Morgan Gibbs-White told Thomas Tuchel what he thought of initial England snub

Nottingham Forest captain Morgan Gibbs-White told Thomas Tuchel he should have been in the England squad before earning a late call-up.

Gibbs-White’s omission for World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia was one of the biggest talking points of new boss Tuchel’s first squad.

The 25-year-old, who has been a key player in Forest’s surprise charge towards Champions League qualification, told the German what he thought of the decision but jumped at the chance to join the group after being handed a reprieve on Sunday night.

“Obviously I was upset. Yeah, a little bit disappointed,” Gibbs-White told BBC Radio 5 Live.

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“But when he told me, I respected his decision. The standard of players is top level.

“I said to him back like ‘I feel like I’ve done enough to get the call-up, considering the form level that we were in, but obviously you’re the manager, you make the decisions, and I respect that totally’.

“So, obviously, it was disappointing but then Sunday I got the call, so I was straight here.

“It was about 4 or 5 o’clock. He sent me a message to say ‘Are you free to talk?’ And I think I replied within like 30 seconds.

“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?’

“Obviously, there’s no question there. I said I’d obviously love to come and join and train with the boys, so, yeah, found out Sunday late afternoon and I was just smiling from ear to ear.”

Despite his initial snub, Gibbs-White has praised Tuchel’s approach since taking over from Gareth Southgate in January.

“To be fair, he’s been incredible,” he said.

“I think he’s done it with most of the players. As soon as he got the job,