The Newcastle manager was seen as one of the favourites to succeed Gareth Southgate as coach of the Three Lions but confirmed that he was not among the candidates that the FA held talks with before appointing Thomas Tuchel.

Asked if he was interviewed for the post, Howe said: "I was not. There was no contact from the FA."

Howe insists that he is not concerned by England's lack of interest in his services as he is completely focused on his work with the Magpies.

He said: "England have to do what is right for them and only they will know the processes they have gone through and the decisions they have made. I am certainly not the type of person that is going to analyse that.

"For me, it's about Newcastle and trying to win games and it's hard enough to do that if you are 100 per cent focused, and I will always remain that way to my work. If you drop your levels, then the job becomes impossible and at no stage have I allowed myself to do that."

Tuchel will become the third foreign coach of the Three Lions and Howe is a big admirer of the former Chelsea boss - although he would've preferred the job to be given to an Englishman.

He said: "I've got a relationship with Thomas and I was lucky enough to go and see him work at Chelsea when I was out of work.

"What a brilliant guy. What a great person. What a great coach.

"I had two days with him and thought he was fascinating, and I wish him well. I think he's a great appointment and I hope he leads England to many trophies.

"My preference would have been for an English coach but if you are going to go foreign then go for the best and Thomas is certainly that."