The pantomime villain of this new Premier League season could hardly have been friendlier or more placid. And the serenity of Southampton’s training base by the Solent could hardly have been further removed from the seething hostility of St James’ Park.
Sprinklers fizzed, mini tractors trundled around spraying fertiliser on the grass and Ben Brereton Diaz shuffled down the path in socks and sliders and addressed for the first time the flashpoint on his Saints debut which ended with Newcastle’s Fabian Schar sent off.
‘For me it was adrenaline,’ he said. ‘In the game I felt contact and went down and that’s just how it is. If it’s not a red card, the VAR has got to come in and say it’s not a red card but for me I felt contact and that’s it.’
To recap, there had been a foul by Brereton Diaz, jostling from behind and knocking Schar to the ground. Schar jumped angrily back to his feet and barged his chest into the Saints striker, who held his ground.
Then Schar leaned in again and they went forehead to forehead until Brereton Diaz hit the deck and rolled about holding his head. Referee Craig Pawson flashed a red card at Schar and pundits rushed to condemn. ‘Embarrassing,’ said Alan Shearer. ‘Cheating,’ said Graeme Souness. Online, fans tore into him, too.
Ben Brereton Diaz was involved in a flashpoint with Fabian Schar during Southampton's trip to St James' Park on the opening day which led to the Newcastle defender being sent off
To recap, there had been a foul by Brereton Diaz, knocking Schar to the ground. Schar jumped angrily back to his feet and barged his chest into the Saints striker, who held his ground
Schar leaned in again and they went forehead to forehead until Brereton Diaz hit the deck and rolled about holding his head. Referee Craig Pawson flashed a red card at Schar as a result
Brereton Diaz defended himself against the criticism from pundits and fans - which he insisted doesn't bother him at all - and said if it wasn't a red card then 'VAR could have overturned it'
‘That’s football,’ shrugged Brereton Diaz. ‘I’m not really on Twitter or much like that but that comes with football. That’s part and parcel of it. People have got opinions. The only opinions I have to care about are what the team and the manager think.
‘I’ve watched it back a couple of times. It’s a tough one, isn’t it? In this day and age it’s hard to really say is it a red card or is it not. But it’s not my decision. I’ve felt contact, gone down and the ref and the VAR have got to sort it out. They thought it was a red card so it’s a red card.
‘I’m just trying to play football. At the end of the day, I’m all good. It’s two weeks on, it is what it is.’
Brereton Diaz is making another fresh start, fighting to prove his worth to another new club, another new manager, another new set of team-mates, another new set of fans. After an unsettled period of three moves across 12 months he is fighting to prove he belongs in the Premier League and can score goals at the rate he did in the Championship during four years at Blackburn Rovers.
‘I loved the Championship, it’s a mental league but I needed to make a step forward,’ he says. ‘I was out of contract and went to Spain, and it was an amazing experience for me and my family but didn’t quite work out. I enjoyed it but I didn’t play as much as I wanted.’
The Villarreal manager who signed him was gone by the first week of September and Brereton Diaz was playing under a fourth different boss by mid-November and on his way back to England in January on loan at Sheffield United. An impressive return of six goals in 14 games for the Blades, a team already doomed to relegation, convinced Russell Martin to invest £6.5million once Southampton won promotion.
Brereton Diaz will always cherish appearances at the Bernabeu and the Mestalla and the chance to play Europa League football, although he did not have time to conquer the language to the disappointment of his new Chile boss Ricardo Gareca.
He was dropped by Gareca in March and warned it would be ‘essential’ to learn Spanish, before a recall for the Copa America tournament in the summer.
‘My Spanish is not great, and he didn’t really like that,’ said the 25-year-old. ‘I’ve got to keep working on it. In Spain, it was easier but back in England it’s more difficult. I’ll keep having lessons and do my best and hopefully one day I’ll be fluent. I’m working at it and getting better. I’m not the best but I’ve got to keep trying to speak it.’
Brereton Diaz joined Southampton for £6.5m this summer after just a year at Villarreal
The 25-year-old said he is desperate to prove he is good enough to play in the Premier League
Brereton Diaz started in the youth ranks at Man United before joining Nottingham Forest
Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Brereton Diaz has 33 caps and seven goals for Chile since his first call-up ahead of the Copa America in 2021. Eligibility is through his mother Andrea who was born in Concepcion and moved to the Potteries in 1986.
He made his international debut off the bench against Argentina in Rio de Janiero’s Olympic Stadium and scored on his first start, the only goal of the game against Bolivia, four days later. Quickly dubbed ‘Big Ben’ he became an overnight sensation and is still seen as one of the biggest stars in the squad.
‘It’s been a great honour for me and my mum’s side of the family,’ says Brereton Diaz, who is in the squad for World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Bolivia next month. ‘Great team, great country, amazing players, it’s been life-changing to do that. I went into that first Copa America with no expectations. I just wanted to enjoy it, but the experience helped me grow up as a player.’
Off the pitch, it made for a voyage of self-discovery. Last summer, sponsors Adidas took him on a tour of the country, from the glaciers and fjords to the Atacama Desert via Andean lakes and port cities such as Valparaiso as part of a documentary.
‘That was the first time I’d been able to see how beautiful Chile was from the desert in the north to the frozen south, almost in Antarctica. We travelled for four or five days and filmed some of it. My mum came as well so that was nice for her after so long in England.’
They visited family and met Alvaro Perez, the football fan from Santiago whose penchant for signing players with dual Chilean nationality on the Football Manager video game helped to change Brereton Diaz’s life.
It was only when Perez posted about it on social media that the Chilean FA became aware of the heritage of the Blackburn centre forward who started out in the Manchester United youth system, made his breakthrough as a teenager at Nottingham Forest and won England caps at Under 19 and U20 level.
He also opened up on his rise to becoming a national icon in Chile with the national team
Brereton Diaz claimed Southampton appreciate the challenge but are good enough to stay up
‘I would never in a million years have thought I would play for Chile or play in the Premier League, so it’s a crazy game,’ says Brereton Diaz.
Southampton travel to Brentford in positive mood, confident five goals at Cardiff in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday can launch the season after the pair of 1-0 defeats against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest.
‘Everyone knows the challenges,’ said Brereton Diaz. ‘We’ve had two losses, but we’ve dominated in those games and had chances. That’s the way the gaffer wants to play and that’s the way everyone loves to play.
‘It’s how football should be played. It was successful last season, and I don’t see why we can’t do it like that in the Premier League. Southampton is a big club with big expectations. They want to stay in the Premier League and I’ve been brought here to help them do that. I want to prove I can play in the Premier League.’