Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has hit form, and there was an anticipation that he might well find himself in Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad when it was announced on Friday, ahead of the Three Lions’ UEFA Nations League games against Croatia and Spain.
Instead, Dewsbury-Hall had to watch his Everton team-mates James Garner, Jarrad Branthwaite and Jordan Pickford receive their call-ups, while he was once again left on the sidelines.
Tuchel told reporters that Dewsbury-Hall was “close”, but just missed out.
However, Dewsbury-Hall responded in the ideal fashion on Friday night, putting in another huge shift and lashing in a quality goal in Everton’s 3-1 win over Coventry City.
And though Dewsbury-Hall is gutted to have missed out, he is not going to give up on the dream of representing his country.
“It was a disappointing one,” he told Sky Sports after the game.
“I’m not going to lie. It’s a massive dream to play for my country. I know I was close, so I’m sad, but really happy and proud of myself for how I’ve reacted.
“All I can keep doing is to try and put in good performances and hopefully one day I’ll get the nod, because I’m never going to give up. I’ve got that mentality. I’ll just keep pushing and pushing and see what happens.”
It was a sentiment echoed by David Moyes, who said of Dewsbury-Hall: “When you’re in that position, the best thing to do is to try and go again.
“If England get a couple of injuries, maybe they’ve got Kiernan in their minds that they’ll call him up. The best thing they can do is keep doing as well as he is doing and I’m sure the [England] manager will keep an eye on him.”
HiS NUMBERS SUGGEST HE SHOULD GET THE NOD
Dewsbury-Hall really can consider himself unlucky not to be in this time around.
Tuchel has left Cole Palmer out, with Jude Bellingham, his younger brother Jobe, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Rogers, Morgan Gibbs-White and Fulham youngster Josh King as the options in attacking midfield for the Three Lions.
Yet Dewsbury-Hall’s stats tell their own story.
After Friday’s match, he has created 22 chances in the Premier League this term. That’s the second-most in the league (ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games), behind only Pascal Gross (24).
His tally of 18 chances created from open play ranks joint top.
Of the attacking midfielders in England’s squad, only Rogers (6) has more Premier League goal involvements this season than Dewsbury-Hall (4 — 3 goals, 1 assist).
Against Coventry, Dewsbury-Hall had 6 touches in the opposition box, a total bettered only by Thierno Barry (7) among Everton’s ranks. Only Barry (6) had more shots, too, than Dewsbury-Hall (3), who also led the Toffees for attempted tackles (4).
Dewsbury-Hall’s form dipped at the start of the campaign, but he is back on song now, and at 28, he perhaps might be wondering if his chance will come.
But as he says himself, all he can do is keep on doing what he’s doing.
All stats courtesy of Opta Analyst/Sofascore