Nathaniel Chalobah targets England senior call-up after Watford return
Friday 4 August 2017 18:46, UK
Nathaniel Chalobah believes his summer move to Watford from Premier League champions Chelsea will help his bid to represent the England senior team.
Chalobah left Stamford Bridge in July after calling time on a seven-year stay at the club and has signed a five-year deal with Marco Silva's Watford.
The 22-year-old believes regular first-team football in England's top division will help him catch the attention of England manager Gareth Southgate and is eager to impress at a club where he enjoyed a successful loan spell in the 2012-13 Championship season.
"I was offered a new contract (at Chelsea) but I decided to leave and hopefully get opportunities here," said Chalobah. "Leaving Chelsea was very emotional because I'd been there since I was a boy. I wanted to be part of (Watford) again and I wanted to feel like I belong somewhere.
"No disrespect to Chelsea but when I was here the first time I did feel as if I was involved quite a bit and I did get opportunities. (My England prospects) were part of the reasons. It was just about trying to improve.
"Being (at Chelsea) last year, I saw how difficult it was to get in the team. You've got world-class players and all these players got to where they got to by playing games and putting their name out there."
Chalobah follows the likes of Nathan Ake, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Dominic Solanke in leaving Chelsea during the summer transfer window and believes that is a sign of the determination within younger players to feature consistently in the Premier League.
The former Chelsea fringe player featured for England in the European Under-21 Championship in the summer and played alongside Southampton's James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond, who have both received call-ups to England's senior squad during Southgate's tenure.
Chalobah said: "Anyone who has played in the ranks before, who is young, can get the opportunity.
"Gareth has made it clear with selections in Redmond and Ward-Prowse, if you are doing well at clubs you have an opportunity. For everyone who is in the England set-up it's exciting."
Chalobah was also full of praise for Watford's new head coach Silva and is confident the Portuguese manager will help further his career.
"The manager was also something that was part of that. I'd heard some great things about him and I'd seen his work from last season (with Hull)," Chalobah added.
"I felt like he would be the perfect guy to improve me and hopefully teach me some new things."
