It has taken Angel Gomes a little longer to reach the senior England set-up than some of his teammates from the Under-17 World Cup winning side like Phil Foden, Marc Guehi and Jadon Sancho. In truth, it might never have happened at all.

After Gomes took the bold step to leave his boyhood club Manchester United and successfully re-launch his career at Boavista four years ago, Portugal came calling in the hope of persuading the pint-sized midfielder to play for them.

The response was a swift no. Gomes represented England through the age-groups and backed himself to become a full international for the country of his birth.

Once again, the gamble has paid off after the 24-year-old Lille midfielder was called up for interim manager Lee Carsley’s first games since replacing Gareth Southgate against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.

It was perhaps no surprise that Portugal tried to poach him. Gomes’ father Gil was born in Portuguese Angola and won the Under-23 World Cup playing alongside Luis Figo in 1991.

Angel Gomes has been called up to England's senior men's squad for the first time this week

A much-travelled career in Switzerland, America and Italy ended on Manchester’s non-league circuit, which is why London-born Angel came to be on United’s books along with his older brother Rico who played alongside Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison.

It’s also how Gil met Nani through Sir Alex Ferguson’s No.2 Carlos Queiroz, and the United star became Angel’s godfather.

‘Nani used to be my idol,’ says Gomes. ‘I used to watch him and even practice his backflips on the trampoline.

‘He used to invite me and my brother round to his house to play football in the back garden, and show me how to hit the ball against a wall with either foot over and over again until it became natural.’

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There are early photos of Gomes with Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo at Carrington after joining United at the age of six, getting the kind of football education which most kids can only dream of.

He recalls growing up close to Old Trafford in Salford playing football with his dad and brother using rolled up socks – ‘anything we could until I got my first proper ball’ – and in the cage with his friends at Clarendon.

He also remembers being at his mum’s house in Lower Broughton while she worked several different jobs to put food on the table. ‘There would be times when we had to go to my auntie or her friends’ houses just to eat.’

At 5ft 6in tall, Gomes decided from an early age that his height wasn’t going to hold him back.

‘For me, my size isn’t a problem,’ he says. ‘You play football with your feet and your brain, that’s what I love to do. Since I started playing football, I’ve always been the smallest in my teams and it’s a source of pride.’

Pride was no protection, however, when he suffered a sickening head injury last month after clashing with Amadou Kone in Lille’s win at Reims. 

Kone was sent off and Gomes followed on a stretcher after half an hour of treatment. ‘Remind me not to jump for headers anymore!’ he tweeted from hospital.

A boyhood United fan and ball boy, Gomes was a rising star of the club’s academy. He succeeded Marcus Rashford as Young Player of the Year in 2017 – the season he won the World Cup with England U17s in India – having become close friends while rooming together in digs when Gomes was playing at Under-12 level.

But instead of breaking into the first-team like Rashford and other winners such as Mason Greenwood, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, his progress slowed after making a senior debut as a substitute for Wayne Rooney on the last day of the 2016-17 season.

Gomes became the first player born in the 21st century to appear in the Premier League and United’s youngest first-teamer since Duncan Edwards at 16 years and 263 days old.

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‘As Rooney got to me, he said “go on and have fun” just like dad always did,’ he recalls. ‘It was surreal. Goosebumps, everything.’

It was one of only 10 appearances Gomes made for United, including three starts, as the joy drained out of his football and he allowed the time to run out on his contract.

‘When you go home, deep down you know you’re not quite the same as normal,’ he says. ‘I’m usually very bubbly and your family notice those little changes in you. I wanted to get back to where I was and find happiness in my football.’

Gomes remembers the tears flowing when he drove away from Carrington for the last time after 14 years at United. ‘I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t quite understand how emotional it would be.’

He insists the decision to sign for Lille as a free agent was driven by a desire to play regularly and not by money. It has paid off.

After immediately going out on loan to Boavista – former Lille owner Gerard Lopez’s other club – he struck up a rapport with coach Vasco Seabra.

‘I felt like I was falling in love with football again,’ admits Gomes ‘I was so low, it was more mental than anything.’

His former United teammate Bruno Fernandes helped set him up with a car and an apartment in Porto, where he lived with Rico, as advising him where to eat.

Gomes is fluent in Portuguese but at Boavista they remember welcoming a shy individual who was reluctant to speak up in a dressing-room full of big personalities.

They soon realised that it was on the pitch where the young man could truly express himself. Gomes got a hat-trick of assists in his first game against Nacional and a goal from the halfway line in his third match against Moreirense. ‘The surprise of the season,’ was how one insider described him on Tuesday.

Ex-teammate and current captain Sebastian Perez told Mail Sport: ‘I noticed that he had a different touch on the ball to everyone else.

‘He's not very tall but he's fast and has an impressive change of pace. This in addition to the quality, the vision of the game, the assists, the goals, he has everything that great players have.

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‘Angel is a great locker-room mate. I remember one time I told him I’d like to have a Marcus Rashford shirt. Without telling me anything, Angel wrote to Marcus and the following week he sent me his shirt. It was a gesture from Angel that I will never forget.

‘He deserves his call-up. I feel that the England team needs a different player in midfield and Angel can provide that.’

Gomes’ football education continued back at Lille under former boss Paulo Fonseca who spotted his potential to switch to a deeper lying midfield role where he showed a greater defensive understanding and composure on the ball under pressure.

It was a hallmark of the England Under-21s’ first Euro Championship success in 39 years under Carsley in 2023, and a major factor in the manager’s decision to call him up for the senior squad to fill what became something of a problem position for Southgate.

‘One hundred per cent, I enjoy it more,’ says Gomes. ‘I’ve always been a No.10 but appreciated and enjoyed players behind me, the deep-lying midfielders like Xavi, Iniesta, Scholes and Pirlo. I know what the guys further up want because I’ve played there.’

Gomes can reel off the positions he played under Fonseca last season. ‘Left wing, right wing, a No.10, a high eight, a No.6 and in a double pivot,’ he says.

He played in several of them in one game alone when Carsley travelled to see him take on Paris Saint-Germain and Lionel Messi last year. Messi’s late freekick snatched a 4-3 win but he was sufficiently impressed with Gomes to swap shirts afterwards.

Now in his third season at Lille, Gomes continues to be a quiet but popular dressing-room presence who is close to Jonathan David – a potential target for United this summer – and Timothy Weah before his move to Juventus.

If there has been one drawback about forging a career in France, it’s that his progress has gone relatively unnoticed.

‘That’s true,’ he says. ‘It’s difficult. Whoever watches knows how well I’ve played in games, but a lot of people don’t.’

But with Carsley calling the shots, for now at least, Gomes is finally getting the recognition he deserves.