Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes has been handed a surprise call-up to the England squad, months after turning down Scotland.
Newcastle United winger Harvey Barnes has been handed a shock England call-up following Friday’s squad announcement.
Barnes will replace Eberechi Eze in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad after the Arsenal star suffered an injury, sources have confirmed.
The call-up comes after Barnes snubbed the opportunity to switch his international allegiance to Scotland ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The 28-year-old has scored 14 times in all competitions for Newcastle this season, the best single campaign goal return of his career.
Harvey Barnes snubs Scotland
Barnes has been capped once by England in a friendly match back in 2020, but is eligible to represent Scotland through his maternal grandparents.
Last month, Scotland manager Steve Clarke ruled out a call-up for Barnes as the player had made his international ambitions clear.
"It's the perennial question, everybody keeps asking me about it," Clarke told BBC Radio 5 Live. "This time I can say for sure, Harvey's going to concentrate on trying to play for England, he's not going to come to Scotland.
"You can put that one out there. Nobody needs to ask me or Harvey about it any more.”
Newcastle will now have more representatives than any other club in the England squad, with Barnes now one of six players called up by Thomas Tuchel. Lewis Hall was called-up to the England national team for the first time by Tuchel when the squad was announced.
Aaron Ramsdale, Tino Livramento, Anthony Gordon and Dan Burn have also been called up. Both Burn and Gordon have become regulars during Tuchel’s time as England manager and along with relatively untested Ramsdale, Livramento and Hall will be fighting to be included in Tuchel’s final World Cup squad.
England’s clash against Uruguay will take place on Friday 27 March (7:45pm kick-off) at Wembley Stadium. Four days later, on Tuesday 31 March, England take on Japan, again at Wembley Stadium (7:45pm kick-off).
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England squad in full v Uruguay & Japan
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), James Trafford (Manchester City), Aaron Ramsdale (Newcastle United), Jason Steele (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Defenders: Dan Burn (Newcastle United), Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace), Lewis Hall (Newcastle United), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Nico O'Reilly (Manchester City), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen), Djed Spence (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan)
Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), James Garner (Everton), Jordan Henderson (Brentford), Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), Declan Rice (Arsenal), Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Adam Wharton (Crystal Palace)
Forwards: Harvey Barnes (Newcastle United), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham United), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds United), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Noni Madueke (Arsenal), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Barcelona, loan from Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Dominic Solanke (Tottenham Hotspur)
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