Tom McGill is discussing what it is like to be a goalkeeper who does not play.

“I go to bed early anyway, eat the right things,” says the Brighton & Hove Albion and Canada prospect. “It’s not as if I’m doing anything out of the ordinary. I’m quite boring, so I guess that helps.

“If you keep your preparation the same, keep your standards the same and you are always ready, then it doesn’t matter if you play or don’t play. When you are sitting on the bench, you are not hoping for an injury or a red card.”

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The 23-year-old is speaking on Brighton’s tour of the United States and reflecting on a curious campaign.

The 2022-23 season spanned a year and a day for McGill. From an opening friendly behind closed doors against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise at the training ground in Lancing to Canada’s exit from the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup on penalties against the USMNT in Cincinnati on July 10, he made just five appearances.

They were all for Brighton’s under-23s in Premier League 2. He travelled regularly with the senior matchday squads at domestic and international level without making the final cut. On 18 other occasions, he sat on the bench.

And yet, in spite of the relentless lack of minutes on the pitch, McGill’s career is on the up.

He has established himself as Brighton’s second or third-choice goalkeeper under Roberto De Zerbi. He signed a new two-year contract in June, with a club option to extend for a further year through to 2026, when McGill hopes to be representing Canada at the next World Cup.

There is a lot with which to be satisfied and plenty to look forward to considering this is a goalkeeper who rarely pulls on his gloves. “I definitely feel as though I am kicking on and improving under the style (of De Zerbi),” says McGill. “It was the best season for me so far.”

The change in head coach — after Graham Potter upped sticks and moved to Chelsea last September for what proved a short-lived stint — led to tweaks in the way Brighton’s goalkeepers train. “A lot more shape, a lot more tactics,” says the Canadian. “Most of it is build-up from the goalkeeper, goal kicks or when the ball comes back to us in open play.

“Everything is very 11-vs-11, big-pitch scenarios. Everything is very real, whereas Graham would have us in possession (drills) in boxes, stuff like that.”

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One of the benefits for McGill of sitting on the bench is that he has been able to study how Jason Steele implements De Zerbi’s precise method of playing out from the back. “The best thing for me is being able to watch Steeley play with his feet because, in my opinion, he’s the best in the Premier League with his feet,” he says. “Ederson’s got the long one (pass), but the short stuff and how we build up? I’d rather have Steeley.

“You get coached by the gaffer where to play at the right tempo, when the press comes, all the little details on how to do it. But being able to watch Steeley do it, he just makes it look quite effortless. Maybe not from a (conventional) coaching perspective, but Steeley is probably the best for me in coaching that, because I just get to watch him.

“It’s 60 per cent watching him and 40 per cent the game because some of the stuff he does, you sit back and appreciate.

“We’ve scored a lot of goals from building up from him. Goals and creating chances.”

De Zerbi’s promotion of Steele to first choice in March, combined with the deposed first choice Robert Sanchez’s refusal to sit on the bench towards the end of the season, saw McGill move up the goalkeeping pecking order from N0 3 to No 2. That may now be rejigged again following the arrival of the Netherlands Under-21 international Bart Verbruggen, who completed a £16.3million ($21m) move from Anderlecht earlier this month.

England Under-21 international Carl Rushworth is also part of the U.S. tour with Steele, Verbruggen and McGill, while England Under-20 international James Beadle has joined League One side Oxford United on loan for the season.

Even with Sanchez out of the picture, the depth of quality in the goalkeeping options is impressive.

“We all have different strengths,” McGill says. “We can watch each other train and pick up little bits. From the little I’ve seen of Bart, he’s really sharp, really clean. Carl and James as well.

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“It’s a good group. We all get on and we all push each other. If the three this year is Steeley, Bart and me, we’ll get on really well. It will be a good, sharp group.”

McGill has been with Brighton since joining the academy at the age of 14, working his way into the senior set-up via loan spells with non-League clubs Worthing, Greenwich Borough and Basingstoke, followed by two temporary stints at Crawley in League Two.

Born in Ontario, he moved from Canada to England with his English mother when he was four after his parents split up.

He grew up in Haywards Heath, 15 miles north of Brighton, while maintaining a strong relationship with his Canadian father.

McGill represented England from under-15 to under-20 level, in the same age groups as Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi. When the opportunity to switch allegiance to Canada arose in March ahead of the CONCACAF Nations League, he did not hesitate.

“The England stuff dried up a little bit, at a similar time to Canada getting a lot better,” he says. “This goes hand in hand with me feeling a bit more Canadian. I was born there, I still visit my Dad when we get a break. It wasn’t too much of a difficult decision for me.”

McGill’s elongated season did not leave much time for rest and recovery. He had a week back in England between Canada’s Gold Cup exit against the USMNT. before heading back to the U.S. with Brighton.

“I couldn’t be bothered by that stage to go on holiday anywhere,” he says. “I just needed to lie on the couch, watching telly.”

McGill understudied Minnesota United’s Dayne St Clair at the Gold Cup.

Canada, like Brighton, are an emerging force. They reached their first World Cup in 36 years in Qatar last year under John Herdman, although they finished bottom and pointless in a tough group that contained beaten semi-finalists Croatia and Morocco, as well as Belgium.

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The aim for McGill is to keep on improving with Brighton, strengthening his chances of making it to a special World Cup for Canada in 2026, which they are hosting with the U.S. and Mexico.

You never know: he might even get a game.

(Top photo: Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

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