Lewis Cook's grandad will win £17,000 if the Bournemouth star plays for England vs the Netherlands or Italy

Lewis Cook isn’t the only one desperately hoping Gareth Southgate hands him his England debut this weekend; his granddad stands to make £17,000if he plays against the Netherlands or Italy.

Trevor Burlingham was so convinced of his grandson’s ability that he placed a £500 bet on the youngster making his England debut before the age of 26, back in 2014 when he was still a teenager breaking into the Leeds squad.

Given odds of 33/1 he whacked on a £500 stake in his local William Hill shop in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire and now it looks like his gamble will pay off.

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The 21-year-old Cook, now a regular in Bournemouth’s midfield, has been called up by Southgate for the friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Friday and Tuesday’s warm-up against Italy at Wembley.

Cook – who was the first England captain to lift a World Cup since Booby Moore in 1966 when he skippered the England under-20 side to glory in South Korea last summer – was called up for the friendly with Brazil before Christmas but didn’t feature. The good news for Cook – and his granddad – is it sounds like Southgate will give his new faces a go this weekend.

“Lewis has obviously already had one call up but didn’t win a cap and it now looks like a case of when, not if his grandfather is repaid for the faith he showed in his grandson,” said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.

“He has been in fine form this season and is well deserving of a call up, so let’s hope he can go one better and bag a cap in the next few days.”

Cook’s granddad isn’t the person to bet on a family member playing football; Chris Kirkland’s dad Eddie won £10,000 from a £100 bet at 100/1 when the young keeper was just 12 for his son to play for England before the age of 30. That bet came in when the Liverpool shot-stopper played against Greece in 2006.

Meanwhile, another Liverpool youngster, Harry Wilson, earned his grandfather Peter Edwards a huge £125,000 when he made his Wales bow in 2013 at the age of just 16. Edwards had placed a £50 bet at 2,500/1 when Wilson was just 18 months old.

And Ryan Tunnicliffe’s father placed a £100 bet at 100/1 that his then nine-year-old son would make a first-team appearance for Manchester United, which he did in 2012, netting him £10,000.

Come on Gareth, do it for Trevor.