Anthony Gordon cannot wait to finally work with Thomas Tuchel having been desperate to join England’s new boss when he was managing Chelsea.
The 23-year-old has established himself in the national team set-up since making his debut in March, building on his impressive performances for Newcastle.
Gordon made a big-money switch to St James’ Park from Everton in January 2023 having gone close to joining Chelsea the previous summer.
Tuchel was in charge as the Blues pushed to sign the forward and the pair will at last get a chance to work with each other when he begins as England head coach in the new year.
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“It was quite close to be honest,” Gordon said of the Chelsea move.
“I was desperate to go at the time and work with him especially. I felt like my style would suit his style of play, the way he was playing at Chelsea which was very exciting for me. It didn’t end up happening.
“It was a big opportunity for me that didn’t end up happening and I’m looking forward to getting to work with him a couple of years later.”
Asked if he spoke to Tuchel, Gordon said: “Spoke to him after the game, we played Chelsea when I played for Everton.
“I shook his hand and that was about it, he said some really complimentary things to me that I’ll keep to myself.
“I felt a lot of warmth from him which then in turn made me really want to play for him, but I didn’t get that chance.”
As much as Gordon had been looking forward to working with Tuchel at Chelsea, he seemed surprised when it suggested to him that the German considered deploying him as a left wing-back.
He responded by saying he did not care where he played given his confidence to perform wherever deployed – an assuredness he is taking into Thursday’s crunch Nations League clash in Greece.
Anthony Gordon was part of England’s Euro 2024 squad (Bradley Collyer/PA)
Failure to win at a sold-out Olympic Stadium in Athens will see Lee Carsley’s side miss out on automatic promotion to the Nations League top tier, meaning play-offs would await in Tuchel’s first camp.
Gordon brushed aside talk it was a surprise for Tuchel to not even be attending this month’s fixtures, so too the idea players feel they need to impress the 51-year-old.
“I wouldn’t say for the new manager to be honest just because that’s way too far into the future,” Gordon added.
“We have got to be present with what’s in front of us. We’re facing a Greece team who have just beaten us, and we’ve still got Lee in charge and we have to impress him.
“All focus is on that right now and putting that game right from last time we played them.”