There’s a few things you should come to expect when you take a trip to the cinema.
An overpriced selection of treats. Those people who are always talking in the back. Hopefully a decent film. And a call-up to the US national team.
Okay, one of those doesn’t quite fit – but it was true for Duane Holmes back in 2019 when he went to watch Avengers: Endgame.
Sat down ready to watch one of the highest-billed movies of the year alongside his wife, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Duane noticed his phone was ringing.
An unknown number from Florida, Duane wondered if his dad – who lives in the US – had a new phone and had moved without telling him.
He thought he’d better take the call, and it’s a good job that he did.
“I answered it and there’s a guy on the other end saying, ‘Hey, it’s Greg Berhalter here from the US men’s national team’,” Duane said, in his best American accent.
“I just thought yeah right, whatever, and hung up. I got another call straight away and again he’s like, ‘Hey Duane, can you hear me? It’s Greg Berhalter. I’ve been in contact with Frank Lampard and you’ve been doing really well at Derby, so we want to bring you to camp.’
“I really still had that feeling that it might be a joke so I just asked if I could call him back in the morning.
“I ran back into the cinema and told my wife there’s no chance I could sit still and watch the film, so we got some wine and celebrated in the apartment!
“I rung him back the next morning and firstly apologised but I was honestly just too buzzing to speak. It was the most surreal moment I’ve ever had in football.”
An injury scare soon followed – a quad tear which also disrupted his Play-Off campaign with Derby County – and that meant the first few days out in the US were spent with the physios, rather than on the training pitch.
His national team debut did arrive, though, in June 2019 in a friendly against Jamaica as part of their build-up to the Gold Cup.
“Again, it was just surreal,” Duane smiled. “I think that was the first game my dad had ever been to watch me because he lives out in America.
“I flew him from Georgia to Washington, he watched the game and then we played again against Venezuela. For that game we had the families come out so my wife was there, which was great.
“Then we had a few days with the family before setting off to actually go to camp for the Gold Cup.
“We were about three days away from the tournament starting and I remember I got chopped in training by Christian Pulisic and I’ve gone to run and my quad’s just torn again, so I went straight home after that. I missed the Gold Cup by three days.”
If you’re wondering how it is that Duane qualifies to play for the United States, his parents met whilst in Germany, where his mother worked as a nanny and his father in the US Army.
They then moved back to the US and Duane was born in Fort Benning in Georgia, before relocating to Alaska.
However, he would move to England at a young age after his parents separated, and went on to grow up in Wakefield, Yorkshire.
“I still used to go back out there every year when I was in school,” he explained.
“I used to spend my six-week holidays there so I do have a lot of fond memories there.
“My dad lived about an hour away from Atlanta, and then we’d have a couple of days there and then drive four hours to Waynesboro which is the back end of nowhere with dirt tracks and static caravans.
“All my family used to live on the same road. I couldn’t tell you how many cousins there are, there’s probably eight years between six of us and then there’s a few more who didn’t live on that street.
“It was great going back, and obviously everyone being so close in age you just played out all day.
“I did that until I was about 16 when I left school and got a scholarship so I don’t really get chance to go back there. I think I’ve only been back twice since becoming a footballer.
“I keep saying to my wife when our little man gets a bit older, when I can stomach the nine-hour flight, then we’ll take him.”
At one point before the birth of his son, Thiago – named after the Liverpool midfielder – Duane did actually have a few offers on the table from MLS clubs.
View this post on Instagram
That wasn’t something he and his wife Brooke considered, though, but a return to the US national side is certainly still something the 28-year-old would like to achieve.
He said: “I’d love to go back because I still think I’ve got more to offer.
“I don’t think they’ve seen the best version of me because I was playing with probably one and a half legs, but my focus is on here and if I want to get back in the US team then the best way to do that is to perform here.”
The midfielder took no time at all to settle to life at North End, assisting Will Keane's leveller against Bristol City on his debut, before then scoring against Salford City in the Carabao Cup.
It was his first start in PNE colours against the Ammies and it was only actually the fourth match he’d been able to begin in 2023, due to being sidelined.
The former Scunthorpe United man marked that appearance by opening his account for the club, before wheeling off in celebration – kissing his son’s date of birth on his left wrist and communicating ‘I love you’ in sign language with his right hand.
With his mum also in attendance that night, it was made extra special.
Duane explained: “She sacrificed so much for me when I was little.
“I think she’s missed literally three home games in my career, and I was on loan at Yeovil!
“That’s the sort of dedication she’s shown me so I know how much she was worried about my leg and my injuries and where my head’s at, but it’s nice that I can put that to one side and get back to doing what I do.”