Toney returns to England squad, Branthwaite and Gordon get first call-ups

Brentford forward Ivan Toney received his first England call-up since serving an eight-month suspension for breaching FA betting rules on Wednesday ahead of friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.

Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite and Newcastle United forward Anthony Gordon were called up for the first time by manager Gareth Southgate, who said Arsenal defender Ben White had asked not to be considered for the squad.

The 27-year-old Toney won his lone cap for England as a substitute against Ukraine last March, and has scored four goals for Brentford since his return from suspension on Jan. 20.

"He's shown straight away getting back into Brentford's team the quality and impact he can have," said Southgate.

The 21-year-old Branthwaite has been a bright spot in Everton's roller-coaster season.

"He's played consistently well," Southgate said. "His development, we watched him as a back-up centre-half for the under-21s, if you said a year ago he would consistently play in the Premier League, I would've been surprised."

Midfielder Kalvin Phillips, on loan at West Ham United from Manchester City, missed out on a call-up due to a lack of form.

"A good version of him is an important player for us. We don't have many players of that profile," Southgate said. "Unfortunately, his form just hasn't been good enough. I've spoken to him, he knows that."

England will host Brazil on March 23 and Belgium on March 26 at Wembley Stadium.

"If we're going to look at players, we need to see them against the very best or they could play well but we wouldn't know if they were ready to take the next step," Southgate said. "We can't do that in May or June so we took the best games we could."

England are ranked third in the world, while Belgium are fourth and