Gareth Southgate has named his England squad that will head to the World Cup in Qatar later this month with James Maddison and Callum Wilson returning to the team for the first time since 2019.
Leicester City's Maddison has only ever made one appearance for the Three Lions before now and that came back in 2019 when he replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in a 7-0 victory over Montenegro. The 25-year-old has been one of the highest-performing players in the Premier League over the past 18 months, having been directly involved in 30 goals in the top-flight since the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign - with 10 coming this term.
Newcastle United striker Callum Wilson has come back into the fold having not featured for the Three Lions over the past three years. He earned four caps between 2018 and 2019. The 30-year-old snuck in ahead of Brentford’s Ivan Toney and Roma’s Tammy Abraham to play understudy to captain Harry Kane in Qatar.
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Arsenal's Ben White has been rewarded for his consistent performances for the Gunners this term. White offers Southgate some much-needed versatility and he has been excelling at right-back this term in Mikel Arteta's side.
The England boss has had to make some tough calls following injuries sustained by Chelsea full-backs Ben Chilwell and Reece James. James was hoping to recover in time to play a part in the tournament but Southgate called him to inform him he wasn’t going to take a risk with him. Kyle Walker has been called up despite being out of action for several weeks with a groin problem.
His Manchester City teammate Kalvin Phillips has also been rewarded with a place in the squad having also just returned from injury. England's 2021 Player of the Year had been sidelined since September with a shoulder problem.
The Three Lions’ World Cup campaign kicks off against Iran on Monday 21 November in the Group B opener at 1pm. The match will be held at the Khalifa International Stadium which holds just over 45,000 spectators.
Squad in full:
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders: Harry Maguire, John Stones, Ben White, Luke Shaw, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Conor Coady, Kieran Trippier, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Kalvin Phillips, Jordan Henderson, Mason Mount, Conor Gallagher
Forwards: Harry Kane, Callum Wilson, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, James Maddison, Jack Grealish
