You’ve obviously had four successful years in Germany and had a great time at Dortmund. How did your spell in the Bundesliga help you develop?
“It helped me grow as a player and I had the experience of playing in the Champions League and getting the feel of big games. I feel like I did well in those big games and now I’m ready for a new challenge and a bigger step.”
How did it shape you as a person, given you were very young when you moved there? It was a very brave decision…
“Yeah, definitely. Obviously it’s helped me mature as a player and a person, so I could say I took that on really well, and my former team-mates helped me a lot with settling in over in Germany and helped me stay focused.”
What was life like in Dortmund away from the pitch?
“It was very nice. I had quite a lot of friends in Dortmund so we used to just go out and get something to eat and just chill really.”
Coincidentally, you had two team-mates in Erling Haaland and Giovanni Reyna who were both born in England, and Jude Bellingham moved there as well, so you had a bit of an English connection there…
“Yeah, definitely. I had to start it [smiles] and obviously they followed! They’re great lads with great potential as well, so I’m looking forward to where they’re going to be soon.”
You’ve already got a strong bond with some of the lads in our squad, particularly Marcus Rashford. Talk to us about that friendship – when did you first meet and what were your first impressions of him?
“I first met Marcus when I first got selected for England. I don’t think he was at that first camp, I think he was at the second camp after that, when we played Czech Republic. I think him and Jesse [Lingard] were at that camp. Him and Jesse were obviously together and I just started to speak with them and we started hanging around with each other and we’ve got closer and closer ever since.”
And you’ve got a strong bond with Luke [Shaw] too…
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, with Luke as well. This is my first tournament meeting Luke, because previous camps he wasn’t there. But Luke is a very nice guy and one of my guys to speak to in the changing room.”
You’ve spent the summer with Luke, Marcus and Harry [Maguire] as well – will that help you settle in quickly?
“I would hope so and like to think so. We spoke about it at St George’s and I’m sure they’ll help me settle in, and whatever I need I will go to them and they’ll help me out for sure.”