England’s Conor Gallagher admits he was not good enough

Midfielder reveals rejection after trial as teenagerGallagher was eligible through maternal grandfather

Conor Gallagher has revealed he was rejected by Scotland as a teenager. The midfielder has Scottish ancestry through his maternal grandfather and it was not always certain that he would represent England.

“My dad’s side is Irish and my mum’s dad is Scottish,” Gallagher said. “When I was 15 or 16 I wasn’t good enough to play for the England youth team so I think I went to train with one of the Scotland teams to see what I was like, and I wasn’t good enough for them either. I managed to work my way back into the England youth set-up and was lucky enough to stay in it.”