One of the biggest surprises which you could argue shouldn’t have been a surprise was the news that broke last week. Midfielder Angel Gomes earned his first senior call-up to the England squad by interim manager Lee Carsley for the upcoming Nations League matches against the Republic of Ireland and Finland. We sat down with former Manchester United defender Paul Parker who was full of praise for Gomes.
In this article:
- A Promising Start at Manchester United Cut Short
- Paul Parker Praises Gomes’ Courage
- Backing Lee Carsley for the England Job
A Promising Start at Manchester United Cut Short
Touted as a United wonderkid. The next one up. The one to break through. It’s never easy to live up to such expectations. As a footballer you’ll always be at the mercy of a coaches or managers’ opinion. Angel Gomes made his senior debut for Manchester United in May 2017 at 16 years old, becoming the youngest player to play for Manchester United since Duncan Edwards in 1953.
Despite his highly anticipated potential Gomes was never able to establish himself in the United team under Jose Mourinho nor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Yet, Gomes bet on himself. He left United in June 2020 after his contract expired and opted not to renew, seeking more first-team opportunities elsewhere which he would find at French club Lille OSC. Parker is full of praise for Gomes choosing to bet on himself and picking football first.
“It’s one of the biggest and best examples in football, which needs to be replicated a thousand times over, because there’s loads and loads of players who are wasting their time completely but their ego wants them to be around those bigger clubs. They should dust themselves down and go out and try and get a career because they’ve only got until they’re their mid 30s and they can never go out and do it again. What’s the point of being a big club and hardly playing any games?
“Having good money in the bank, but you’ve got nothing to talk about or people have got nothing to ask you. You should want people to ask you questions. You want people to talk about your career, your life, but you’re not going to get that if you just sit in the stands every now and again. You sit on the bench and then you run up and down the pitch after the game when the stadium is empty. It’s no fun. I really respect any player who has just decided to go where they think they’re going to play football.”
Paul Parker Praises Gomes’ Courage
Gomes signed a five-year contract with Lille in August 2020 and has since established himself as one of the league’s most influential midfielders. Having previously been seen as a creative number ten, Gomes has made a home for himself as a deep lying midfielder. This caught up the eye and attention of at the time U21 manager Lee Carsley who has also utilised Gomes in the same role. Gomes was able to play a key role in helping to steer England to U21’s Euro Championship glory in 2023.
“Angel Gomes has gone and reinvented himself at Lille. And I mean, you hear little bits but i like the fact that unless it’s football he doesn’t get seen. He’s going to get known now. The manager in Lee Carsley is using his experience from having Gomes as an U21 player. We’ve seen what Spain have got from that by bringing the manager there, and he knows those players and knows what he’s going to get rather than looking at what’s right in front of his eyes which everyone looks at.
“He’s gone more bottom shelf to some but they’re young players who he knows what he’s going to get from them. It’s as simple as that.”
Backing Lee Carsley for the England Job
Lee Carsley, the current interim manager of the England senior team has been praised for his direct, honest, and player-focused coaching style. The attacking, combination focused approach from Carsley’s England U21’s side has won him many admirers in the football world. His decision to call up the likes of Angel Gomes, Tino Livramento, Morgan Gibbs-White and Noni Madueke in his first squad has also caught the attention of Parker who has backed Carsley to take the helm on a permanent basis.
“I think Lee Carsley should be given the job off the back of that, because he’s done something which we don’t do. We listen to what the media wants. We go for the popularity vote. We go for somebody who is marketable as well. We go for someone you can sell, rather than looking at a player who has gone to another country, shown himself to be skillful and dynamic, and proved himself in a respected country as well. We’ve seen several other countries that have coaches who have come from being under 21’s managers. Here. people shrug their shoulders and ask ‘who’s that?’ which is a typical trait of being an Englishman.
“Spain hired from inside and they absolutely walked the Euros because of it. Look at the clubs those players were playing when they played in that tournament. It wasn’t all of the big guns. Their coach went and got players who he knew. Players who wanted the opportunity to prove themselves. Players who wanted to show they could do it without having to play for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid.”
