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Even the kilts have been left at home this time.

Twenty-eight years after a bleached-blonde Ally McCoist and an aviator-wearing Colin Hendry danced around the Stade de France ahead of their World Cup opener against Brazil, Scotland have got serious as they make their long-awaited return to the big time.

In a remarkable twist of fate, Scotland will face two of the same group opponents as they did in 1998 across the Pond this summer, but that is where the similarities end, as Steve Clarke and the Tartan Army look to do something they have never done in their history.

While breaking their World Cup finals qualification hoodoo is a mighty monkey off their backs, Clarke and his men want more, given they have reached three of the last four majors under his tutelage.

The expanded format made qualification easier, while also giving more opportunities to go that step further and reach those previously elusive knockout rounds.

“I have done seven of these as a commentator,” former Scotland international Pat Nevin tells The i Paper. “The first was in 1998. I thought ‘oh, this will be good, we’ll enjoy doing this every four years.’ And all these years later, finally, Scotland are here.

“I’m therefore looking forward to this tournament slightly differently. If we win the first game, beat Haiti, and maybe score a few goals, that’s probably enough. As long as you’re not daft and get hammered against Morocco or Brazil. So three or four points might be enough to get you through. And for Scotland, that would mean more than the world.”

Is Clarke out of his depth on the world stage?

Clarke is seven years into the job, but the jury is still out on the manager.

Three tournaments in four, while only just missing out on the last World Cup, is an impressive return. But in those showpiece events, Scotland have not won a single game, going home every time with the meekest of whimpers.

Naysayers suggest Clarke is too loyal to particular players and lacks the tactical masterplan on the biggest stage. Those who know him best don’t share the sentiment.

“It is hard to criticise when he has brought so much success,” Motherwell full-back Stephen O’Donnell, who played for Clarke at Kilmarnock and Scotland at Euro 2020, tells The i Paper.

“The loyalty he has is towards players who have performed for him consistently. I don’t really see how criticism can be put to him for that, given the success. When you look at the squad, have we had good squads? Yes. World-beating squads? No. So there has to be some tactical astuteness.

“He built a belief that we could qualify for these tournaments from very early on. You see that in the amazing nights in Serbia (in 2020) and then against Denmark, who are a top side with tournament experience. Those nights come about as a result of having belief. He does it by touching on the emotions of what it would mean for a country like Scotland. He draws on your families, being away from them, so make it all worth it.”

Clarke’s CV speaks for itself, when you consider the calibre of coach he has worked with.

“He’s not flamboyant, so it doesn’t light the fire of a lot of people,” Nevin adds. “As a football person, he’s exactly the sort of person I’d like to work under. He is clearly incredibly knowledgeable and very, very good tactically.

“You have to remember his background. You don’t get to work with José Mourinho, Ruud Gulitt, Kenny Dalglish, Sir Bobby Robson, absolutely phenomenal people in football, without being something. They all loved him. They all thought he was a fantastic coach.

“But tell me who, on social media, other than David Attenborough, that’s kind of just generally loved. So that’s the deal.”

Inside Scotland’s 2026 masterplan

Another winless summer would only give those doubters fuel for the fire. Despite penning a long-term deal that would see him through to the next World Cup, three defeats could still signal the end.

His squad selection suggests a formation switch is upon us, to a 3-5-2 system that has brought about great success in the past. In the main, for one particular combination.

“A classic one people forget with Clarke is that he had to find a way to get Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson into the team together,” Nevin adds. “Because they are two of our best players. Nobody thought he could, given they play in the same position, but he did.

“He changed it to a 3-5-2. One left centre-back, one left wing-back. And Scotland, for a period under them, those two were absolutely unstoppable on the left-hand side.

“And there’s been other things like the Scott McTominay one. Man United had him for years and didn’t quite figure out whether he was a number eight or 10. Well, Clarke did. So much so that Napoli take him on and he has two staggering years in Naples. He’s a God-like figure there.”

Scotland cannot rely on McTominay overhead kicks this summer. It appears that 3-5-2 could again be Clarke’s weapon of choice. It caters for Robertson to get forward while not leaving them over exposed, with the cavalry option of an underlapping Tierney to pose even more threat.

That added defensive cover can free up their two leading lights in midfield, John McGinn and McTominay, too. Which is important, given their options further upfield, as is often been the case with Scotland, are limited.

Fletcher the Clarke curveball?

The squad selection was very anti-Thomas Tuchel, with few surprises.

Billy Gilmour’s heartbreaking withdrawal through injury, however, has got people talking over the border. It was assumed Lennon Miller, a regular in Clarke squads and someone who only just missed out on a World Cup spot, would come in.

Instead, the unproven Tyler Fletcher is the replacement. Son of Scotland and Manchester United great Darren Fletcher, the 19-year-old impressed in a recent friendly against Curaçao.

In training, McGinn was said to have been wowed by the youngster’s ability. He may just be there to make up the numbers, but several insiders believe Fletcher has gone over Miller to bring an additional X-Factor.

The question is, is the teenager, whose twin brother also plays for United and, bizarrely, represents England at youth level, ready for such a pressurised environment?

“Think about how many tournaments he’s played in, how many finals he’s played, how many pressured situations that he’s been through in his journey, I know that number to be quite large,” head of United’s academy, Stephen Torpey, telld The i Paper.

“As a young person, going through the academy system in England and succeeding at many levels, you get drip-fed huge moments from being very young. At a U10 tournament, when you get to the final against Europe’s elite, you might feel a similar kind of pressure. Now it’s just on a different scale but he’s older and wiser. He’s been in preparation for this moment.

“Training with Manchester United’s first team every day for the last six months, the intensity of that training, you could argue is more than playing in certain leagues.”

Whoever it is who steps up, there has never been a greater opportunity for Scotland to really do something for the Tartan Army to cherish on the global stage.

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My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week, we speak to Harry Redknapp, one of English football’s longest-serving managers, about his sadness watching the decline of West Ham and Tottenham, his stint in the I’m a Celebrity jungle, and the England job that never was.

I’ve got to know some of the homeless people where I live

It’s scary isn’t it, sleeping on the street? One boy’s an ex-soldier, just the nicest person you could ever meet, needs a bit of help in his life.

I wouldn’t have picked this England World Cup squad

They’ve got a chance, got some good players, good team. The manager, I hope he picks the right team. We’d all pick different teams. I’d have Cole Palmer in my squad any day. Foden, unlucky not to go, Harry Maguire. We’ve all got different opinions.

The worst bit of I’m a Celeb trials

I just get on with it, they’re not going to make you eat anything that’s gonna kill you. I thought, ‘I hope I’m not really in a coffin with rats running over, am I alive? Or is this what happens when you’re dead?’

Managing who?!

The favourite bit of my career? Playing with Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, who played in the World Cup-winning team. Playing was the best days. Managing was great, Bournemouth for 10 years, West Ham, QPR, Portsmouth, Tottenham. When they said, “Could you manage Jordan?” I thought they meant Katie Price. I said, “No I couldn’t manage her, I’d probably have a heart attack, it would be too much for me.”

I have no regrets about not getting the England job

I’d like to have done it if I’d have been offered it, I think I could have done OK. So many good teams over the years, England should have done a lot better. Since ’66, we should have won tournaments with them players. Gerrard, Lampard, people saying they can’t play together. Why can’t they play together? We didn’t get the best out of great players in my opinion, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Ashley Cole, the best left-back in the world at one time. We should have won trophies.

Half these managers don’t know what they’re doing

At Tottenham, I moved Gareth Bale from left-back to left-wing, Luke Modric from left-wing to central. It ain’t rocket science. Half these managers try to be too clever. Either that or they don’t know what they’re doing – and I think a lot of them really don’t know what they’re doing. It’s all this jargon now, low block, high block, transitions. They’ve all learned it reading a book somewhere – that is what’s happening with the game now.

What bothers me most about football

Where are the kids? You look at West Ham, that was a club that everybody came through the youth policy. Homegrown players. They haven’t got anyone there in that team. Tottenham haven’t got one player out the youth team. What’s happening? We should be producing players in this country.

I wonder what Bobby Moore would think looking at West Ham now

I felt sad watching it [West Ham go down]. It’s been a bad year for West Ham. It’s a great club, great tradition. I wonder what Bobby would think seeing the club now. It’s not the club we grew up in. We played at Upton Park, great atmosphere, traditional football ground. It was a tough place for opposing teams, intimidating. Now there’s a running track. The atmosphere creates nothing.

The worst footballer at Soccer Aid

A lot of the celebrities think they could play football, but they can’t. The worst player I ever seen at Soccer Aid was Tommy Fury. He looks great, but Tommy is a boxer, he’d never kicked a football in his life. The ball went out of play and he rolled it in underarm. He didn’t know what a throw-in was. We had GK Barry – she was scared the ball was gonna hit her. She was terrible. Keir Starmer was there [at the training session], I don’t know if he’s a good footballer, I didn’t see him – I shouldn’t say that, in case it stops me getting a knighthood!

I’m never going to get a knighthood or MBE anyway

I’ve never been given nothing like that. I wouldn’t say no but I wouldn’t be offered it. If I’d have got the England job and failed to win anything, I might have got it. If I’d got to the quarters and lost I probably would have got a knighthood. Perhaps if I’d have won Soccer Aid, I’d have got it.

I don’t even know who half the Spurs players are now

It’s been disastrous. De Zerbi ain’t no fool, he’ll start having a big say in the players that come in, he won’t leave it to other people who have really made a mess of it. The recruitment’s been shocking, wasting money on average players. I don’t even know who half the players are.

Who I blame for the mess at Spurs this season

It’s the players on the pitch – they’ve not performed. They’ve not been good enough. They’ve been poor. The training ground’s the best in the world, the stadium’s the best in the world, but the players are not the best. That’s the most important thing, you need good players. And they’ve recruited badly, gone for middle-of-the-road rather than going for top players.

When a top player becomes available, you never see Tottenham getting him. That’s got to change. They’ve got to get some of them out. There’s a lot of players here who don’t deserve to be playing for a good club like Tottenham. Loads that don’t want to be there, get rid of them quick, get them out of the dressing room. A manager comes and goes, another manager comes and goes, and the players are still there.

London Heritage Quarter’s city-wide lion trail, unveiled by Harry Redknapp and Fara Williams MBE to celebrate England’s summer of international football, will run until 10th August 2026. Visit http://www.london-hq.co.uk/for more information.

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Newcastle United intend to hand William Osula a central role in their re-shaped attack next season, with the Denmark striker having convinced Eddie Howe that he should not be sacrificed in the club’s close season overhaul.

Newcastle are looking to move quickly in the transfer market and could have a second signing of the summer confirmed within days after the arrival of France under-21 goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen.

The club hope to fast-track their move for exciting Spain winger Victor Munoz after an encouraging round of talks with Osasuna over the £30m winger.

While sources played down talk of a bid – Newcastle’s more strategic approach this summer means they are maintaining a detailed dialogue with club and player before formalising their interest – there is optimism that a move can be finalised.

Crucially, Victor Munoz – who has a £34.5m release clause – is understood to be keen to make the switch. He is currently with the rest of the Spain camp in Tennessee, preparing for the World Cup.

If a move proceeds as planned, he will join Osula as part of a youthful and re-invigorated forward line, with Newcastle not actively looking to sell the forward despite – in the words of one source – “clubs across Europe willing to throw cash at us for him”.

Osula’s profile, potential and age mean he stands out in a striker market that feels much more tepid than last season, when Alexander Isak, Benjamin Sesko and Victor Gyokeres all made big moves. Aston Villa and Everton have been credited with interest in Osula – along with a clutch of clubs in Germany – but only “silly money” would open the door for a move.

He scored six goals in an end-of-season run in which he made seven starts but it was increased maturity and tactical acumen that impressed Newcastle’s coaches who had previously pondered whether he could fulfil that potential.

Osula is now arguably in front of Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, who Newcastle would be prepared to listen to offers for this season. Both are currently out at the World Cup but sources did not rule out a move away for the DR Congo striker.

Newcastle’s position in relation to the financial rules means it is effectively one in, one out this summer – so any move for a striker would require an outgoing.

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In a further sign of Newcastle’s proactive approach this summer they are also understood to have made enquiries with Manchester City about James Trafford – although any move would probably require the price to be right and for the player to show willingness to move after a knockback last year.

They would also need to find a buyer for Nick Pope. But the interest is real and a further sign of the scope of the overhaul.

The Magpies continue to “spin plates” in the transfer market with moves for a No 6 and right-back the next priorities after securing Anthony Gordon’s replacement. As revealed by The i Paper back in March, Monaco’s Lamine Camara is high up on their transfer wishlist.

But the situation is regarded as fluid, with another big sale a distinct possibility. Manchester United have an interest in Lewis Hall and Sandro Tonali, who has also been linked with Manchester City, but both would command big money.

Newcastle sources were mystified by talk of Hall wanting out of St James’ Park that circulated on Thursday. Part of the new approach is a more straightforward approach to outgoings, as was witnessed with Gordon’s move to Barcelona, to avoid any repeat of the Isak mess that polluted the entire 2025-26 campaign.

If a player is seeking an exit route, there will be “honesty” around what that looks like and what it would take for any move to happen. But neither Hall nor Tonali have had that conversation with Newcastle.

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Even Fifa’s president can’t bluster his way out of empty seats. No manner of artistic licence or that creepy smile-speak-nod move can magic a person into an empty space and then do the same trick several hundred more times. After the first match of the World Cup not involving a host nation, Fifa has been embarrassed.

Gianni Infantino was in Guadalajara and presumably winced. On the opposite side to where the television cameras were based, on the halfway line, a block barely half full and with entire rows of red seats empty. On US TV, Fox did its best not to scan and reveal the whole truth. You can’t pull the wool over reality forever.

Each empty seat represents one of two things: a choice not to be there or an inability to afford it. Both are unacceptable. We may never know the exact attendance, for this has been an opaque dance rolling on for months.

Back in February, Infantino was busy telling us that every match at this tournament would be a sellout, alongside his claim that there had been 508 million requests for seven million seats.

“Obviously the price is a consequence of that,” said Fifa’s president. “77 out of these 104 matches have received requests for over one million tickets. Every match is already sold out. We keep some tickets back for some last-minute sales, of course, but every match is sold out.”

Perhaps this was one of those matches without one million ticket demands – a mere 600,000 for the 45,664-seater Estadio Akron, do we think? Maybe hundreds of supporters were on the same badly delayed train or merely came in fancy dress as red seats? Or perhaps Infantino was wrong.

What Fifa actually meant is that the current batch of tickets had sold out. To generate a perception of fever, there were staggered releases. The problem with that? People who might travel to this tournament from abroad have to make plans early. And clearly many locals had been priced out. That empty area on the halfway line, the conspicuous red void, was a high-priced section.

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The retort from some will be thus: it’s a lower-value group game. The Czech Republic have not taken a large travelling support. Lots of local supporters will have watched the Mexico game earlier in the day and will likely have blocked out the whole day for that purpose.

Which, fine. But that’s the point: if you consider that certain matches will be less popular than others, why on Earth wouldn’t your prices reflect that? Why would you continue to parrot a message of “sold out, move on” when the empty spaces in the stadium were clearly going to prove you wrong. This is either a failure in pricing – blocking out locals – or a failure in process (if Fifa believe these tickets really were sold).

And for all the caveats, Guadalajara is in the most football-adjacent host country and this is the second smallest stadium by capacity at the World Cup, ahead of only Toronto. There is no excuse for the second match of the tournament to not be full in a football-mad nation of 133 million people. There is no excuse for us to be having this conversation now.

Now focus must switch to other non-premier group matches, particularly those in the largest US stadia – New York-New Jersey, Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City. Make no mistake: each empty seat is a small defeat for Fifa’s pricing and sales strategy and the rhetoric of its leader.

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With 51 shots in 180 minutes, 12 on target and just four goals, England shook off the rust in Florida – but for a team with so much attacking heft, they lack cutting edge.

Harry Kane remains the exception to the rule of a squad light on goals. They need a Plan B that doesn’t rely on rolling the dice on battering ram Ivan Toney or a change of pace with Ollie Watkins.

Enter Jude Bellingham? That seemed to be the suggestion coming out of England’s Florida series, a gentle introduction to a month when the verdict will be delivered on the “go-big-or-go-home” appointment of Thomas Tuchel.

England’s reasoning with Tuchel is sound enough. Unlike his predecessor Gareth Southgate, who was big on vibes but had tactical shortcomings when it mattered, Tuchel has already delivered in the big moments. He’s the finisher in a tournament that demands one.

If you screwed your eyes tight enough against a fairly feeble Costa Rican challenge, you could see signs – and none was more intriguing than Bellingham getting a run at No 9, first alongside Kane before eight bright minutes in tandem with his mate Morgan Rogers.

Could Bellingham play as a No 9?

“Maybe we’ll see it at the tournament,” Tuchel said after the 3-0 win, wearing a trademark mischevious grin.

The idea is simple: Bellingham becomes the No 9 and plays it as a free role. He drops deep, he dribbles, he occupies the half spaces that cause organised defences problems. And he gives Kane space to reprise the quarter-back role that he’s been playing for Bayern Munich.

There’s also another intriguing possibility here. Tuchel loves Rogers but his idea is to have two players battling for every position in his England squad. So, if Bellingham gets the nod – and that seems now to be the very strong suggestion for Croatia – it means Rogers is on the bench.

Bellingham as a No 9 gives him the chance to get both on the pitch, perhaps when Kane is tiring in the heat or needs preserving for future assignments.

Two things spring to mind: Would Bellingham have happily accepted this role under Southgate at Euro 2024? For all the “who else” swagger in Germany, Bellingham cut a frustrated figure in that tournament. Something wasn’t right.

That he’s prepared to do it under Tuchel suggests he has been – partly at least – humbled by some of the tough-talking of last year. Bellingham has played there for Real Madrid but he’s a No 10 really, especially for England where he likes to conduct.

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Secondly, it exhibits the sort of creative thinking that is going to be needed to win the strangest World Cup of all. Anyone else still shudder at the Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard debate from 20 years ago? That kind of binary thinking was still a “thing” two years ago when Southgate shoehorned Phil Foden into the team and briefly experimented with Trent Alexander-Arnold as a No 6.

Tuchel represents a different way and Bellingham looks like a different animal these days.

“Jude has the personality to score, to be decisive and to arrive in the box so it is an option,” he said.

Given England’s challenge for the next fortnight is to unlock low blocks and crack tournament veterans Croatia, he will need a few different combinations. Bellingham’s proposed new gig feels full of promise.

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The Manhattan skyline is looming, a breeze is blowing, and the horns of New York’s famous yellow taxis blare in the background. It is so sizzlingly hot that Roy Keane is bearing a pair of tanned legs. This is a World Cup television studio at its finest, except it belongs to ITV. The BBC will be staying at home.

Gary Lineker has dismissed his old employers’ set-up as a “green box in Salford”. “It’s not a green box in Salford,” retorts Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC’s director of sport. “It’s a beautiful, state-of-the-art studio.

“The actual product that people are getting at home, I don’t really think it’s that different. If these people were sitting somewhere else, would your viewing be massively changed?”

The BBC will be sending journalists and commentators to live matches across the US, Mexico and Canada – but the main studio, once fronted by Lineker and still featuring the likes of Alan Shearer, Alex Scott, Micah Richards and Wayne Rooney, sits in MediaCity on the outskirts of Manchester.

Behind the sofas, there is no green screen but a virtual reality backdrop of whichever of the 16 host cities is holding the match. If there is rain, wind or sun, it won’t be real – it will be added at the press of a button.

The electronic “tactics board” – where pundits will circle players and analyse in-game footage -has been built into the floor.

The behind-the-scenes set-up is hugely impressive; dozens upon dozens of screens will be used by producers to clip up moments from the games, usually suggested by the pundits themselves. There are no edicts from Fifa or otherwise on what can and can’t be shown – allowing for any warts-and-all debates around empty seats or ticket pricing.

During the World Cup’s three-minute water breaks, there may be cuts to other BBC content, but no adverts. Another point of difference from ITV. The most obvious contrast between them is that the BBC is taxpayer-funded – ITV have announced a 30 per cent rise in revenue compared to Euro 2024, making this the most lucrative tournament they have ever shown.

That means that for the BBC there have had to be “difficult decisions”.

“I don’t think the answer from a financially sustainable point of view, is to go: ‘Everyone can go.’ I don’t think that is a very clever way to spend licence fee money,” says Kay-Jelski.

“The budget isn’t infinite, and we have to make sensible and difficult decisions sometimes. I don’t even see this one as a difficult decision. I think it’s really, really sensible. If I was standing here saying, everything is going to be done from a studio in Dallas, you would rightly be saying to me, how can you justify that expense?”

By cutting back, the BBC estimates its carbon emissions have dropped by 19 per cent. That, despite this being the biggest World Cup in history across three countries, 48 teams and 104 matches. With other tournaments set to follow suit, it could be the model for the future.

The other competition comes from a saturated podcast market. After leaving the BBC last year, Lineker is taking his Rest is Football to Netflix in a £14m deal. Kay-Jelski says they are “relaxed” about the fact Richards and Shearer, two of their most popular pundits, will be splitting their time between the two.

Gabby Logan will become the first woman to present the final on UK television, also fronting the BBC’s first live game between Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina alongside Olivier Giroud, Rooney and Richards. After winning a BAFTA for her Women’s Euro 2025 coverage, the BBC regard her as a “national treasure”.

For the other games it will be a rotating cast of Logan, Mark Chapman and Kelly Cates, the same trio who take turns on Match of the Day. ITV and the BBC typically end up doing battle for the big England games – the final, as usual, will be given to both broadcasters.

Fans have also criticised both channels for failing to provide a highlights show rounding up each day – but it’s the remote working in Salford that has prompted the biggest debate. Lineker has already unveiled his own New York studio – but for his old bosses, football will be staying home.

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ORLANDO — Declan Rice knows what you’ve all been saying.

Those pictures England players had taken earlier this week where they are re-enacting their goal celebrations? Rice looked decidedly rosy in his, clearly feeling the effects of the Florida sun.

“I think everyone has seen those pictures, I was bright red in those photos. Honestly, my mum was killing me,” he told reporters after he hit the ground running with a solid display in England’s final World Cup warm-up.

The 3-0 win was a step up from Saturday’s gentle stroll against New Zealand. And perhaps evidence that England are starting to understand the demands of playing in the humid conditions they’ll encounter here in the US.

“The first day that we came, it was just getting used to that heat,” Rice explained.

“Coming from England, where it’s hot-cold, all different types of weather, coming here and it’s always 30 degrees – it really does hit you in the face.”

Rice’s sunburn won’t pose a threat to England’s World Cup chances. But he’s one of four players Thomas Tuchel needs to protect at all costs in the next week if the Three Lions are going to make short work of a potentially taxing Group L.

Declan Rice

How much better do things tick when Rice is here? He’s not just a good personality – universally respected and liked in the England camp – but he’s also a very, very fine midfielder who can provide style as well as a shield.

With three major tournament appearances – including Qatar 2022, when England were dreadfully unlucky to go out to France in the quarter-finals – he also has experience of what is required to succeed in the rarefied World Cup air.

Jude Bellingham

Forget the debate. It was fun for Tuchel to dispatch a few sacred cows last year when he had time on his side and could talk about culture and signing up to England DNA.

But let’s not beat around the bush: sides that win World Cups need a certain swagger and Bellingham provides that for England.

Part of the problem in the World Cup cycle has been that Tuchel’s Three Lions haven’t really been tested. They’ve played well in spells, something that you could say about Wednesday’s solid 3-0 defeat of Costa Rica, but they’ve yet to confront a really decent team under the German.

Unless they come catastrophically unstuck here in America, that will change in the next fortnight or so, and when the challenges arrive, they will need Bellingham.

He had the look of a player arriving in form at the right time in Orlando, showcasing his versatility and ability by occupying the number nine role for periods against Costa Rica. For his goals, his big game mentality and his ability, Bellingham needs to be involved from the start against Croatia.

Harry Kane

Well, who else? Wednesday was a rare example of England winning without their top goalscorer and talisman scoring. It’s no bad thing that others find a way to do what Kane makes look so effortlessly easy.

He’s in the form of his life and – unlike 2024’s anaemic version of a clearly fatigued Kane – there are no debates about whether having a more energetic striker might be a better way forward. It would now be sacrilege to talk about dropping Kane.

Elliot Anderson

An English midfielder that Manchester City – usually pretty sharp recruiters – are willing to pay in excess of £100million for? Where do I sign up?

Anderson’s rise from bit-part player at Newcastle to nailed-on England starter in two years has been quite something.

Leaving St James’ Park has helped him to grow into a player capable of influencing games at the highest level.

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