Tom Cleverley is expected to make his England debut in next week's friendly against Italy in Berne after the Manchester United midfielder impressed Roy Hodgson with his contribution to Team GB's campaign at the Olympic Games.
The national manager is due to speak with Premier League clubs this week to offer an indication as to the players he will be seeking to include in a youthful squad to confront the Azzurri in what will be a re-run of June's Euro 2012 quarter-final in Kiev. Hodgson had previously stated an intention to use players who were not central figures at the finals in the summer and will announce his squad on Friday.
The manager has expressed his satisfaction with the impact made by Cleverley, Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand with Stuart Pearce's Great Britain side, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals on penalties by South Korea on Saturday. While all three will be considered for the game against Italy, it is anticipated Cleverley will be included and will finally make an appearance at the highest level having missed out a year ago when the friendly against the Netherlands was postponed due to the riots in London.
The 22-year-old was subsequently an unused member of the squad for the qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales before his impact was frustrated by foot and ankle injuries which limited him to 10 Premier League appearances for United, though, fitness permitting, he will now be granted his chance to impress. Indeed, Pearce claimed in the wake of elimination that both Cleverley and Sturridge were ready to make the step up to senior international level.
"Most of them [GB players] are pretty much ready anyway, but one or two of the younger players like Bertrand and Sturridge and players like Tom Cleverley, who is coming back from injury, may have not been quite so much a fixture in their teams," said Hodgson. "Let's hope the Olympic experience with Team GB has given them a better chance of staking a claim for a regular spot."
The England manager had attended two of Team GB's fixtures and watched Gary Cahill, who missed Euro 2012 with a broken jaw, play for Chelsea in Saturday's 3–1 friendly defeat to Brighton. Hodgson will be at Villa Park for Sunday's Community Shield between Chelsea and Manchester City, though the likes of Ashley Cole and John Terry may be spared involvement for the game in Switzerland, which falls just three days ahead of the start of the Premier League season. Jack Rodwell of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur's Kyle Walker, who missed the summer tournament with a broken toe, are in contention for call-ups."There will be players involved in the game who weren't part of the Euros," said Hodgson, whose next competitive fixture is the World Cup qualifier in Moldova on 7 September. "I'm sure Italy will make changes too, so it won't be two similar line-ups from the but it will be quite interesting to play so soon after our elimination against them. It's been more difficult than usual (to watch players) this year because the clubs have travelled so far. Most of the top clubs have travelled to places like America, China and South Korea so it has been difficult to keep tabs on it.
"But we've done the best we can over the last couple of weeks before Friday's squad announcement and I will manage to see some matches. I will be relying on what we know about the players and using the information and the knowledge that we used before picking the Euro squad to pick a squad for this one."
The manager has expressed his satisfaction with the impact made by Cleverley, Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand with Stuart Pearce's Great Britain side, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals on penalties by South Korea on Saturday. While all three will be considered for the game against Italy, it is anticipated Cleverley will be included and will finally make an appearance at the highest level having missed out a year ago when the friendly against the Netherlands was postponed due to the riots in London.
The 22-year-old was subsequently an unused member of the squad for the qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales before his impact was frustrated by foot and ankle injuries which limited him to 10 Premier League appearances for United, though, fitness permitting, he will now be granted his chance to impress. Indeed, Pearce claimed in the wake of elimination that both Cleverley and Sturridge were ready to make the step up to senior international level.
"Most of them [GB players] are pretty much ready anyway, but one or two of the younger players like Bertrand and Sturridge and players like Tom Cleverley, who is coming back from injury, may have not been quite so much a fixture in their teams," said Hodgson. "Let's hope the Olympic experience with Team GB has given them a better chance of staking a claim for a regular spot."
The England manager had attended two of Team GB's fixtures and watched Gary Cahill, who missed Euro 2012 with a broken jaw, play for Chelsea in Saturday's 3–1 friendly defeat to Brighton. Hodgson will be at Villa Park for Sunday's Community Shield between Chelsea and Manchester City, though the likes of Ashley Cole and John Terry may be spared involvement for the game in Switzerland, which falls just three days ahead of the start of the Premier League season. Jack Rodwell of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur's Kyle Walker, who missed the summer tournament with a broken toe, are in contention for call-ups."There will be players involved in the game who weren't part of the Euros," said Hodgson, whose next competitive fixture is the World Cup qualifier in Moldova on 7 September. "I'm sure Italy will make changes too, so it won't be two similar line-ups from the but it will be quite interesting to play so soon after our elimination against them. It's been more difficult than usual (to watch players) this year because the clubs have travelled so far. Most of the top clubs have travelled to places like America, China and South Korea so it has been difficult to keep tabs on it.
"But we've done the best we can over the last couple of weeks before Friday's squad announcement and I will manage to see some matches. I will be relying on what we know about the players and using the information and the knowledge that we used before picking the Euro squad to pick a squad for this one."
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment