Angel Gomes: Dad held talks with Portugal but I only wanted to play for England

Angel Gomes has revealed that his father held talks with friends at the Portuguese Football Federation about his son switching football nationalities, only for him to commit his future to England.

Gomes’s father, Gil, played for Portugal Under-21s with Luis Figo and has contacts at the governing body of his homeland. The Lille midfielder also had Nani as a godfather as he grew up at Manchester United but always had ambitions to wear the Three Lions.

After receiving his first call-up to the seniors for the Uefa Nations League matches against Republic of Ireland and Finland, Gomes has insisted that his father holding talks with Portugal never had a bearing on his international future.

“My dad had conversations with people that he knows but nothing really got advanced,” Gomes said . “Some of the players he played with are high people in the Portuguese FA and they had conversations.

“From young, my dream was always to play for England, my dad played for Portugal and my brother played for Portugal but my dad always wanted me to go my own pathway for England and, ever since I played for England, the aim was always to make it to the seniors.”

Gomes was born in north London when Gil was playing semi-professionally for Hendon but relocated to the North West during his father’s spells with Salford City and Hyde United. United took Gomes into their youth system aged six and he stayed there until leaving in 2020, in what he describes as the hardest point of his career.

He had supported United and also had Nani as a mentor to him as he came up through the ranks at Old Trafford and made his first-team debut. “He has been a big influence, I spoke to him last week and he will check in on me to see how I am doing,” Gomes said . “He was someone I used to watch and gave me joy.”

Gomes says his route to the England squad has been difficult. After leaving United for Lille, he was immediately loaned to Boavista in Portugal, before establishing himself in France and getting on the radar of Gareth Southgate and other Premier League clubs.

Southgate included him in his long-list of players on standby for a call-up but it is Lee Carsley who has handed him his first chance with the seniors. Carsley sees a player, at 24, who thinks deeply about the game and who can play as a deep-lying midfielder or a No10. He believes Gomes will eventually become a coach.

“I can’t hide that. I like that side of the game. I like to think I am a big thinker and it is something I will probably go on to do when I finish playing. But it’s not something that I’m thinking of right now,” Gomes said.

“When I left, it was for the idea to better myself as a player, and, obviously, as a person through the journey that I went through, and I knew eventually I’d be able create a pathway to be in this position that I’m in now, and it was difficult, leaving the club I was at from six and heading into the unknown really.

“And from then, it has been an upwards trajectory but also with a lot of difficulties and difficult moments going through. But being in this position now makes everything all worth it.”

He came through initial difficulties playing abroad by “indulging myself in the environment” which meant learning a new language and looking at the history of his club. It was Paulo Fonseca, while Lille manager, who moved him into a deep-lying role which he now seems best suited to. He is in new surroundings again with the seniors. Carsley hopes his youngsters will be helped through this week.

“He addressed us all as a squad. There are new faces in the squad and he just said the older, more experienced players will be able to help the new faces that have come in,” Gomes said.