Robbie Fowler has claimed he would not be going to the World Cup if he was still a Liverpool player.
The 27-year-old Leeds striker saw his decision to end a 15-year association with the Anfield giants last November justified when he was named in Sven-Goran Eriksson's World Cup squad.
Although Fowler's move across the Pennines was greeted at the time by a mixture of astonishment and sadness from his loyal fans on Merseyside, the player knew his Liverpool career was floundering - and in danger of destroying his England dream.
A very public bust-up with assistant manager Phil Thompson had led to Fowler being sidelined for much of the three months of the season.
But with the virtual guarantee of first-team football at Leeds, Fowler grabbed the chance and has enjoyed a new lease of life under David O'Leary, with a very respectable return of 12 goals from his 22 league games so far.
And Fowler admitted: "It's been well-documented that one of the main reasons I left Liverpool was to enhance my chances of playing for England.
"Realistically if I was sat here with a Liverpool shirt on I don't think we'd be talking about the World Cup, so I think that's saying a lot about what I felt about that time."
Fowler's determination to make this year's tournament in Japan and Korea was intensified by having missed the finals in France four years ago with a bad knee injury.
"As a player to want to play at the highest level and you can't get any higher than the World Cup so to miss out last time through a knee injury was obviously bad, and hopefully I can make up for it this time.
"The manager knows what I can do and what I can't do and I'd like to think he's been impressed with what I've done over the last few games with England."
The two players reducing Fowler's chances at Liverpool - Michael Owen and Emile Heskey - now stand between him and a starting place in Eriksson's first XI.
"If I was going to be at Liverpool behind those two then I don't think I'd be on the plane.
"Obviously it's going to hard (to break them up) - I worked with them week in and week out and I know exactly what they can do; they are two world-class players.
"It's going to be hard, but I'm not a bad player myself."
Fowler was however under no illusions about the size of England's task in the Far East.
He added: "It's probably as hard as you could get in the World Cup.
"Obviously Sweden were unbeaten in the qualifiers and I think they scored the most goals.
"Argentina are one of the favourites and then Nigeria, who are going through a little bit of a transition at the moment, but I think with those teams you know what you're getting.
"Obviously we all want to win it, but realistically it's going to be very hard and everybody is going to have to be on top of their game for every game."
He suggested the average age of the squad boded well for the future, if not this time.
"The nucleus of the squad is very young and obviously that bodes very well for the future.
"I think if you get so many 20-odd year-olds playing together and they grow up then you have a certain team spirit - Manchester United have proved that for years."
Leeds end their season in low-key fashion on Saturday with a home game against Middlesbrough.
And Fowler freely admitted the club would be glad to see the back of what has been a difficult campaign for many reason.
"Obviously this season has not been ideal, we've got one game to go but I think we'll be looking forward to next season and putting this season behind us."
But he added: "From day one I've mixed with the lads and they've all treated me like I've been here for years so I think that's helped.
"I've got a good goals-to-games ratio so I've done not too bad and hopefully I can develop that a bit more next year."
Fowler will not be playing any part at Elland Road having picked up a hip injury in the last league game, at Derby.
"It's a very stupid injury, but although it's a little bit twingey at the minute I think I should be fine within a week or so.
"It's not a major injury, and Sven has spoken to the medical staff and they have assured him that it will be fine."