Greenwood and Hudson-odoi’s ‘no’ to England
➤ Southgate reveals pair have declined national team call-ups ➤ Sancho and Lingard dropped as Alexander-arnold wins recall
Gareth Southgate says young England players run the risk of seeing their international careers overtaken after revealing that Mason Greenwood withdrew from the team’s seven World Cup qualifiers this autumn, and Callum Hudsonodoi had again declined to play for the Under-21s.
In naming his squad for the final two World Cup qualifiers of the campaign against Albania next Friday and San Marino three days later, Southgate revealed that Greenwood, 20, and his family had requested in September that his international career be “parked” until next year. Hudson-odoi, 20, was told that the England manager wanted him to play in the Under-21s but the Chelsea winger declined, saying that he believed his club form could earn him a return to the senior squad.
“We would like him to be with the Under-21s,” Southgate said. “He feels he would be best served staking a case for the team with Chelsea. I think he has a better chance of impressing us if he is with the Under-21s as well, frankly.”
Southgate dropped the out-ofform Jadon Sancho, as well as his Manchester United team-mate Jesse Lingard. He recalled Jude Bellingham, who was omitted from last month’s World Cup qualifiers against Hungary and San Marino on the basis of a request from the player and his family that he be given some rest. Both Greenwood and Hudsonodoi could feasibly switch allegiances to Jamaica and Ghana respectively, but the issue seems to lie elsewhere. Greenwood was dropped following his debut against Iceland in September last year, and to date his only senior cap, for participating with Phil Foden in a team hotel rendezvous with two women in Reykjavik. Foden was reinstated sooner than the United man. Hudson-odoi, who has three caps, was the youngest England international to make a debut in a competitive game in 2019. He has since declined to play for the Under-21s before, in August.
Lee Carsley’s team play the Czech Republic next Thursday and Georgia three days after that.
Southgate said that the decision on Greenwood was reached after a conversation between him, the player, United and the Football Association technical director John Mcdermott before the three September qualifiers. Greenwood had been selected in the Euro 2020 squad this summer but withdrew with injury. “We had a good chat with Mason and his family,” Southgate said, “and we agreed we would park this until next year, basically. We would leave the autumn games.”
He added: “Of course, you always run the risk that other people are going to come through. But he’s young enough that there is time. If he establishes himself in Manchester United’s team, then he is going to be very close to an England squad or an England team. So that development piece he recognises, his family recognises. He wants to play for England. He is clear about that.
“It’s not that he doesn’t want to be with us. We totally understand the situation. Myself and John, in particular, Steve Holland through his time coaching with lots of young players. We understand this journey they are going on.”
Southgate was reluctant to go into details as to how not playing for England would help Greenwood in his United career. Nevertheless, he defended his young players against any suggestion they, rather than him, were deciding when they played. “If I did feel they were picking and choosing it would, in a few months to come, probably be reflected in our selection,” he said. “But we are not going to not pick these boys because of these development challenges.
“They’re still taking on board a lot in maturing in their own lives and particularly in the modern world you have got to listen to that, I think. As a coach, I’ve got to get that right. These are not boys that are going to tell me something that they don’t feel from the heart and don’t have any interest in playing for England.”
There were recalls for Trent Alexander-arnold, Tammy Abraham, Marcus Rashford, James Wardprowse and Ben Chilwell as well as Bellingham. From last month’s squad, others omitted were Ollie Watkins, Fikayo Tomori and Kieran Trippier. In the case of the latter, who captained England against Andorra, Southgate said it was done to give opportunities to other rightbacks. There was no place for Arsenal centre-back Ben White.
On Sancho, Southgate noted the assessment that it had been a rapid rise to the top for the 21-year-old. “But what is the top?” he said. “These boys are still learning the game, they’re still learning how to be professionals. They’re still learning in Jadon’s situation, adapting to a new club, a different style of play. So, they’re not at the top yet.
“That’s totally normal on a player’s journey, so we think that a lot of them have done very well. We’ve given them a lot of caps, but there is competition for places and we’ve got to pick the people we think can get us the results, particularly this month, to get us qualified for the World Cup.”