Premier League star legally changed name like Lewis Hamilton – but for very different reason

Ben Brereton Diaz modified his title as he made his worldwide debut for Chile, though the story behind it’s completely different to how Components 1 icon Lewis Hamilton got here to make an identical choice

Ben Brereton Diaz is a reputation many soccer followers will concentrate on after his profitable stint with Blackburn Rovers and ineffective time with Premier League strugglers Southampton.

The ahead is at the moment on mortgage from the Saints to Championship facet Sheffield United, as he rejoined the second-placed facet within the January window to assist their promotion push to the Premier League. The 25-year-old, who additionally had spells with Villarreal and Forest, has been a good addition for Chris Wilder’s Blades – scoring two and helping as soon as in seven appearances to date.

And the story behind Brereton Diaz’s title change again in 2021 is much more fascinating, previous to Components One star Lewis Hamilton discussing happening an identical path. The British driver will take the wheel of a Ferrari automobile for the primary time this week as a part of F1 testing for the upcoming 2025 season, going down from Wednesday till Friday in Bahrain – and Hamilton beforehand spoke about legally altering his title.

Talking in 2022, Hamilton revealed that he can be utilizing his mum’s surname – Larbalestier – to honour her and plans to compete with each names sooner or later. The 40-year-old mentioned: “I am actually pleased with my household’s title: Hamilton. Really, none of you would possibly know that my mum’s [sur]title is Larbalestier. And I am nearly to place that in my title.”

Hamilton added: “As a result of I do not actually absolutely perceive the entire concept of why, when individuals get married, the lady loses her title. I really need her title to proceed on with the Hamilton title.”

So whereas Hamilton was clear in regards to the choice to alter his title to honour his household, Brereton Diaz truly modified his to stay with Spanish custom.

In 2021, online game fans taking part in the most recent Soccer Supervisor recreation observed that the footballer was half Chilean and started a marketing campaign to get him to play for the worldwide group. Following this revelation, Brereton Diaz was known as up by then-manager Martin Lasarte for Chile, as he was eligible for a call-up by means of his mom’s facet.

Simply earlier than his debut in 2021, the place he performed a 1-1 draw out with Argentina within the Copa America, the soccer star determined to make use of each his mom and father’s surnames to signify his nation, as is Spanish custom. On the time, Brereton Diaz was taking part in for Blackburn within the Championship, and he was happy to signify his household on the most important stage with each surnames.

The now-25-year-old mentioned on the time: “It’s nice and it’s an actual privilege, notably for my mum’s facet of the household. I’ve identified for fairly some time that Chile have been me, however I simply stored my head down and needed to do effectively for Blackburn Rovers.

“Then only in the near past they’ve been in contact with me and my household, to tell us, and we’ve made the choice that we wish to do it and provides it my greatest shot. It’s an actual honour, Chile are a terrific group to be part of and my mum and my granddad, and all of the household, are very proud.

“It’s actually particular for them. They have been all in tears once they discovered. It’s actually thrilling they usually’re actually pleased with me and I can’t wait to play. I performed for England once I was youthful and it was a terrific honour as effectively, however for me this was a possibility I couldn’t flip down and it’s a large honour to play for the opposite facet of my household.

“I’ve been actually grateful for all of the messages of help I’ve had from the Chilean followers to date. I do know that they love their soccer and I can’t wait to recover from there and expertise it first hand and hopefully I can do the nation proud.”

Former Forest team-mate Joe Lolley noticed the sudden title change through the Argentina vs Chile recreation on the time, and shared an image of Ben on TV on his Instagram story with the caption “Brereton Diaz” alongside three laughing face emojis.

Since then, Brereton Diaz has made 35 whole appearances for Chile and scored seven objectives, together with in a 2-1 loss to Lionel Messi’s Argentina through the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

He’ll play out the remainder of the 2024/25 season with Sheffield United earlier than returning to Southampton, who’re on the right track to drop again into the Championship.

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