While the full squad isn’t due to be announced until 2pm (BST) this afternoon, England have gone ahead and confirmed that Tammy Abraham, Joe Gomez and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have all been called up to the senior side for their upcoming November friendlies against Germany and Brazil.
Abraham, 20, has scored four league goals in 10 appearances for Swansea so far this season, impressing with his link-up play and eye for goal despite not getting the most reliable support from his Swans teammates at times.
Congratulations to @J_Gomez97, @rubey_lcheek and @tammyabraham on their first #ThreeLions call-ups! 👏
We’ll have the full squad soon… pic.twitter.com/E6tuJ1rSUz
— England (@England) November 2, 2017
It’s fairly likely that England have given Abraham a timely nod to help quell Nigeria’s continued interest in securing the youngster’s international allegiance, though of course Abraham could play every single minute of both games and still be eligible for the Super Eagles, what with them both qualifying as non-competitive fixtures.
Elsewhere, despite clamour from some quarters after a smattering of decent performances for Arsenal of late, it’s being widely reported that Gareth Southgate has overlooked a return to the Three Lions fold for the semi-resurgent Jack Wilshere.
We’ll know for sure at 2 o’clock.
UPDATE: Here it is – no Wilshere, no Chris Smalling…
Here’s the #ThreeLions squad for this month’s games against Germany and Brazil!
🇩🇪 https://t.co/E4ThMiHz0C
🇧🇷 https://t.co/hm7mZF0nVY pic.twitter.com/baVjCGjoIs— England (@England) November 2, 2017
According to Daniel Taylor at the Guardian, Southgate explained that Smalling has been dropped because “he wants England defenders to be able to use the ball from the back” – basically, because he can’t actually play football very well.
Ouch.