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Football London
Football London
Sport
Phil Spencer

Gareth Southgate explains why Aaron Wan-Bissaka deserves England call after move to Man United

Gareth Southgate has backed Aaron Wan-Bissaka to succeed for England after an outstanding season.

The former Palace defender received his first England call-up for the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers against Bulgaria and Kosovo.

The full-back completed a big-money summer switch to Manchester United, and speaking to the press at his squad reveal, Southgate has hailed the 21-year for how he's adapted to life at Old Trafford.

He said: "We tracked him very closely last year and we thought he had an outstanding year but we wanted him to stay with the under-21 group.

"He's adapted really well and very quickly to a high profile move and playing in front of 70,000 fans brings an intensity and a pressure so we're really looking at him and Trent (Alexander-Arnold).

"That's the reason for Kyle Walker not being with us.

"We think it's an opportunity to look at two young players in particular that when you talk about the games ahead of next summer, we need to see them quickly.

It's an area of the pitch where we have a lot of quality. Kyle has started the season really well so we explained the thinking. It's not that he's playing poorly for Manchester City; quite the opposite.

"That's an area of the pitch with four different options. They all have completely different strengths and we're looking forward to helping them develop."

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