MORGAN ‘IS GOOD ENOUGH, GARETH’

NOTTINGHAM FOREST’S

Sam Surridge hailed teammate Morgan Gibbs-white for the role he played in the England Under-21s charge to European glory.

And he is convinced the midfielder can gatecrash Gareth Southgate’s senior Three Lions squad for Euro 2024 if continues on his upward trajectory.

Southgate had been keeping a keen eye on Gibbs-white (below) before England’s matches in May.

Ultimately, he missed the cut, but he went on to excel at the U21 tournament as Lee Carsley’s boys stormed to victory.

His form did not come as a surprise to those who saw first-hand his displays at Forest last season.

Surridge said: “He 100 per cent has a chance of getting into next summer’s squad. He was close to getting a call-up this time around and if he carries on the way he is doing, he will get one.

“He’s a brilliant player and he hit the ground running as soon as he came to Forest.

“Going into the tournament, everyone knew he was going to do well. He has the ability to pick a pass, he can drop in, you’ve seen him play as a false nine a couple of times as well.

“He is good enough to play across the front three or in a 10 and he is still young.

“He is only going to get better and the job we did last season, it’s just a case of going and replicating that this season.”

Forest survived their first season back in the top flight for 23 years by the skin of their teeth and Surridge admits things should not have been so tight.

He added: “We have quality players and we did well to stay up, but a lot of us think we should have finished higher up the table.

“Now it’s about getting the confidence up that we can beat teams away from home as well as at home.”

While there were positives from the season for Surridge, there was frustration, too.

He said: “There were times I wanted to play more, but at the same time I knew there was a bigger cause and that was Forest. We got our goal of staying in the Premier League.”