STEVE Cook was thrilled at the news former team-mate Aaron Ramsdale would be joining up with the England squad, even if it did mean having to cancel meeting up for a beer!

Ramsdale, who played 37 times for Cherries during the 2019-20 campaign, was a late call-up to Gareth Southgate's group for Euro 2020.

The Sheffield United stopper was this week drafted in to replace Dean Henderson, who withdrew due to a hip injury.

Ramsdale, who departed Cherries last summer, was in Bournemouth on holiday when he heard the news he would be required to step in while Henderson's injury was assessed.

He had been due to catch up with Cherries skipper Cook in the coming days, but those plans have now been thwarted with Ramsdale officially added to the squad.

Speaking to talkSPORT about Ramsdale's call-up, Cook said: "I am over the moon for him. He’s done incredibly well.

"He’s been in the England set-up for a long time now. He’s had to wait for a misfortune for Dean Henderson, but I was arranging to have a beer with him next week, but we’ve had to put that on hold because now he’s training with England!

"I’m delighted for him. He’s such a good guy and at such a young age as well, it’s a great learning curve for him."

Ramsdale was part of England's 33-man provisional squad for Euro 2020, but was one of seven men to be cut before the tournament began with Jordan Pickford, Sam Johnstone and Henderson the preferred goalkeeper trio.

And having failed to get hold of a ticket to watch Sunday's win over Croatia in person, Ramsdale will now likely be part of the matchday squad itself when Scotland visit Wembley Stadium on Friday.

Asked what it had been like to be on the standby list for the tournament, Ramsdale told Sky Sports: "There wasn’t any rules given to me to be honest. The only thing I knew was if someone got injured then I would be coming into the squad.

"I made the decision myself not to go away. I went back down to Bournemouth, so that was going to be my holiday. I’ve had a nice 10 days off and now I’m straight back into it."

Speaking to the England podcast, the 23-year-old added: "Because of the restrictions and stuff, this would have been the first summer I would have had off in five or six seasons and this is the first time I’ve not been bothered about going away.

"I was at Bournemouth and I’ve still got my Bournemouth house and I haven’t been back all year.

"So my summer was to go down there, my mates were going to come down and we were going to play some golf and that’s probably the only thing which has changed. A few dinners with certain people over the summer which I’ve obviously had to cancel, but luckily I didn’t want to book anything.

"It was a huge issue of getting tests and countries going to amber and stuff so thankfully I was only down south and didn’t have to quarantine and I’m all COVID-free so I can just go straight into the squad."

He added: "I was trying to get a ticket for Wembley.

"I was watching at my house on Sunday and we had a barbecue and I was jumping up and down like a crazy person when we scored. I’ve just seen Raz (Sterling) and tried to act all cool and just said hello like you normally would!

"I’ve tried desperately hard to get a ticket for the first game and couldn’t manage to get one.

"Game one, game two, game three – I just wanted a ticket. I’d have gone on my own or I’d have met up with some of the other lads’ families or whatever but I didn’t manage to get it. But it’s crazy how things work."