When Dele Alli arrived at St. George’s Park earlier this week for his first England senior team meeting, it was hardly new surroundings for the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder.
He may only be 19 years old, and called in by Roy Hodgson for the first time, but the national football centre is almost home-from-home for Alli.
Soon after his international debut for the U17s back in 2012, St. George’s Park opened for business and Alli has been a regular visitor in the Three Lions tracksuit.
England v Estonia
UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier
7.45pm, Friday 9 October 2015
Wembley Stadium connected by EE
Buy tickets here
And he says he is "proud" to now be getting a taste of life among the senior players he has watched growing up.
“The training has been really good, really intense building up for the game on Friday. It’s a great moment for me and I’m really proud to be here,” he told TheFA.com.
“It’s always an honour to be picked for any age group for your country, and for the first team it’s great for me and my family.
“I’ve been here quite a few times. It really helps when you see all the other England players around. Like the young boy Tom [Davies], from Everton, who trained with us on Wednesday, you can see that he was confident and wasn’t overwhelmed by the big players.
“It really helps with the development of the players, when you see the seniors and they say hello and are all really nice.
“It’s reachable and it’s down to how hard you work. It’s important that all those young boys work hard and their chance will come.”
[Add video caption here!]
Alli was preparing for a Europa League game last week when he found out the news that he was named among Roy Hodgson’s squad for the final two Euro 2016 Qualifiers against Estonia at Wembley on Friday, and away in Lithuania on Monday.
“The manager at Tottenham spoke to me the day before we played Monaco and asked if I wanted to play for the Under-19s in the Euros,” he revealed. “I obviously said I would if I could, but I thought I was too old.
“When [the senior squad] was officially announced I was in the hotel in Monaco preparing for the game so didn’t want to think about it too much and didn’t want to look at my phone.
“I had a look after the game, though, and all my friends had texted me and I spoke to my family straight away.”
He continued: “I was going down for pre-match earlier and all the lads congratulated me, Harry spoke to me and said ‘go there and do well – you know what you can do’.
“They’ve been really good, I came in the car here with H, and since I’ve been here the Spurs boys have really looked after me, and so have the others.”
Harry Kane chats to Dele during training
Born in Milton Keynes in April 1996, Alli made his debut for his home town club three years ago, aged just 16, and his performances impressed enough to earn a move to the Premier League.
Having signed for Spurs in February, he remained at Stadium MK until the end of last season but has since been given a chance in Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the opening weeks of the campaign, playing 10 times so far.
Alli then made his debut at Under-21s level only last month and helped Gareth Southgate’s team to two wins, including a 1-0 victory in their opening Euro 2017 Qualifier in Norway.
“The season has started really well for me at Tottenham, and my aim was to get in the U21s, become a regular and take it from there,” he said.
“I’m glad to be here and really appreciate it. It’s a great learning curve for me working with these sorts of players, the best in England, and some players I watched growing up.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to see how they think and how they work."
He continued: “It’s every kid’s dream to play for their country. I wanted to play in the Premier League and establish myself, that was my main focus this season. The bonuses come with it. It’s been a really good achievement and I’ve worked hard so it’s nice to be rewarded.”
Dele Alli in action against Monaco
If Alli gets on the pitch against Estonia on Friday night, it will be his first appearance at Wembley and it is an opportunity he is excited by.
And after seeing his former club win under the arch in the Football League trophy final back in 2008 during his only previous visit, he hopes his return will be as successful.
“I haven’t played at Wembley yet, it would be a dream come true to play there for England,” he said.
“I went to watch MK at Wembley in the JPT years ago. They won it, so I only have good memories so far.
“It would be surreal [to play at Wembley]. I’m really looking forward to it, to the challenge. I’ll just keep working as hard as I can in training and hopefully I can get some minutes on Friday.”
Tickets for Friday's game are still available to buy online, visit TheFA.com/tickets to secure your seats for the Three Lions' final home Euro 2016 Qualifier.
