Yet he is still to be capped at senior level and, after failing to be called up for this month’s friendly win over Denmark, the mid?elder said: “It is every player’s ambition to represent their country – but I might be a bit away from that. There seems to be a lot of quality mid?eld players who are above me at the minute. I’ll keep grafting and maybe one day.
“I had a terrible start [to my Villa career] – some really bad injuries and I struggled to ?nd ?tness. But I have found the right balance and there’s a manager [Paul Lambert] who believes in me.”