GO AND EXPRESS YOURSELVES, LADS
I APPLAUD Gareth Southgate’s bold move to call up James Maddison, Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho. All three are supremely talented and love to get on the ball. Maddison deserves this after a brilliant start to Leicester City’s season. He caught my eye in his side’s defeat by Liverpool last month. It was only his fourth Premier League game but he ran the midfield. He oozes confidence and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him taking free-kicks against Croatia and Spain. Winning your first cap is life-changing. You are scrutinised more than ever before. Now Maddison is an England player, he cannot let his standards slip when Leicester play Everton tomorrow. Call-ups for Mount and Sancho vindicate the brave moves they have made. Rather than stay at Chelsea, Mount has gone to play for Frank Lampard at Derby. He did not look out of place in their League Cup win at Manchester United and that will have helped convince Southgate he is ready for England. Sancho may have played just 124 minutes for Dortmund but is the ultimate supersub, setting up five goals. My advice to all three is don’t be shy, show us what you can do.