Wolves captain Conor Coady and Arsenal full-back Ainsley Maitland-Niles have been inducted into the English squad of Gareth Southgate for the Nations League games against Iceland and Denmark.
The Wolves’ center-back Coady, 27, has played every Premier League game for his team in the past two seasons.
Maitland-Niles was the man of the game on Saturday and scored in the shootout as Arsenal defeated Liverpool to win the Community Shield on his 23rd birthday.
It’s a first call for both players.
Both have represented England in youth – Coady captained his team at the 2010 European Under-17 Championship and Maitland-Niles won the 2017 U-20 World Championship.
The English players will meet in St. George’s Park on Monday.
The Southgate team will meet Iceland, the conquerors of Euro 2016, in Reykjavik on September 5, before playing against Denmark in Copenhagen three days later.
Coronavirus-induced disruption to the football calendar, including delaying Euro 2020 by a year to 2021, means England haven’t played since November 2019 when a 4-0 win in Kosovo concluded their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
Coady is a direct replacement for Harry Maguire, who was withdrawn from the squad by manager Southgate on Tuesday after being sentenced to suspended sentence on the Greek island of Syros.
The Manchester United captain, convicted of aggravated assault, resistance to arrest and repeated attempts at bribery, has since appealed the decision, meaning the conviction has been overturned under Greek law.
He said the BBC He feared for his life and thought he would be kidnapped during the incident on Mykonos.
Southgate said Maguire’s withdrawal was “in the best interests of all parties”.
England squad
Goalkeeper: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford and Nick Pope.
Defender: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Coady, Eric Dier, Joe Gomez, Michael Keane, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Tyrone Mings, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.
Midfield player: Phil Foden, Mason Mount, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, James Ward-Prowse and Harry Winks.
Forward: Tammy Abraham, Mason Greenwood, Danny Ings, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Raheem Sterling.
