From 24 Games in 3.5 Years to England: Bournemouth's James Hill Gets the Konsa Call-Up

James Hill made just 24 appearances in his first three and a half years at Bournemouth. On Tuesday, the 24-year-old center back got his first senior England call-up, added to Thomas Tuchel's squad after the FA confirmed that Ezri Konsa will not be in contention for Thursday's Nations League game against Croatia at Wembley.

Konsa's absence is the second blow to England's back line this week. Marc Guéhi had already pulled out with the hip problem that ended his afternoon at halftime in Manchester City's loss at Nottingham Forest, and Newcastle's Dan Burn was brought in to replace him.

The England statement said Konsa "continues to follow his own programme but will return to full training later this week before Sunday's trip to Spain." The Arsenal defender came off in the 61st minute of the 2-1 Champions League win at Slavia Prague last week, which Mikel Arteta described as a precaution, and then played all 90 minutes of Saturday's 1-0 win over Hull, according to BBC Sport.

That leaves Tuchel without his first-choice pairing for the Croatia game. ESPN listed Burn, Jarell Quansah, Jarrad Branthwaite, Ben White and Hill as the options, with John Stones and Trevoh Chalobah also unavailable.

Hill's path to this point was anything but quick. Bournemouth signed him from League Two side Fleetwood Town in January 2022 for a fee talkSPORT reported as a club-record £1 million for Fleetwood. What followed were loan spells at Hearts in Scotland and at Blackburn before he was recalled in January 2024.

The breakthrough came last season under Andoni Iraola, when Hill became a regular as Bournemouth finished sixth, the club's highest top-flight finish ever, and qualified for Europe for the first time.

This season he has been one of the most reliable players in the league. BBC Sport reports he has played every minute of Bournemouth's Premier League campaign and featured in every game of their first Europa League run. The Cherries go into the break seventh, on an eight-match winning streak in all competitions.

The call-up did not come out of nowhere. talkSPORT reported that Hill was already on Tuchel's 55-man shortlist last week, along with striker Will Lankshear. His only previous England experience was at youth level: four games for the Under-20s between 2021 and 2022 and a single Under-21 cap away to Kosovo in June 2022, according to The Independent.

Whether Hill actually plays against Croatia is another question, with Burn and Quansah having more experiance at this level. But for a defender who spent years waiting for minutes in Bournemouth, the timing says plenty: he got here by never coming off the field.