Elliot Anderson Scotland vs England decision latest as Gareth Southgate details thoughts on Newcastle star

Gareth Southgate insists he hasn’t contacted Elliot Anderson over pledging his allegiance to England since the Newcastle star pulled out of last month’s Scotland camp.

The Three Lions boss has resisted any temptation to include the midfielder in his squad to face Australia and Italy at Wembley this month. But Southgate admits he is a huge fan of the 20-year-old who has made 10 top team appearances for the Magpies this season and came off the bench in Wednesday’s 3-0 Champions League win over PSG.

Anderson has represented both nations at youth level and got his first call-up to the full Scotland squad last month ahead of the Euro qualifying win in Cyprus and the friendly defeat to the Three Lions. But he left the camp after just two training sessions and Steve Clarke said this week the player would be given “time and apace” to make his decision on his international future.

Southgate named his England squad on Thursday and asked if he had spoken to Anderson, he told Sky Sports: “I haven’t. Those things (technical director) John McDermott deals with. We are the same as Steve, respectful those decisions are big ones and we don’t want to pressure anybody.

“We like Elliot, we think he is a very good player with high potential. He is obviously at a club that are absolutely flying. So we will just have to wait and see. We are very respectful that if he needs time to think that through, we completely understand.”