Southampton’s McCarthy retains place in young England squad
By Marc Walker
Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy has retained his place in Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad for two upcoming internationals.
The Three Lions face both Croatia and Spain in the Uefa Nations League on the 12th and 15th October respectively, and the Southampton shot-stopper will be eager to earn his international in either of these games.
28-year-old McCarthy was called up for the first international break of this season back in September but didn’t get any game-time against Spain or Switzerland.
Another shift towards youth has been made by Southgate in his latest squad announcement with each of James Maddison, Jadon Sancho and Mason Mount receiving their first call-ups to the senior set-up.
These picks also highlight the willingness of the current boss to choose players from a wide range of clubs. Maddison is at Leicester after nearly joining Saints in the summer, Sancho has been in red hot form for Borussia Dortmund and Mount has starred on-loan at Derby County.
Next. Danny Ings must step up against Chelsea this weekend. dark
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With two competitive games this time around, it is likely that the strongest team available may be chosen to play. Jordan Pickford may retain the number one jersey, leaving McCarthy to battle in out with Stoke City’s Jack Butland and Fulham’s Marcus Bettinelli for the second-choice spot.
A mixed bag of results have come for Saints so far this season, but McCarthy has largely kept up his good form from the last campaign.
A particularly good showing against Wolves last weekend saw him make some important, high-quality saves that kept the score down to 2-0 in favour of Saints’ opponents.
The call-up could also be seen as a show of faith in McCarthy. Other keepers such as Joe Hart have been in good form recently but have not regained a place back in the international set-up as of yet.
Saints Right-Back Cedric also received a call-up to Portugal’s squad this afternoon for games against Poland and Scotland.
Recognition and call-ups for other Saints players is likely to come in the next week after the club saw 10 of its players involved for their national sides last time around.