Taylor Harwood-Bellis said he does not want to be a “one-cap wonder” for England, but acknowledged he needs to play Premier League football in order to return to the squad.
Southampton’s Harwood-Bellis made his Three Lions debut in November last year during interim head coach Lee Carsley’s time in charge after Gareth Southgate’s departure.
He played in Carsley’s final game at the helm, a 5-0 rout against the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League, getting himself on the scoresheet 17 minutes after his introduction.
But under Thomas Tuchel, Harwood-Bellis has not received another call-up to the international stage, not helped by Southampton’s dismal Premier League season in 2024-25.
Harwood-Bellis has been linked with a move away from St. Mary’s this summer, but remained committed to getting Southampton promoted back to the top flight.
“It’s the dream to play for England and my dream came true. You want to stay there and not be a one-cap wonder,” Harwood-Bellis said when speaking to Sky Sports.
“I’ve got a long way to go. I wouldn’t say I’m mad close to the team at the minute, with the season going the way it went.
“At the end of the day, it’s how you do it at your club. Personally, if I look at it selfishly, to get back in the England squad, I need to be playing well in the Premier League.
“That means we have got to get promoted, then. If I want to play for England, we’ve got to get promoted. People around me know that, and I think the fans know that as well.
“We don’t want to be playing in the Championship, we want to be playing in the Premier League. We’ve got a taste of it now.
“We’ve got the bit between our teeth to go and do a better job. It couldn’t have gone any worse in the Premier League last time. We’ve got to put that wrong, right.”
Harwood-Bellis joined Southampton at the end of their promotion-winning campaign from the Championship, automatically making his loan from Manchester City permanent before the start of the 2024-25 season.
But it proved to be one to forget for the defender and Southampton, who became the first team in Premier League history to lose 30 games in a season, and indeed the first team to lose 30 games in a 38-game top-flight campaign.
Harwood-Bellis played the second-most minutes for the Saints in a defence that conceded 86 goals, the most in the division, as they were relegated back to the Championship.
And the 23-year-old is hoping to help lead Southampton back to the top flight, but was wary of the fierce competition the second tier will provide next season.
“If you can’t use the embarrassment of a season that we’ve just had as fuel, the only way we make people forget about that is by getting promoted,” he added.
“That’s the first job at hand. It has to be the aim; you’ve come to the wrong club if that is not your aim. Once we are there, we’ve got to do a better job.
“It’s not going to be easy; we have to focus on ourselves. There’s going to be tough games. I think the Championship is very competitive this year with the teams that are there.
“I love football, so I watch a lot of the Champ. It’s going to be difficult, but we have the manager, the staff, the club and the players to give it our all.”