Jamal Musiala's former sports teacher has revealed that Gareth Southgate has been watching the Germany teenager since he was 10 years old.
Musiala is currently featuring for Germany at the European Championship, having earned a place in Joachim Low's squad following an impressive breakthrough season at Bayern Munich.
The 18-year-old previously represented England at U15, U16, U17 and U21 levels, but chose to switch allegiances earlier this year, and is now hoping to feature for Germany against the Three Lions at Wembley on Tuesday.
What's been said?
Musiala's old school team coach Tony Mesourini has recalled how the midfielder initially caught the eye of Southgate back in 2013.
The former Chelsea youngster was playing for his primary school at the time, and took part in a training session overseen by Southgate before starring in the final of the 'npower Kids Cup' at Wembley.
"After training, I talked to Gareth about how the team had trained," Mesourini told Goal and SPOX. "He was very impressed with our team, especially our striker Jamal."
Musiala went on to score as Corpus Christi earned a 2-0 victory over a Portsmouth-based school in the final.
"Jamal played a key role in helping us achieve this triumph with his goals," Mesourini said of his contribution.
The former PE teacher added on Musiala's enthusiasm for the game and confidence in his abilities: "Jamal was incredibly inquisitive.
"For example, he wanted to know which footballers had already scored a hat-trick at Wembley. Before the game, he told me that he too wanted to score a hat-trick."
Southgate's praise for Musiala
Southgate reserved some words of praise for Musiala in his final press conference before England's clash with Germany, while also admitting he would have liked to see him choose to represent the Three Lions.
"With Jamal, he's a very good young player, him and Jude [Bellingham] were in youth matches I've watched in the past," said the England boss.
"We were hopeful he would stay with us but totally understand his decision, and it's nice for him that he's been able to get some minutes in this championship."
Musiala's career record so far
Musiala become the youngest player to feature in the Bundesliga for Bayern when he made his debut for the club against Freiburg last June, and has since nailed down a regular spot in the team.
The talented young playmaker has scored seven goals in his opening 38 games for the German champions, winning his first league title along the way, and already has four caps to his name at international level, with his latest appearance for Germany coming in their 2-2 draw with Hungary in the Euros group stage.