Harvey Barnes has been given his first England football team call-up in six years after Eberechi Eze was forced to pull out of the squad. The injured Eze was a spectator inside Wembley Stadium as his Arsenal team-mates lost 2-0 to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final. The playmaker has picked up a lower leg problem and will not play under Thomas Tuchel over the international break.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed pre-match Eze should be back in "a couple of weeks". Newcastle winger Barnes is the beneficiary and receives his first call-up since October 2020. His only previous appearance for England came in a friendly against Wales and Scotland had sought to convince the forward to switch his international allegiance to play for them at the upcoming World Cup.
The 28-year-old is eligible for the Scottish national team through his grandparents but turned down the offer from Steve Clarke. He will now be in the England squad for their friendlies against Uruguay and Japan as a reward for his 14-goal season so far for Newcastle.
Barnes, who played 76 minutes of Newcastle's derby defeat to Sunderland, also has five assists for the Magpies this term. He will get a chance to stake his claim to travel to the United States this summer in England's two matches at Wembley Stadium on March 27 and March 31.
Eze is unfortunately not the only player ruled out. Jarell Quansah, the former Liverpool centre-back now at Bayer Leverkusen, will not join up with the rest of the Three Lions camp because of a thigh complaint.