Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White made it clear to England’s new coach, Thomas Tuchel, that he deserved a place in the squad after initially being left out.
Many were surprised when Gibbs-White was not included in Tuchel’s first squad, especially considering his key role in helping Forest reach third place in the Premier League under Nuno Espirito Santo.
However, the 25-year-old got a second chance on Sunday when he was called up as a replacement following Cole Palmer’s injury.
“Obviously I was upset. Yeah, a little bit disappointed,” Gibbs-White told the BBC.
“I said to him back like ‘I feel like I’ve done enough to get the call-up, considering the form level that we were in, but obviously you’re the manager, you make the decisions, and I respect that totally’.
“So, obviously, it was disappointing but then Sunday I got the call, so I was straight here.”
Gibbs-White made his first two appearances for the Three Lions under caretaker manager Lee Carsley.
But he faces stiff competition to earn a place regularly in Tuchel’s team from the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Palmer.
“The standard of players is top level,” Gibbs-White said.
“He (Tuchel) phoned me up and said ‘Are you still upset with me, or do you want to come and join us and fancy training tomorrow?’
“Obviously, there’s no question there. I said I’d obviously love to come and join and train with the boys, so, yeah, found out Sunday late afternoon and I was just smiling from ear to ear.”
Tuchel’s reign begins with a World Cup qualifier against Albania on Friday followed by the visit of Latvia to Wembley on March 24.
Despite his initial snub, Gibbs-White has praised Tuchel’s approach in seeking to speak to the players before they met for the first time at England’s St.George’s Park training base this week.
“I feel like it was, for him, important to try and get that bond straight away with players because he’s used to club football, so he’s used to spending time every day with players,” he said.
“I felt like it was top from him, really good that he sort of started that relationship before even meeting us, which is really good.”