England manager Gareth Southgate has revealed why he has chosen not to call up youngsters such as Emile Smith Rowe, Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher to his latest squad.
The Three Lions boss has an embarrassment of riches at his fingertips, with clubs across Europe boasting some of the most exciting talent England have produced - but Southgate says that an England call-up shouldn't have to be reflective of their form.
Smith Rowe has started the season as one of Arsenal's best players, chipping in five goals and assists in the early stages of the season, while Guehi and Gallagher have been instrumental in getting Crystal Palace points on the board ahead of a tough transition season under new manager Patrick Vieira.
Jadon Sancho has also found himself cut from Southgate's thinking this time around, as he finds minutes difficult to come by since swapping Borussia Dortmund for Manchester United in the summer.
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"Emile, Conor Gallagher and Marc Guehi, in particular, are all playing very well with their clubs, but we’ve got depth," Southgate says.
"To put those in we’ve got to leave some of these on the sheet out and I think it’s not a bad thing that we’re starting to get a very strong Under-21 team because you want that depth.
"We fast track lots of young players very quickly and the majority of them are still in this squad now and a lot of them played a big part in the Euros.
“But also we’ve had some that have come up and then when you put them back with the Under-21s that’s a lot more complicated so we want to get the timing of that right.
“I think the boys I’ve just mentioned there are on a really good path, we like them, we’ll get a good chance to see them with the Under-21s as well as with their club, but at the moment we think it’s a little bit early for some of those guys in.
“We can put them in and they would be absolutely fine by the way. But we think the players we’ve picked are just a little bit ahead at the moment.”
