Aaron Ramsdale has gone from unsuccessfully chasing a ticket for England’s Euro 2020 win over Croatia to preparing to be on the bench for Friday’s clash with Scotland.
The Sheffield United goalkeeper was drafted into the Three Lions squad on Tuesday after Dean Henderson was forced to withdraw with a hip problem.
Ramsdale, 23, remains uncapped at senior level having been part of Gareth Southgate’s initial 33-man provisional squad for the European Championship before being cut.
Now he is set to sit among the substitutes at Wembley as England face Scotland in Group D, having revealed he could not even get in as a fan for the 1-0 victory against Croatia.
“I was imagining what it would be like (to play) at Wembley, either a full crowd or the capacity it is at for the Euros,” he told the Official England Podcast.
“I tried desperately hard to get a ticket for the first game and couldn’t manage to get one.
“Game one, game two, game three – I just wanted a ticket. I would have gone on my own. I didn’t manage to get it but it is crazy how things work.”
Ramsdale has been relegated from the Premier League in the past two years, firstly with Bournemouth and now with the Blades, but his individual performances have clearly caught the eye and he has recently been linked with a move to Arsenal.
A European Under-19 Championship winner with England in 2017, Ramsdale has now made the breakthrough into the senior ranks and admits it is the highlight of his career to date.
“It has to be,” he added. “I don’t really know how to put it into words, I didn’t think things could get much better than being in the camp at Middlesbrough.
“Being on the bench, even if I wasn’t going to get on, stood there with my kit on and listening to the national anthem – it just gave me goosebumps all over my body.”
