LONDON (Reuters) – Borussia Dortmund’s teenaged midfielder Jude Bellingham was left out but striker Ollie Watkins recalled on Thursday as England manager Gareth Southgate named his squad for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers away to Andorra and home to Hungary.
Manchester City’s Phil Foden returns after missing the qualifiers in September because of injury while AC Milan’s former Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori was also named in the squad in the absence of injured Harry Maguire.
Tomori has been impressive this season and is likely to earn his second cap, having made his debut in November 2019.
Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale was included in the squad with Burnley’s Nick Pope dropping out. Liverpool right back Trent Alexander-Arnold misses out because of injury.
Bellingham, 18, has impressed in his brief international career but will play no part in either of the two games that could seal England’s qualification for the finals in Qatar.
It is understood that Southgate made the decision to manage the workload on the youngster.
The return of Watkins is a boost for the Aston Villa player who was cut from Southgate’s provisional Euro 2020 squad, although slightly surprising was the omission of Manchester United’s in-form young striker Mason Greenwood.
Watkins is yet to score for Villa this season.
England play away against Andorra on Oct. 9 before hosting Hungary on Oct. 12 and although they need eight points from their remaining games to be certain to qualify, they could manage it with two wins next month, depending on other results.
They are top of the group with 16 points from six games, four more than second-placed Albania and five ahead of Poland.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Sam Johnstone, Aaron Ramsdale
Defenders: Conor Coady, Reece James, Tyrone Mings, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Fikayo Tomori, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.
Midfielders: Phil Foden, Jordan Henderson, Jesse Lingard, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice.
Forwards: Jack Grealish, Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling, Ollie Watkins.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)
