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Everton’s jack-of-all-trades forward in line for England call-up

Southgate looking at all his options ahead of the World Cup

Andorra U21 v England U21 - UEFA European Under 21 Championship Qualifiers Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Multiple media outlets are reporting that England manager Gareth Southgate is planning to call-up Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin for the coming round of friendlies in against Holland and Italy.

Southgate had previously selected a couple of youngsters for the friendly against Brazil in November, and though the Toffee was in the training squad, it was his Under-20 World Cup winning teammate Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham who got the official call-up.

England’s top two strikers are likely to be Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy going into this summer’s World Cup, with Marcus Rashford currently holding the advantage ahead of the above-mentioned trio of youngsters.

Calvert-Lewin has functioned in a variety of roles across the forward line for a disjointed Everton this season, and as the comparison below will show, could end up ahead of everyone else simply by being more of a jack-of-all-trades than his competition.

England young strikers comparison
Squawka.com

Solanke’s statistics are better but he has struggled to get playing minutes for offensive juggernaut Liverpool despite featuring in 16 Premier League games. Rashford has hit a dry run lately with Manchester United and Abraham has been isolated when he’s played for recently resurgent Swansea City.

A strong run from Calvert-Lewin to end the season could see him added to the traveling party to Russia, and if even he doesn’t play a single game it’s the kind of experience that will serve the youngster well in the future.