England star forced to cancel holiday after shock call-up by Thomas Tuchel

Hopefully Jason Steele is the type of person who keeps receipts.

The Brighton goalkeeper would undoubtedly have expected an uneventful international break, only for his plans to be turned upside down when he was a surprise inclusion in Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man England squad.

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Steele was one of five goalkeepers named by Tuchel for the Three Lions’ upcoming fixtures against Uruguay and Japan alongside Jordan Pickford, Dean Henderson and Aaron Ramsdale.

The 35-year-old’s appearance in the squad raised plenty of eyebrows, largely because he hasn’t seen a single second of Premier League action this season.

No holiday? No worries

But when the call came, Steele knew he had to scrap the plans he initially had for the March break in order to maximise his surprise inclusion.

“Did I have a holiday booked? I might have, yeah,” Steele said.

“My wife will look after all of that. Don’t worry about that.

“No money in the world could have stopped me going.”

Nerves of Steele

Provided all goes well for Steele in the England camp, it could earn him a spot on the plane to the World Cup.

However, he is extremely unlikely to take up a valuable spot in Tuchel’s final World Cup squad.

Instead, Steele would likely be used in a similar capacity to what Tom Heaton was for England at Euro 2024, where he performed all kinds of tasks within the goalkeeping unit despite not being in the initial team.

“The three goalkeepers will compete and support each other for the matches but they will also compete for a place in goal,” Tuchel said.

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“The fourth goalkeeper in a World Cup is then a specialist. He will support the goalkeeper group, he will support the goalkeeper coach, he will support a penalty-taking group and take a lot of workload off the other shoulders and that’s why we need an experienced guy.

“We need a guy with quality, with experience and with the right energy and attitude and we believe Jason is that guy.

“So this is kind of a trial to find out how this group works together for the World Cup.”

Steele’s full circle moment

Regardless of whether he logs any minutes for his nation, the experience of being in the national set-up is one Steele grabbed with both hands.

An England youth international at various age groups, Steele believes the call-up to the senior Three Lions squad is the culmination of his hard work and sacrifices over the years.

“It was always my dream to represent my country,” Steele said.

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“I’m fortunate to have done it from when I was 15 until 21.

“That’s usually the preparing you for those senior occasions. It’s come a little bit later than what we would have wanted.

“It’s a nice journey – a run of perseverance, effort, sacrifice.

“At 35, I still enjoy throwing myself on the ground every single day and giving my all for this football club. And, ultimately, it pays off.”