action tonight.  

Is Matt Garbett heading to the Premier League – and the World Cup?

“At the moment, I’m just leaving that to my agents,” says Garbett. “I don’t know what my future holds but, ultimately, I’ve enjoyed my time at Torino.”

Can we read anything into Garbett’s use of past tense? ‘Enjoyed’, rather than ‘enjoying’? Perhaps not, but it’s fun to speculate, right?  

“It’s obviously nice to be getting that interest and that attraction,” he adds. “But I’ll focus on it after this qualifying game.”

Garbett already has eight caps for his country and shone during a 1-0 friendly defeat to Peru recently. He is yet to make his Serie A debut for Torino, however, having thus far being restricted to their reserve side.

“He’s doing really well,” says New Zealand assistant coach and former Plymouth Argyle favourite Rory Fallon. “He’s still really young but he’s coming on in leaps and bounds, and only getting stronger with every camp we have.”