Ross Barkley may have hit a brief rough patch in his resurrection, but that’s surely just a temporary diversion for the midfielder who’s been impressing since pre-season. So it’s no surprise that he is still one of the 28 players called up by Gareth Southgate for the November international break, when England will face Croatia in the final Nations League group stage match next Sunday and also take on the USA in a charity friendly on the Thursday before.
The friendly will be played in support of the Wayne Rooney Foundation, which will also see the man himself return for one final appearance. Rooney has been lighting up the MLS with 12 goals in 21 appearances since joining DC United in July, but the 33-year-old missed his penalty in the shootout against Columbus in the MLS Playoffs qualifying round and his season is now over, freeing him up to make (an honorary) 120th England appearance. (Rooney has only been called up for the friendly, not the semi-competitive match.)
The other players in the squad also include Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who returns after missing the October matches through injury. It would’ve been hard not to include the youngster just based on his hat-trick against BATE a fortnight ago, even if he wasn’t able to reproduce that effort last night in the return match.
The other possibly noteworthy name in the selection of Callum Wilson, who gets his maiden call and suddenly adds just a little bit more weight to all the recent speculation in certain tabloids (who must’ve run out of other content) that Chelsea may be interested in him in the next transfer window. The 26-year-old homegrown Wilson has 6 league goals in 11 appearances for Bournemouth this season, which puts him just one behind the leaders in the Golden Boot race.
A huge honour to be announced in the @england squad today!! Days like this just prove that no matter what obstacles you face in life, you can always bounce back and more!! pic.twitter.com/kB5rChuvhy
— Callum Wilson (@CallumWilson) November 8, 2018
The full England squad for the November international break is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jack Butland (Stoke), Marcus Bettinelli (Fulkam), Alex McCarthy (Southampton)
DEFENDERS: Kyle Walker (Man City), John Stones (Man City), Kieran Trippier (Spurs), Luke Shaw (Man Utd), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Michael Keane (Everton), Ben Chilwell (Leicster), Lewis Drunk (Brighton)
MIDFIELDERS: Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Eric Dier (Spurs), Dele Alli (Spurs), Ross Barkley (Chelsea), Jesse Lingard (Man Utd), Fabian Delph (Man City), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Harry Winks (Spurs)
FORWARDS: Wayne Rooney (DC United), Raheem Sterling (Man City), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal), Harry Kane (Spurs), Marcus Rashford (Man Utd), Jadon Sancho (BVB), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth)