Where once he harboured aspirations to be directly involved, Angel Gomes will instead join millions of fellow English football supporters this summer watching his national team playing at the World Cup.A couple of years ago, the midfielder looked to be in contention for a place at the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Yet, when Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man squad is announced on Friday, Gomes’s name will not, realistically, even generate a mention in dispatches.His fortunes have changed in the last 12 months, but he will not allow any personal disappointment at one of the more challenging years of his career to deter him from watching his friends in action.“For sure, I’ll watch all the games,” says Gomes, who sat down with The Athletic at Wolverhampton Wanderers’ training ground ahead of the final game of his loan spell at the club. “The majority of the players now, from being there in the setup and also from being in the under-21s as well, are players I played with. So yes, for sure, I’ll be supporting.”Harry Kane and Angel Gomes celebrate the opening goal against Finland in September 2024 (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)When Tuchel was appointed to the England job in October 2024, Gomes was in effect in possession of a place in the England squad.He had figured regularly during the caretaker tenure of Lee Carsley, a man who knew and trusted him after making him a key figure in his successful England Under-21s team. Gomes was justifying that selection, too, by playing the best football of his career for Lille in France’s Ligue 1.Early in his tenure, Tuchel made telephone calls to the dozens of players in contention for places in his plans. Gomes was among those on the list, signalling that the German was aware of his strengths.Since then, though, Gomes has entered a tougher phase of his club career with a tricky start to life at Marseille followed by a move to Wolves and a grim, ultimately fruitless, battle against relegation from the Premier League.“When (Tuchel) first got the job I think he spoke to a lot of players and I was one of them,” he says. “We had a couple of conversations, but then I think the rest is down to me. To be able to have more conversations, to be in the mix, that’s down to me — and the best chance of doing that is your performances.”Angel Gomes shakes hands with interim manager Lee Carsley after the game against the Republic of Ireland in November 2024 (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)Gomes’s career is actually eye-catching. He is the boyhood Manchester United fan who joined the club at the age of six but took the difficult decision to walk away at 19, making an unconventional move to France. There he prospered to such an extent that he earned international recognition.When his Lille contract expired at the end of last season, his form had been good enough to earn him a move to Marseille, one of the traditional powerhouses of the French game, under freedom of contract.