Dan Burn feared international football had passed him by - despite emerging as a Premier League defender with Albion.
The Newcastle giant is in Thomas Tuchel’s first squad as they face Albania and Latvia.
Burn said: “I’m not just coming in to sort of be a cheerleader and help the boys out. I want to play.
“I feel like I’ve got the ability to play at international level, and I’ve said it for a long time.”
Burn had precious little Prem experience until developing under the guidance of Graham Potter with the Seagulls.
Former Albion striker Glenn Murray was among those pushing his claims for a spot in the last World Cup squad, picked by Gareth Southgate.
Burn said: “There was a little bit of chatter around the World Cup in 2022 when I was playing left-back.
“I thought there might have been a chance there.
“But I felt it was hard, having never played any international football at all worked against us but also you can’t gain international experience without getting called up, so it was a situation that wasn’t ideal.
“I did genuinely think at 32 that it had probably passed me by but when a new manager came in, there was always that feeling of ‘you never know’.
“Being in that very first camp is important but I don’t want to be here for no reason. I want to be here to improve and take my chances.”
Such excitement means he parked Carabao Cup celebrations with Newcastle to capitalise on his England chance.
He said: “It was strange. As soon as I left the stadium, my focus had like completely switched to this.
“I had my family there and my kids, so we ended up getting on the bus back at about 12 o’clock to the hotel and it was getting a bit rowdy, and I was just ready to go to sleep!
“There will be time to celebrate. I know that the club has put stuff out about a parade on the Saturday when we get back, so I think that’s when I’ll celebrate.
“But at the moment I knew that I’d waited a long time for this opportunity, and I didn’t want to spoil it.”
