MY ACCOUNT
Ask most England fans to write down who would be in their 23 for the World Cup in Qatar and the likelihood is that the majority will return the same 16 or 17 names.
Gareth Southgate retained only nine of the squad that travelled to the 2018 World Cup in Russia for last summer’s European Championships.
But with a flurry of younger players coming through in recent years, he now looks to have settled on a larger and more established core group.
However, there could be a few top-flight talents to break into the pack between now and November. We take a look at some of the names on the fringes.
Toney to be Kane’s main support?
Captain Harry Kane will be ready to lead the line in Qatar but Marcus Rashford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s struggles mean it is unclear who will be his understudy.
As the Premier League’s second top-scoring Englishman, Ivan Toney could be the man with his tally one shy of 12-goal Kane’s haul.
Toney has come back to life in recent weeks and was unlucky to miss out on a call for the March friendlies.
Bowen could be a wildcard
Jarrod Bowen has taken a longer path than some to the top but arguably only an injury has prevented him from making an England debut.
The West Ham ace has already equalled last season’s tally of eight Premier League goals and provided eight assists for the Hammers.
While Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Chelsea’s Mason Mount — who have 11 and seven assists respectively — will expect to be in Southgate’s squad, Leicester’s Harvey Barnes may feel he deserves to be in the discussion too.
Perhaps he should, having laid on six goals for his team-mates in the league this season, as well as netting three times himself.
The Foxes flyer has also added two strikes and an assist in the Europa Conference League, while Bowen has one of each in the Europa League.
