England U21s boss Gareth Southgate calls up Chelsea striker Dominic Solanke
Thursday 5 November 2015 14:57, UK
England U21s boss Gareth Southgate has called up Chelsea striker Dominic Solanke for the first time for this month's European U21 Championship qualifiers with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland.
England travel to Sarajevo for their first Group 9 game on Thursday, November 12, before returning to face Switzerland at the Amex Stadium in Brighton on Monday, November 16.
With Joe Gomez, Kortney Hause and James Wilson all missing due to injury, Southgate has called up Everton defender Tyias Browning and Solanke, who is currently on loan with Vitesse Arnhem.
Browning last featured under Southgate during the Toulon Tournament of 2014, while Solanke previously impressed at U17 and U19 level.
England have won both of their qualifiers for the 2017 tournament in Poland thus far, 1-0 in Norway before beating Kazakhstan 3-0 in Coventry.
Southgate - who revealed he will likely give debuts to Galloway and team-mate Tyias Browning - does not have a great deal of experience in his squad, a fact which is giving him some cause for concern.
"Last weekend only five of these boys started for their clubs, so that's a definite concern," he said.
"In fairness, a few have been playing regularly, they just didn't start at the weekend, and we have two or three injuries now, and four with the seniors (Raheem Sterling and John Stones, in addition to Dier and Alli) who could be eligible for us.
"What will be exciting is that definitely in defence, we'll have a couple who haven't played for us before (Everton's Galloway and Tyias Browning), and it's great to see how they'll adjust to that because there's potential there.
"That's the nature of the Premier League at the moment. It's a concern for Roy more than it is for me because the pool of players he's selecting from just seems to be getting smaller and smaller. For Roy, particularly, the lack of English players in the Champions League is a concern."
England U21 squad
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Preston North End, loan from Sunderland), Christian Walton (Brighton), Joe Wildsmith (Sheffield Wednesday)
Defenders: Tyias Browning (Everton), Calum Chambers (Arsenal), Brendan Galloway (Everton), Dominic Iorfa (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jack Stephens (Middlesbrough, loan from Southampton), Matt Targett (Southampton)
Midfielders: Lewis Baker (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea), Nathaniel Chalobah (SSC Napoli, loan from Chelsea), Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton)
Forwards: Chuba Akpom (Hull City, loan from Arsenal), Jordon Ibe (Liverpool), Solly March (Brighton), Nathan Redmond (Norwich City), Dominic Solanke (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea), Duncan Watmore (Sunderland), Cauley Woodrow (Fulham)
