Carsley kept his word in calling up Harwood-Bellis to senior side

BURTON UPON TRENT, England : England's interim boss Lee Carsley often told Taylor Harwood-Bellis, when the centre back was captain of the under-21 team and Carsley was manager, that he would one day make the nation's senior side.

Carsley made good on his word, calling up the Southampton defender for his first senior camp for Group B2 Nations League matches against Greece and Ireland this week.

"To be called up for the first team, it would obviously be a tough ask, with the quality that's in the squad, but he always said if you're playing well at the top level and doing the best you can ... and he stuck to his word and yeah, so I'm really happy," Harwood-Bellis said.

The 22-year-old is already thinking about cementing his spot ahead of permanent manager Thomas Tuchel's Jan. 1 arrival, knowing Tuchel will undoubtedly be watching.

"Think it'd be a big motivation for all the lads, knowing there's a new manager coming in and wanting to keep your spot," Harwood-Bellis said after Tuesday's training session at St. George's Park.

"It's going to be a tough ask to stay in this role and to stay in the senior squad. So that's something that, especially the young lads, will be pushing towards, kind of trying to keep my spot. It's going to be difficult, because the quality and the experience in some of the lads who aren't here is massive."

Carsley was forced to make wholesale changes to his squad after several key players withdrew due to injury.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Levi Colwill, Cole Palmer and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale are all unavailable to face Greece in Athens on Thursday or Ireland at Wembley three days later.

Asked what attributes Harwood-Bellis hopes to show, he said "just