Chelsea defender Trevoh Chalobah insists he is ready to play for England as Gareth Southgate draws up an extended 55-man provisional World Cup squad for Qatar.
The 23-year-old helped his side to seal a fifth successive clean sheet in the 0-0 derby draw away at Brentford on Wednesday night.
Ever since Wesley Fofana’s injury, Chalobah has been ever-present in west London, completing every minute under Graham Potter. He now believes he is ready for the international stage.
“Yes, if it comes, I’m ready for what’s ahead,” Chalobah said. “It’s always a kid’s dream to be called up. But my focus is to give my all for the club and then see what happens.
“For me, the first thing was to play for Chelsea and get myself back in the team, and I’m doing that now. That’s the most important thing for me.”
The Cobham academy graduate is an outsider to make England’s World Cup squad having only previously played for the Under-21s.
Realistically, only injuries would see him called up but, having seen team-mates Reece James, N’Golo Kante and Fofana all ruled out of the tournament in recent weeks, he knows that it could happen.
It is why the likes of Crystal Palace trio Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Tyrick Mitchell have all been put on alert by Southgate, who will whittle down to a 26-man final squad for the tournament across November and December.
For now, Chalobah waits for recognition with the Three Lions but he remains crucial for Chelsea, who will welcome Manchester United to Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.
He remains humble about playing in matches that draw such global attention: "It’s a dream come true, but we need full focus to get three points."
Chalobah believes that Chelsea need to improve after dropping points away at Brentford. Although he can be happy with his performance defensively, he wants to see more threat in attack at the weekend.
"It feels like a loss, but it’s another clean sheet. Now onto the next game," he added. “For a team like Chelsea, everyone expects us to play a lot of serious football. We have to also show the other side of the game and that’s suffering.
"That’s what teams like Brentford and a lot of the other smaller teams do. That’s what we need to bring into our team too but also with the on the ball stuff as well."
