A number of Chelsea players have been selected for the England senior and Under-21 squads for the international fixtures over the next few weeks.
Ross Barkey and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have retained their places in Gareth Southgate’s 25-man list following their involvement for the Blues since the last Three Lions fixtures in November. There are five representatives in Aidy Boothroyd’s Under-21 squad as Callum Hudson-Odoi, Jake Clarke-Salter, Jay Dasilva, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham have all been called up.
It is the first time Hudson-Odoi has been picked by Boothroyd as he has previously featured in the Under-16,17,18 and 19 squads, making a total of 28 appearances. The other Blues youngsters, who are all currently out on loan, are regulars in the Under-21 squad and will be able to provide support for their team-mate.
Barkley started England’s last three Nations League matches as they secured a place in the semi-finals in Portugal this summer so he is clearly an integral part of Southgate’s plans going forward. They begin their road to Euro 2020 on Friday night with the visit of the Czech Republic before they travel to Montenegro for their second match on Monday evening.
Loftus-Cheek will be expecting at least an appearance off the bench after making a good impression for the Three Lions ever since his memorable debut against Germany back at the end of 2017. They might be qualifiers for the European Championships over the next week or so but focus is firmly on winning the inaugural UEFA Nations League when they face off with Portugal, Netherlands and Switzerland in the summer.
We would like to wish the boys good luck for the fixtures, in particular, Hudson-Odoi who will hopefully be making his England Under-21 debut against either Poland or Germany following a run of games in Maurizio Sarri’s first team.
