Angel Gomes bumped into an old mate at St George’s Park the other week. Living in northern France, thriving at Lille, there aren’t many chances to catch up with familiar faces from Manchester United.
Marcus Rashford was there, reporting for England duty as the Under 21s gathered together for this European Championship. Three years older than Gomes, he was the one academy lads looked up to, on hand for advice.
Like many others, Rashford seems somewhat surprised that Gomes – formerly one of the country’s renowned attacking midfielders as a teenager – is now operating as a deep-lying playmaker.
‘It’s funny,’ Gomes says. ‘Marcus was asking, “do you not find it boring though? You can’t attack.” I said that no, I don’t, but if I had your pace and attributes then I would! Believe it or not he was a No 6 for a short period when he was growing, a couple of games around the Under 15s or 16s.’
On Thursday night, England dispatched Czech Republic in their opening Group C game and can qualify for the quarter-finals with a result against Israel on Sunday night.
Gomes sat next to Curtis Jones in a progressive formation designed to swarm the opposition, a high-risk strategy that manager Lee Carsley believes gives them the best opportunity of going deep into the competition.
Responsibility is heaped on Gomes, his technical ability obvious and owning a greater defensive understanding than ever. He has played there a fair bit for Lille under the highly regarded coach Paulo Fonseca and is, in some ways, a forgotten man of English football.
Very few know quite how he has been performing in Ligue 1 since leaving United in 2020 but Carsley is often travelling over and leaves impressed. Still, watching him excel as a No 6 is eye-catching.
‘I understand that,’ he says. ‘Deep down, growing up I was probably more of a No 10. I could play off the left, coming in, and I was tricky. I still have that in my game if I was to do it again. It’s still there. But I’ve also got the maturity as a No 6… I know what the guys further up want, because I’ve played there.
‘Me and James Garner actually played there in the UEFA Youth League for United. But thinking about playing there in a first team? Probably not. Due to styles of play, what coaches want and what coaches think is required to play there. One hundred per cent I enjoy it more. I’ve always appreciated players behind me, the deep-lying midfield.’
Gomes reels off Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Paul Scholes and Andrea Pirlo as those he has studied. The 22-year-old, whose godfather is ex-United winger Nani, speaks Portuguese with Fonseca and credits him with an improvement in consistency.
It sounds like Fonseca can be a taskmaster, picking Gomes in no fewer than six different positions throughout the season and demanding the best.
That will continue in the Europa League next term after Lille finished fifth in Ligue 1 – three minutes away from beating Paris Saint-Germain away in February, only for Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi to both score late on in front of Carsley.
‘I’ve been a key player for the team, I’ve been able to play and impose myself on the majority of the games,’ Gomes adds. ‘You’d be surprised, it’s quite similar to England. People always ask me about the physicality over there and it is very physical. I can’t compare it to the Premier League because that’s where the money is at, where teams can invest, but France as a league is very strong.
‘It’s difficult. Whoever watches [properly] knows how well I’ve played in games but a lot of people don’t. A lot of people go off who’s scored or assisted. If we win and I play well then that’s great for me. All eyes are on the Premier League and rightly so. That’s the pinnacle, the highest level at the moment. As long as you’re doing well then there’s no reason why you can’t get to where you want to. It’s about being happy within yourself.
‘Carsley called me before the PSG game, it was a good one for him to watch. Typical Messi, a last-minute free-kick. I actually played a few different positions that day. There is an element of just trying to be observant and see the pockets Messi’s picking up but sometimes he positions himself in areas you can’t actually reach.’
As far as learning the craft goes, keeping tabs on the greatest ever cannot hurt. England hope they benefit from those lessons over the coming weeks in a style rarely seen by a Young Lions group.
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