Anthony Gordon: The making of an England star after Barcelona's €70m gamble

Wembley still carried the cold air of a September night, but in the tunnel leading down to the pitch, I caught Anthony Gordon standing there, taking a long breath before stepping out into the lights. I have observed training grounds for many years, and I know that the moment a player stops, looks around, and breathes as if listening to the heartbeat of the match, is usually the moment he is most ready. The sound of studs on concrete, the chatter of security officers, then the kick-off whistle. It is a ritual I have witnessed thousands of times, but with Gordon, it carried a different tone. Barcelona paid €70 million to take him out of the Premier League, and now, in an England shirt, he is proving that the change is not just a contract — it is a liberation. England entered this match after a 2-3 loss to Spain, a result that was not entirely surprising given a group that includes Croatia and Spain. But football does not always follow the script. Against the Czech Republic, everything shifted in the 25th minute when Pavel Sulc received a red card. From that moment, England controlled the game, and the story began to revolve around one man: Anthony Gordon. Gordon scored his third goal in three consecutive matches for England, this time with a close-range header from a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross. Earlier, in the match against Spain, he had also made his mark with a neat finish. Harry Kane, the captain and the most experienced player, did not hold back when praising his young teammate. "He has self-belief, he feels he belongs on the biggest stage," Kane said in the mixed zone after the match, his eyes still shining with the excitement of someone who had witnessed something special. I was standing not far away, and I remembered how Kane used to talk about young players like Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka. The captain has a quiet role: he does not just score goals, he shapes the space for others to shine. From my experience following matches closely, this psychological moment matters more than any tactical diagram. Gordon left Newcastle, where he was viewed as a purely wide player, a "pace merchant" — people talked about his speed more than his intelligence. Barcelona, with its varied attacking rotations, gave him a broader role. No longer hugging the touchline, he began to move into central areas, stretching defences, receiving the ball between the lines. The header against the Czechs was not the instinct of a winger; it was the product of a man who understands space and rhythm. But I must remind you: these conclusions are drawn from a very small sample. Three international matches, one of which was against a team that played with a man disadvantage for over 50 minutes. The €70 million figure is a big fact, but the real truth I want to point to lies in another detail: the way Gordon touches the ball. At Barcelona's training ground, those one-touch passes around the box, those turns to receive between midfielders, those runs around the last defender — that is not something measurable by xG or xA. It is something I feel from how a player moves off the ball. Alexander-Arnold is also part of this story. He was recalled to the squad amid a right-back injury crisis, but the Czech match showed that the connection between him and Gordon could be a new attacking avenue for England. Alexander-Arnold's crosses always have an unsettling swerve, and Gordon, instead of waiting on the flank, moved into the box like a second striker. Kane praised both, but I think the way he spoke about Alexander-Arnold as "someone who can change the game" shows he understands that the on-pitch relationship between these two players could be a lasting weapon. This might be what many people misunderstand from the outside: they think Gordon scoring three goals in three matches is a sign of a great explosion. But those who have watched Barcelona's training sessions will see that the important thing is not the number of goals, but the way Gordon has escaped the "pure pace winger" mould that the Premier League had boxed him into. His growth does not come from scoring more goals, but from becoming a player who is harder to read. Looking ahead, England await an away trip to Croatia — a real test for this "superstar" narrative. Brazil has a saying that football does not lie, but it can fool us for three matches. Croatia at home will not give Gordon much space, and the biggest question for England right now is not whether Gordon should start, but whether his transformation is truly sustainable, or just an illusion from an autumn night? And I, nearly sixty years old, still believe that what lasts longest in football is not fast praise, but the quiet ritual of each training session, each misplaced pass, each shot off the post. When the stadium is empty, I can hear the breathing of the match. And Gordon's breathing right now speaks of a freedom he has never had before.