James Garner arrives in the England squad for the Nations League fixtures as a late call-up, and with a nickname he is in no hurry to shake off. Thomas Tuchel labelled the Everton midfielder a “mini Valverde” in March, after watching him impress on his international debut against Uruguay, and Garner is happy to accept the billing. “It’s a very good comparison,” he says.
The comparison came with Garner directly up against Federico Valverde in a 1-1 draw at Wembley. Like the Real Madrid midfielder, Garner wants to operate in central midfield but is capable of playing at right-back or on the wing. Garner is an admirer of Valverde, who was nicknamed El Pajarito — the Little Bird — as a child, and believes the perception of him is skewed. “You wouldn’t really call him a household name, would you?” Garner says. “But players who have played the game — they know how good he is. I watch a lot of football. I watch all the Champions League games and he always stands out. So yeah, I would go as far as saying that he’s underrated. In my opinion, he’s one of the best midfielders in the world.”
Garner’s form for Everton from the turn of the year earned him a first England call-up, and the sense that he was unfortunate to miss out on the World Cup squad. Tuchel instead selected Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo as midfield back-ups to Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson; Henderson played six minutes as a substitute at the tournament, Mainoo did not play at all. Garner describes the phone call delivering the news as difficult. “You don’t know whether it’s a yes or a no,” he says. “He just said that he could only take a certain amount of players and I’ve missed out this time. I respect his decision and it just makes you hungrier.”
The 25-year-old is back in the squad having been called up late following the withdrawals of Rice and Mainoo, while Henderson was not picked on fitness grounds. Tuchel had recalled Alex Scott and Myles Lewis-Skelly in his original selection and continues to overlook Adam Wharton, leaving Anderson as the most established midfielder ahead of Spain’s visit to Wembley on Saturday night. England then travel to Czechia and Croatia before returning to Wembley to face Czechia.
The call reached Garner at an awkward moment. He had flown to Bodrum in Turkey on Sunday night for a holiday with his partner and had just put the key in his hotel room door when the Football Association rang. He flew home on Monday and reported to St George’s Park on Tuesday. “It was a very short holiday,” he says. “I’m more than happy to be here now.” Tuchel also made a late call to Morgan Gibbs-White, who had just arrived in Dubai for a family holiday and made a lighthearted TikTok video mimicking a High School Musical 2 number as he packed. Asked whether he had been tempted to do the same, Garner’s answer is blunt: “No. That’s not me.”
That no-nonsense streak sits alongside what those around him regard as a laidback manner and a warrior spirit on the pitch, allied to the intelligence, technique and range of passing in his game. Garner grew up in the Manchester United academy as a centre-half until the age of 15, with Nemanja Vidic his boyhood hero — he liked the No 15 the Serbian wore — before he came to admire Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and Steven Gerrard as a midfielder. The switch came at a junior Nike Cup tournament, when an injury to a midfielder in the first game prompted his coaches to push him forward. He played well there, and stayed there, although he returned to centre-back for England’s under-16 and under-17 sides.
Garner could not see a first-team pathway at United. He was loaned to Watford for six months and then Nottingham Forest for 18 months, and the writing was on the wall in the summer of 2022 when United strengthened their midfield with Casemiro and Christian Eriksen. His £9m move to Everton still rankles with a section of the United support, but Garner has no doubts. “It was the perfect thing for me to do — 1,000%,” he says. “I’ve never been shy of going into a more uncomfortable place, changing scenery or anything like that. It was about playing games and Everton was the perfect choice. I didn’t want to fizzle into the background and just sit on the bench. I wanted to go to a team where I felt like I had a chance to fight for my position. Do I have any regrets about leaving United? No, not really. I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason. Had I stayed I wouldn’t have been where I am today so I am more than happy that I left.”
He has already made a mark at international level, starring for England’s under-21s in their 2023 European Championship triumph and being named in the team of the tournament as a right-back — the position he filled in the final, a 1-0 win over Spain. He hopes Saturday brings another meeting with the same opponent. “Spain have got the Ballon d’Or winner in their midfield so to play against someone like that is the ultimate test,” Garner says, referring to Rodri. “You want to go against the best and see how you fare.”