James Garner keen to live up to ‘mini-Valverde’ tag after late England call

“It’s a very good comparison,” James Garner says, and he is not kidding. It came from Thomas Tuchel in March after the England manager had watched the Everton midfielder impress on his international debut against Uruguay. He was up against Federico Valverde and Tuchel went big with his praise. Garner was a “mini Valverde”, he said after the 1-1 draw at Wembley.

It was surely too much, despite the prefix that Tuchel attached, yet it was possible to see where he was coming from. Like Valverde, Garner wants to operate in central midfield but he can play at right-back or on the wing. And like Valverde, who they called El Pajarito – or the Little Bird – when he was a kid, Garner can sometimes fly a bit under the radar.

Is Valverde the most underrated player in the game? The more the question is asked, the more the point is lost but there is certainly something there. “You wouldn’t really call him a household name, would you?” Garner says of the Real Madrid player. “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.”

The pros know. And within the game, there is a burgeoning appreciation of Garner, who located such outstanding form at Everton from the turn of the year that he won his first England call-up and was considered unlucky to miss out on the World Cup squad. In the end, Tuchel went with Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo as the midfield back-ups to Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson. Henderson played six minutes as a substitute during the tournament; Mainoo not at all.

“It was a tough phone call [from Tuchel] because you don’t know whether it’s a yes or a no,” Garner 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 for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, albeit as a late call-up after the withdrawals of Rice and Mainoo. Henderson was not picked on fitness grounds. Tuchel recalled Alex Scott and Myles Lewis-Skelly in his original selection and continues to overlook Adam Wharton. Anderson stands as the most established midfielder as Tuchel prepares for the visit of Spain to Wembley on Saturday night. Thereafter, England play Czechia and Croatia away before returning to Wembley to face Czechia.

Garner flew to Bodrum in Turkey on Sunday night for a holiday with his partner and he had just put the key in the hotel room door when he got the call from the Football Association. He flew home on Monday before reporting to St George’s Park on Tuesday. “It was a very short holiday,” he says with a smile. “I’m more than happy to be here now.”

Tuchel also gave a late call to Morgan Gibbs-White, who had just got to Dubai for a family holiday. The Nottingham Forest attacking midfielder made a lighthearted TikTok video in which he and his fiancee mimed Gotta Go My Own Way from High School Musical 2 as he packed up and headed back. Was Garner tempted to do something similar? “No. That’s not me,” he replies.

Garner is no-nonsense. He is laidback company but there is a toughness to him on the pitch, a warrior spirit to go with the intelligence of his game, the technique and range of his passing. Growing up in the Manchester United academy, he played as a centre-half until the age of 15 and his boyhood hero feels appropriate.

“I’ve never actually said this but I used to love Nemanja Vidic,” he says. “I used to love the No 15 [which Vidic wore] and things like that. Then you grow up a little bit more, I became a midfielder and I used to love Lampard, Scholes and Gerrard.”

Garner made the move into midfield with United at a junior tournament. “It was the Nike Cup and our midfielder got injured in the first game,” Garner says. “I’ve always been half-decent with the ball at my feet so they thought: ‘We’ll push him into midfield.’ I had a really good tournament and it just went from there. Albeit when I was with England under-16s and under-17s, I played centre-back.”

He is a student of the game. “I watch all matches and also, as mad as it sounds, I played Fifa for so long,” he says. “I’ve been so indulged in football since I was a kid. My brother is five years older than me, he played and I’ve always been around football. I was lucky enough to come through United’s academy, which is one of the best academies in the world, and I learned so much from a lot of good coaches. I’ve just always had that tactical awareness and maybe that helps me playing different positions.”

Garner could not see a first-team pathway at United. They loaned him to Watford for six months, then Forest for 18 months. The writing was on the wall for him in the summer of 2022 when United bolstered their midfield with the signings of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen. His move to Everton for a bargain £9m still rankles with a section of the United support.

“It was the perfect thing for me to do – 1,000%,” Garner says. “I’ve never been shy of going into a more uncomfortable place, changing scenery or anything like that. I went on loan. I moved down to London and Nottingham. 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.”

Garner made a statement on the international stage when he starred for the England under-21s in their European Championship triumph of 2023. He was named in the team of the tournament – as a right-back, which was where he played in the final when England beat Spain 1-0. He hopes to make another against the same nation.

“Spain have got the Ballon d’Or winner in their midfield [Rodri] so to play against someone like that is the ultimate test,” Garner says. “You want to go against the best and see how you fare.”