Gareth Southgate has spoken in more detail at his decision to include Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham in his latest England squad, and has praised Frank Lampard for consistently involving young English talent in his Chelsea side.
The duo join their Blues team-mates Mason Mount and Ross Barkley in Southgate’s Three Lions squad, for the upcoming October internationals against Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
While Abraham has featured for England before in a friendly against Germany, for Tomori it represents a maiden call-up to the senior side having been a prominent figure in the Three Lions’ youth sides over the years.
After naming his 25-man squad, Southgate spoke at length to discuss the reasons behind why he’s decided to include Abraham and Tomori in his latest squad.
‘I think what’s been great for us in terms of England is to see Frank [Lampard] as a coach getting an opportunity at a big club and he’s playing a lot of young English players,’ explained Southgate.
‘Both of these guys have been in our development teams for a long time, Fik was in our Under-20s when they won the World Cup and has played very well, so we think it’s a good time to have a closer look at him and work with him.
‘Tammy is the leading English goalscorer in the league so it doesn’t take too much to see why he would be in the frame with us.
‘He’s always scored goals at every age level with our teams and it’s great to see him getting a run in the first team at Chelsea.’
Southgate's squad will meet at St. George's Park on Monday to begin their preparations for the trip.
The clash with Montenegro on Thursday 14 November is the final qualifier at Wembley and is also England’s 1000th international game.