Arsenal youngster, Emile Smith Rowe has been handed his first senior England call up following the withdrawal of Marcus Rashford and James Ward-Prowse from the squad.
Although Smith Rowe missed out on Gareth Southgate’s original squad for the game against Albania and San Marino, he has now been added to the party after Rashford and Ward-Prowse pulled out due to injuries.
Smith Rowe has been in superb form of lately, scoring the only goal in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Watford on Sunday. He now has four goals and two assists to his name in 11 Premier League games this season.
Rashford was taken I’ll after United’s 2-2 draw against Atalanta last week and missed two days of training. He will now remain with his club to regain sharpness after ruling himself out of contention for England.
Ward-Prowse will miss out due to illness while Mason Mount and Luke Shaw will also stay with their clubs.
Rashford and Shaw join fellow team-mate Mason Greenwood in sitting out after Southgate last week revealed they had agreed for the youngster to miss the internationals in other to focus on his development.
While speaking at a press conference on Monday, Southgate said: “Emile Smith Rowe arrived on Monday initially to join the U21s, however, Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount, Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse have not reported for international duties.”
“Rashford will remain with Manchester United in order to concentrate on regaining full fitness while Ward-Prowse is ruled out of the forthcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers through illness.”
“Mount’s arrival is delayed due to a dental surgery he had recently and will be monitored in the coming days, as will Shaw, who is undergoing a concussion protocol at his club currently.”
