THOMAS TUCHEL asked Morgan Gibbs-White whether he still had the hump after an initial England snub.
The in-form Nottingham Forest midfielder was not included in Tuchel’s initial squad last Friday but was drafted in on Sunday due to fitness concerns over Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.
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 replied within 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?’
“I said ‘I’d obviously love to come and join and train with the boys’, so, yes, I found out Sunday late afternoon-ish and I was just smiling from ear to ear.”
Asked about his initial disappointment at not being in the squad, Gibbs-White told BBC Radio 5Live: “Obviously I was upset. Yes, 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 is top level.
“I said to him ‘I feel like I’ve done enough to get the call up, considering the form level that I am in, but obviously you’re the manager, you make the decisions, and I respect that totally’.”
Incredibly, it was a year ago yesterday when Nottingham Forest were deducted four points by the Premier League for breaking profit and sustainability rules.
They still escaped relegation but now, are flying high in third spot.
Gibbs-White said: “It’s been a remarkable year, yes. Just to see where we’ve come from, from this time last year is incredible. I think the Forest fans deserve that the most.
“Obviously, getting back into the Premier League was one thing, and then scrambling away from relegation for the two years that we were in the Prem obviously wasn’t nice. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t enjoyable.
“But now, obviously, we’ve given the fans something to sing about, to cheer about”.
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