Ireland midfielder Harry Arter says he could have made it to Euro 2016 fitness-wise but has no problem with not being included in Martin O'Neill's squad.
Injury ruled out the Bournemouth midfielder after a Man of the Match performance against the Netherlands in the pre-tournament friendly at the Aviva Stadium.
"Do I think I could have made it? I probably feel fitness-wise, yeah I probably could have in all honesty. I would have most definitely missed the first group game but from after that, I probably feel I could have gone but the manager had tough decisions to make and I fully respect his decision and there were players in a similar sort of position to me that had earned the right to be in that squad, carrying injuries," he said on Off The Ball, admitting that his own contribution to the qualification campaign was minimal, "if nothing".
But he took missing the tournament as a positive and a motivation rather than lamenting the fact and echoing his explanation pre-tournament about knowing what devastation feels like after a tough period off the field for him and his family, Arter reiterated that.
"Unfortunately for myself, I do know the meaning of devastation now. Of course it does make you look at life in a different way," he said.
He also spoke about how the injury originally cropped up.
"I picked up a torn quad muscle, just like a grade one sort of pain and before the Dutch game, I knew really that was my only opportunity that I was really going to have to get in the manager's mind to go to France so I thought if I don't play and say I need a bit of rest, then I've got no chance. Deep down I knew if I do play anyway, it's probably going to rule me out so I was kind of stuck in what to do. Me being me, I just decided to get on with it and the pain would go the next day but it was just pretty obvious it wasn't."
As Bournemouth prepare for a second season in the Premier League, Arter looked ahead to the new season and what the Cherries can expect.
Newstalk will have live Premier League coverage of Manchester United's trip to Bournemouth on Sunday, August 14th.
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