Demarai Gray has expressed his deep frustration about his bit part role at Leicester and revealed how close he came to joining Bournemouth.
The England Under-21 international played as if he wanted to prove a point on Tuesday night in a 3-0 win over Latvia; he scored the opening goal and relished the opportunity to be given 90 minutes by Aidy Boothroyd.
His importance to this England team is a stark contrast to Leicester, where he has been limited to three substitute appearances in the Premier League so far which have amounted to 33 minutes. Bournemouth wanted to take advantage of that position on deadline day with a £25million bid.
Though Gray would have jumped at the move, the offer was rejected. He hopes Leicester’s decision stems from the fact they are going to use him more now and he will hold more talks with manager Craig Shakespeare about his situation.
‘I’m not happy with the amount of football I am playing,’ said Gray. ‘I respect the manager and he picks his team. But I want to play as much as possible in the Premier League and that is not the case. I have just have to get my head down and get on with it and give the manager a headache.
‘But I just get so frustrated when I don’t play and the manager knows I just want to play football. I’m not just going to sit there and say nothing. If I was (happy to do that) that would be an issue. I think people misunderstand sometimes and think my morale might not be as good as it should be.
‘I just want to play football and when I’m not playing it’s frustrating because I know what I can bring to the team. I was happy to play for the U-21s, I was happy to score and I was happy to contribute to the result.’
Of Bournemouth’s interest on deadline, Gray added: ‘Did I think I was going to leave Leicester? There were a few bids flying around.
'Leicester sat me down and told me how they are going to use me and the impact they see me having on the team. I want to play every week.’
Everton midfielder Tom Davies was similarly relieved to play 90 minutes against Latvia.
He starred on his Under-21 debut and explained how difficult his summer had been after he decided to withdraw from the Under-19 squad that won the European Championships in Georgia.
‘It is personally disappointing not to be there but it just spurs you on,’ said Davies. ‘It’s one of the hardest decisions I have had to make but it’s just made me more determined to do something in the future.’