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As seen by the departures of players such as Nathan Aké, Bertrand Traoré and several others this summer, Chelsea’s loan system may become a tiresome affair even for our top prospects. However, the successes the system lands — be it on the financial books or on the pitch — does makes up for all the cons that come with it.
The latest major achievement by the Chelsea Loan Army has come in form of call-ups to the English national team. After a string of strong showings on loan at Swansea City and Crystal Palace, respectively, striker Tammy Abraham and midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been picked by manager Gareth Southgate to join the Three Lions for their upcoming friendlies against Germany and Brazil.
Congratulations to @J_Gomez97, @rubey_lcheek and @tammyabraham on their first #ThreeLions call-ups!
— England (@England) November 2, 2017
We’ll have the full squad soon... pic.twitter.com/E6tuJ1rSUz
Of course, Chelsea captain Gary Cahill is also in the squad!
Some could argue it is a bit too early to have the 20-year-old Abraham and 21-year-old Loftus-Cheek join the English team, but at least in Abraham’s case it’s a smart move as it can dissipate any of his doubts on whether to pick England or Nigeria as his national team for the rest of his career.
In any case, congratulations to the (not right now but hopefully in the future) boys in Blue! May this be the first of many opportunities in their career to represent England.
The full 25-man squad selection by Southgate is as follows.
GOALKEEPERS: Joe Hart (West Ham — on loan from Manchester City), Jack Butland (Stoke City), Jordan Pickford (Everton);
DEFENDERS: Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester City), Danny Rose (Tottenham), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United);
MIDFIELDERS: Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Crystal Palace — on loan from Chelsea), Dele Alli (Tottenham), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Harry Winks (Tottenham);
FORWARDS: Tammy Abraham (Swansea City — on loan from Chelsea), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester City).