It was two years ago next month that Demarai Gray found himself on the cusp of the England squad.



As Gareth Southgate began to finalise plans for the 2018 World Cup, Gray told reporters at the national team’s St George’s Park training base that a lack of game time at Leicester City had held back his international prospects.



At the time, his assertion seemed fair.



The former Birmingham City winger had just seen three long-time England under-21 team-mates — Joe Gomez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham — promoted into Southgate’s senior squad and, as a player long admired and trusted by the England manager, it seemed wholly conceivable that Gray had not been too far away from joining them.



Gray was back in Burton on Tuesday night, just six miles from St George’s Park, but the England squad seemed much further away for a player whose career has stalled at best, regressed at worst, since seeing his friends get the...