Morgan Gibbs-White admitted he was “disappointed and upset” at missing out but got a second chance after Chelsea star Cole Palmer was made a doubt through injury
Thomas Tuchel rang Morgan Gibbs-White to see whether he still had the hump before calling up the Nottingham Forest midfielder. In-form Gibbs-White was a surprise omission from Tuchel’s original squad to face Albania and Latvia in this month’s World Cup qualifiers.
But Gibbs-White admitted he was “disappointed and upset” at missing out but got a second chance after Chelsea star Cole Palmer was made a doubt through injury. England boss Tuchel was straight on the blower to Gibbs-White on Sunday and the 25-year-old made it clear he could not wait to join up.
Gibbs-White said: “It was about 4 or 5 o’clock on Sunday. The manager, Thomas, sent me a message to say ‘are you free to talk?’ And I think I replied within like 30 seconds ‘yeah.’ He 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 afternoonish and I was just smiling from ear to ear.”
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Gibbs-White did admit that he was downbeat after originally missing out considering his form for Forest this season as they chase down a Champions League place. He told BBC 5Live: “Obviously I was upset. Yeah, a little bit disappointed. But at the same time, you also have to look at the quality of players that England have at the minute, so obviously I took that into consideration.
“But when he told me, I respected his decision. The standard of players, like I said, is top level. 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, yeah, obviously, it was disappointing but then Sunday I got the call, so I was straight here. I feel like the season that me and the club, Forest, are having at the minute is definitely the best form I think I’ve been in, so coming here with that confidence and that level of football at the minute, I feel like I’m in a really good place.
“But, like I said, I’m just here now to help the team as much as possible, help the staff.” Gibbs-White says Tuchel has a nice manner which broke the ice with players even before they reported up to St George’s Park on Monday.
He said: “To be fair, he’s been incredible. I think he’s done it with he most of players. As soon as he got the job, he’s been in contact with quite a majority of their players.
“He’s a really easygoing sort of guy, nice to speak to and, you know, he just sort of says the things like he’s coming to watch everyone play games and stuff.
“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.
“I felt like it was the top from him, really good that, that he sort of started that relationship before even meeting us, which is really good. So, yeah, just delighted to be here now.”
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