Barnes earns an England call-up

MIDFIELDER GETS HIS REWARD FOR EXCELLENT FORM DURING 2020

LEICESTER City winger Harvey Barnes has received his maiden senior England call-up, writes Jordan Blackwell.

The homegrown star has been rewarded for his excellent form in 2020 with inclusion in Gareth Southgate’s squad for this month’s triple-header, a friendly against Wales and Nations League games against Belgium and Denmark.

Since the turn of the year, Barnes has registered seven goals and five assists across 25 games in all competitions, last season finishing as the second highest English player in the assist charts, behind only Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Barnes opened his account for City this season in the 4-2 win over Burnley, and will now link up with former City teammates Ben Chilwell and Harry Maguire in the 30-man Three Lions’ squad, where his competitors for a place out wide include Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish and fellow potential debutant Bukayo Saka.

Explaining Barnes’ call-up, Southgate said: “Harvey has had a good couple of years. He is a different sort of attacking wide player, very direct.

“He was very impressive counterattacking against Manchester City the other day. That has been a consistency for a period of time.”

If he plays, Barnes will become the sixth City player to represent England since their return to the Premier League, following on from Jamie Vardy, Danny Drinkwater, Maguire, Chilwell, and James Maddison.

Maddison is not included in the squad this time, as he has been recovering from a hip problem, and is yet to start in the Premier League this term.

Barnes could come up against City team-mates in all three of his potential games this month, with Danny Ward likely to be in the Wales squad, with Kasper Schmeichel the vice-captain of Denmark, and with the club’s Belgian trio – Timothy Castagne, Dennis Praet, and Youri Tielemans – all called up.