After naming Tottenham Hotspur's Dele Alli in his England squad for October's Euro 2016 Qualifiers, Roy Hodgson revealed that he has been long aware of the talented midfielder.
The 19-year-old was born in Milton Keynes and came through the youth ranks at his hometown club before signing for Spurs in February this year - though he remained at stadiummk until the end of the season.
And it was there that Hodgson's number two, Ray Lewington, saw the promise of Alli and reported back to the England boss.
England v Estonia
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier
7.45pm, Friday 9 October 2015
Wembley Stadium connected by EE
Buy tickets here
"Ray Lewington, on days when he is not watching teams for us, still tries to get to MK Dons in midweek," said Hodgson after naming Alli in the senior squad for games against Estonia and Lithuania.
"His son [Dean Lewington] is the captain of MK Dons, so he has seen Alli play many times and mentioned him to me, not as a potential England player because the lad was only a teenager and in League One.
"But when he got the move to Tottenham we thought, 'this is interesting, to see how this transpires, if he gets into the Tottenham team and plays as he does for MK Dons, he could be a very interesting player'. That is exactly what's happened.”
Dele Alli in action for his hometown club, MK Dons
He continued: "We weren’t at all surprised when Tottenham bought him, we thought it was a good buy.
"I think he was bought with a view to getting experience, but he has broken into the team and he is playing well. So it was an opportunity now, with the absence of quite a few players in the central midfield area, to have a look at him.
"Going forward if he continues his rate of progress he could be very interesting for us."
Dele Alli is one of 24 players in the England squad for their final two European Qualifiers against Estonia at Wembley on 9 October and then away in Lithuania three days later.
You can buy tickets for the game under the arch via TheFA.com/tickets.
