Gareth Southgate has admitted that Jesse Lingard is “fortunate” to have been given an England recall.
Since making his debut in 2016, Lingard has been capped 24 times by England. He played a key part at the 2018 World Cup, as he played in all-but-one of their games as they reached the semi-finals.
Lingard’s last international cap came in June 2019. This was a Nations League third-place play-off against Switzerland that England won on penalties.
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The midfielder dropped out of England contention as he fell down the pecking order at Manchester United. He did not make a single Premier League appearance during the first half of the 2020/21 season.
But since his loan move to West Ham, Lingard has returned to form. He has four goals and two assists from his six league outings for the Hammers.
Speaking after the squad announcement, as cited by The Evening Standard, Southgate suggested that injuries have given Lingard a chance to return:
“There has never been any question in our mind about the quality of all three players. All have had difficult times really, mainly due to injury.
“Jesse, of the three, you would have to say is a little more fortunate to be in. Luke and John have performed over a period of time.
“We have got injuries in attacking areas that have opened up an opportunity for Jesse but I have to say his performances for West Ham have been excellent, his four goals in six games.
“We know he can perform at the level, we know he has been a good member of our squad, both in terms of his general link-up play, but he has scored goals for England as well.
“So there is no doubting his quality. Ideally, you would be saying you need to be doing it for a little bit longer but that has not been the option this time around.
“We have lost the likes of Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho and one or two others, Harvey Barnes, James Maddison. So there is a space there. We trust Jesse and we think he can play a big part in these three games.”
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