Dominic Solanke In Senior England Squad for Brazil Friendly

With a rash of injuries afflicting England’s senior squad, it looked likely that Liverpool’s Dominic Solanke might have a part to play during this international break. That didn’t happen during England’s recent friendly against Germany at Wembley - Solanke featured elsewhere, scoring for England’s U21 side in a 2-0 victory over Ukraine. Now, it appears the bright young striker prospect may get the chance to take the field for the senior squad when England face Brazil at Wembley on Tuesday.

England manager Gareth Southgate named Solanke to the full squad for the upcoming friendly, alongside uncapped youngsters Lewis Cook of Bournemouth and goalkeeper Angus Gunn of Manchester City. Solanke will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of teammate Joe Gomez, who made his surprise England debut when Phil Jones was forced out of the Germany match with an injury.

There were hopes that Solanke would prove to be a bright spark when he was signed from Chelsea following the expiration of his contract, and the tall striker hasn’t disappointed so far. He hasn’t often looked out of place when summoned as a substitute by Jürgen Klopp, and England’s U21 manager Aidy Boothroyd said what was undoubtedly on many minds following the win against the Ukraine.

“I thought Dom was excellent,” said Boothroyd. “He is not getting as many minutes (for Liverpool) as he or we would like at the moment. But for us he is always a player who looks like scoring.

“He showed what he is all about,” added the former Watford manager, who updated Southgate on the youngster’s progress following the Ukraine match. “He caused them a lot of problems. He only came off because he was running out of steam.”