There was long the sense that Sir Alex Ferguson was the managerial godfather. It can be jarring, though, to realise that one of his last title-winning team is the godfather of potentially England’s next international.
Especially as he is sufficiently young that Nani is still playing. The 37-year-old’s godson is Angel Gomes; a winger known for his flicks and tricks has had a peripatetic career since leaving Old Trafford but often checks in on Gomes. “He has been a big influence,” said the Lille midfielder. “He was someone I used to watch and gave me joy.”
If they have a common denominator on their CVs in Manchester United, there is another team each could have represented. Gomes has played for England at Under 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 level, winning the Under-17 World Cup and the Under-21 European Championship. A trilingual midfielder is qualified to play for Angola, the country of his father’s birth. But Gil Gomes’ international football came for Portugal, in the same Under-21 team as Luis Figo, Rui Costa and Joao Pinto; they won what was then called World Youth Championship.
All of which means he has some particularly distinguished friends. And they, in turn, took note of Gil’s son and his ability to pass the ball. They wondered if he wanted to play for Portugal. “Some of the players my dad played with, high people in the Portuguese FA, had conversations,” said Angel. “Nothing that advanced, really.” There was a reason for that. “From young, my dream was always to play for England,” the younger Gomes said. “My dad always wanted me to go on my own pathway for England.”
For his country, as in club football, Gomes has taken the indirect route. United’s youngest player since Duncan Edwards made a mere 10 appearances for them, left for Lille in 2020, was promptly loaned to Boavista before returning to France. “It was difficult, obviously, leaving the club I was at from six and heading into the unknown,” he said. “And from then, it has been an uphill [upwards] trajectory.”
And to many, Gomes represents the unknown selection. He has played in the Champions League for Lille and accumulated 52 caps for England at age-group levels. But Ligue 1 does not even have a UK broadcast partner now; should Gomes debut for England in Ireland on Saturday, it will be the first some fans have seen of him.
“Playing in France you don’t have as much awareness or recognition that the Premier League is going to get, which is normal,” he said. He gets recognised sometimes in England; not as often as he might, though, should be become a regular for the senior side. Not as often as some old teammates, either. While he has taken the roundabout route, others have accelerated past him.
Some of the players he captained to the Under-17 World Cup have accumulated caps – 41 for Phil Foden, 23 for Jadon Sancho, 18 for Conor Gallagher, 17 for Marc Guehi – while Gomes languished among the uncapped. It may have encouraged Portugal to think that he would switch allegiances, opting to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo rather than Harry Kane.
But Lee Carsley, his trophy-winning Under-21 coach, never forgot about Gomes. Nor did Gareth Southgate; the 24-year-old was always on the former England manager’s radar. He had been pre-selected in squads, without making the final cut. He was not deterred. Gomes saw Sancho and Jude Bellingham get England caps while at Borussia Dortmund; playing abroad was no deterrent to them. “I knew I could give myself the best possibility,” he said.
And his game developed; aided by a Portuguese manager, too. “Ever since our [Lille’s] last manager who has just gone to AC Milan, Paulo Fonseca, came in we had a conversation and he pulled me aside and said he wants me to play a bit deeper,” Gomes explained. “And he showed me how he wants the team to play, and he said I’d be a major part of what he wants to do.”
That deeper role may be where he could be of most service to his country, though Gomes feels he is versatile. “I am just a midfielder, I can operate in all three roles. I can play as the deep-lying midfielder, I can play as a no 8, I can play as a No 10,” he said. His style of play, he believes, may be more suited to international football: “I like to take risks, I like to help the team in every phase of the pitch, to help the team play out or control the game or to get as high as possible.”
And if the hope is that Gomes is the answer to the familiar English failing, of an inability to keep the ball, it may be in part because his background and his journey have been more cosmopolitan. He could have ended up following in his godfather’s footsteps, by playing for Portugal. Instead, he is a face of Carsley’s England; perhaps an angelic one.