The
Manchester United left-back has played only twice for Gareth Southgate but his performances made a return inevitable
It seems strange to remember now, as Luke Shaw crashes back into the
England squad on a wave of blistering form, that there was no real clamour for Gareth Southgate to include him for the previous international get-together.
That was in November, when England faced the Republic of
Ireland,
Belgium and Iceland, and Southgate relied on one pure left-back in Ben Chilwell. The manager had others who could operate or cover on the left of the defence more as wing-backs, such as Bukayo Saka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Kieran Trippier. The discrepancy was one of the reasons why Southgate moved to a 3-4-3 system; he did not want to lose Chilwell and be exposed.