Ivan Toney receives first England call-up, Eric Dier returns, Jadon Sancho misses out of Nations League games

Ivan Toney has been given his first England call-up as Gareth Southgate named a 28-man squad for the Three Lions’ Nations League games against Italy and Germany. Manchester United duo Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have been omitted, while Eric Dier returns to the squad for the first time since 2020. Ad Jarrod Bowen and Marc Guehi have retained their places after making their international debuts earlier this year.

World Cup‘The most successful England manager in 55 years’ — FA backs Southgate21/06/2022 AT 11:45 Everton’s Jordan Pickford is injured due to a thigh problem he picked up in the Merseyside derby, while Rashford is still feeling the effects of an injury he picked up against Arsenal and will miss United’s Europa League game against Sheriff on Thursday. Toney has earned himself a place after a strong start to the season, which has been a continuation of the form he showed last year. The 26-year-old scored 17 Premier League goals since the start of last season and recently scored a hat-trick in Brentford’s 5-2 win over Leeds two weeks ago.

“With Ivan Toney, we have been tracking him for a long time," said Southgate in quotes published on England's website. «I had a good chat with Thomas Frank about him last season. His form and his qualities — not only his goalscoring but his technical ability, build-up play and aerial prowess — gives us a different threat to some of the other players we could pick.» England face Italy away on September 23, before hosting Germany at Wembley Stadium on September 26.