Southgate rewards Branthwaite and Gordon with England call-ups
England manager Gareth Southgate has rewarded Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite and Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon with their first senior call-ups for the Three Lions’ upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
Central defender Branthwaite, 21, has impressed at the heart of the Everton defence while Gordon, 23, has sparkled on the wing for the Magpies.
“He’s played consistently well,” Southgate said of Branthwaite. “We watched him as a back-up centre-half for the under-21s. If you said a year ago he would consistently play in the Premier League, I would have been surprised.
“Credit to [Everton manager] Sean Dyche. He’s in on merit. We’re looking forward to having a look at him.”
Another 21-year-old – Chelsea’s in-form attacking midfielder Cole Palmer – keeps his place in the squad having made his debut for the Three Lions in November.
Joe Gomez, who won the last of his 11 senior caps in October 2020, has been recalled having played a more prominent role for Liverpool this term, while Ivan Toney is back involved at the first opportunity after serving an eight-month Football Association betting ban.
There is no place, however, for Kalvin Phillips. The Manchester City midfielder joined West Ham on loan in January in a bid to secure a spot in Southgate’s
squad for this summer’s European Championships in Germany but has been in dismal form for the Hammers.
Former Southgate favourite Raheem Sterling is also conspicuous by his absence.
“I think [Phillips] knows exactly what we think of him,” said Southgate.
“A good version of him is an important player for us. We don’t have many players of that profile. Unfortunately, his form just hasn’t been good enough. I’ve spoken to him, he knows that. I said to him towards the end of last year, if he didn’t play at City, it was going to be a problem.”
Southgate revealed Arsenal defender Ben White would have been in the squad but requested not to be picked.
“We had a call from [Arsenal’s sporting director] Edu last week saying Ben didn’t want to be considered for England squads at the moment.
“I spoke to him post-Qatar and there was reticence from his side. I don’t know why that is, but I respect that. I leave the door open because he’s a good player.”
Branthwaite, who won the European Championships in
Branthwaite’s call-up caps a meteoric rise for a player Everton signed from fourth-tier Carlisle United in January 2020
Georgia last summer with England Under-21s, flourished in the Eredivisie while on loan with PSV Eindhoven for the 2022/23 season.
He very quickly won a place in Everton’s starting line-up upon his return, forging a formidable partnership with James Tarkowski and helping the Blues establish an impressive defensive record that belies their lowly league position – only Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool have conceded fewer goals.
His call-up caps a meteoric rise for a player Everton signed from then fourth-tier Carlisle United in January 2020.
Despite only signing a new four-year contract last October, Branthwaite is rumoured to be Manchester United’s top summer target. England face Brazil at Wembley on March 23 and then host Belgium on March 26.
“Why did we choose these games? If we’re going to look at players, we need to see them against the very best or they could play well but we wouldn’t know if they were ready to take the next step,” added Southgate.
“We can’t do that in May or June so we took the best games we could. We are ranked third in the world and they are ranked fourth [Belgium] and fifth [Brazil]. You could never get a better test.
“Ticket sales suggest the games are popular. Of course with England we have to experiment, play well, win games - do all of those things.”