The Manchester City defender felt as though his England days were over a couple of years ago.
Advertisement
Advertisement
However, he has been persuaded by coach Gareth Southgate to continue and he is still a mainstay in the team at Euro 2024.
He stated to reporters: “I want to go as far as I can. To represent my country as many times as I have done … honestly, I never thought I’d do it once, so to do it for the amount of years I’ve done it, I have to say is a credit to myself. But I look at Pepe last night and he’s 41 playing for Portugal.
"So, they are the levels people are setting now - the likes of Luka Modric, people like that.
“These are people carrying on for top teams at a top level for a considerable amount of time. If they can do it, why can’t I?”