Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham and his teammate Fikayo Tomori were included
in Gareth Southgate’s squad for Europe 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic
and Bulgaria.
Abraham, 22, had said he had “not made a decision yet” on his
international future as he is also eligible to play for Nigeria, having only
played for England in two friendlies and not a competitive game.
If he plays against either the Czechs or Bulgaria, he will not be able to
switch allegiance, while the same also applies to Tomori who played for Canada
at Under-20 level.
“It’s not ethically right to give someone a cap just so they can’t play
for someone else,” Southgate told the BBC.
“He and Fikayo Tomori are both in on merit and have been part of our
junior system right the way through, so we see them as English players and they
have a huge desire to play for England at senior level.”
Abraham has netted eight goals in 10 games in all competitions for Chelsea
so far this season and is joint second in the Premier League’s top-scorers’
chart.
“It was a fairly easy decision [to pick him] as he’s the leading
English goalscorer in the league,” said Southgate.
Abraham played for England in friendly draws with Germany and Brazil in
2017, and was part of the England Under-21 squad at the European Championship
this summer.
“We put him into the squad very young, when we were changing the
complexion of what we were doing,” added Southgate.
“That was a bit early for him but because of the opportunity given to
him by Frank Lampard at Chelsea, we’ve brought him back in.
