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It's been something of a breakout year for Jonjo Shelvey, who'd previously been in and out of the Liverpool first team when not on loan and had spent much of his international career at the U21 level and below. Talk of increased involvement for the 2012-2013 season seemed premature as well, with Lucas returning and Liverpool adding Joe Allen and Nuri Sahin while initially retaining the services of Jay Spearing and Charlie Adam.
Cut to mid-October and he's a first-team regular for club and has just received his first full England call-up, logging 25-plus minutes in what eventually became a pedestrian 5-0 win over San Marino. Brendan Rodgers' arrival has undoubtedly boosted Shelvey's growth; looking back to the preseason on Being: Liverpool we see Rodgers assuring the young midfielder that he'll have a part to play moving forward, and the time since has seen the manager keep his word, with regular time first aided by the loss of Lucas to injury and moves for Adam and Spearing, then stunted by the three-match ban incurred after a straight red against Manchester United. With the ban served and Fabio Borini missing for six to eight weeks, playing time for Liverpool should pick right back up where it left off.
Where he stands in the England setup is less clear, and it's likely that his cameo yesterday is only temporary before he ships back to to Stuart Pearce's U21s. But he looked very comfortable and confident on the ball yesterday, spreading play from the midfield and making a number of surging runs to aid the attack. The quality of the opposition obviously creates a number of caveats and prevents any sort of conclusions from being made, but as an aging English midfield nears the end of their international careers, there's no reason that Jonjo Shelvey can't be called on for years to come.