Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins has said it was "fair" he wasn't selected for the England squad but it gave him the "fuel" to improve his goalscoring form.
Back in March, when England manager Thomas Tuchel revealed his latest squad, Watkins had been struggling in front of goal.
From January until March, he scored two goals in 12 games. Since then, he has seen a resurgence with five goals in five games, with two coming against Sunderland and one assist.
"I had no animosity towards him [Tuchel]. What he said to me was personal, I needed that time away to get that fire back in my belly," said Watkins.
Villa have also had a strong run in Europe this season, they play Nottingham Forest in the Europa League semi-final this evening.
They have won all five Europa League knockout matches this season, scoring 13 goals.
Watkins said the possibility of going on to win the competition could "be more special" than Villa's play-off win in 2019.
"I think we need to do everything we can to get to the end. It is not going to be easy."
Having "never lifted a trophy", the 30-year-old is determined to get his hands on one this season.
They'll be hoping there is no repeat of their last European semi-final, where they lost out to Olympiakos in the Conference League.
"We were playing such good football, but we didn't really turn up," said Watkins.
"This year our form has been amazing in Europe, so I think that togetherness and we have learned a lot. We need to pull together with that experience and go one more."
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