Another international break and another dose of bewilderment at Mason Greenwood's exclusion from the England squad.
The Manchester United forward has had an excellent start to the season with three goals in seven Premier League matches but his overall attacking play from the right-flank has been even more impressive. Greenwood's behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes in the goal-scoring charts, yet has arguably been the club's best forward this season.
This is why it has been repeatedly surprising to see Greenwood left out Gareth Southgate's England squad for the last two international breaks, with matches against Andorra and Hungary surely a good time to start giving him more minutes in the senior set-up.
Despite all his talent, the 20-year-old has just a single cap to his name so far after making his debut over a year ago in the Nations League victory over Iceland.
He was then sent home prior to the following game against Denmark for breaching Covid-19 restrictions but was named in the 32-man provisional squad ahead of Euro 2020. However, he would then pull out of the squad in order to fully recover from an underlying injury that had been troubling him since March.
It proved to be the right decision as the Bradford-native has looked sharp and fit at the start of the current campaign, but he has yet to regain his place in the national squad.
This can be frustrating for supporters, of United and England alike, because Greenwood is a generational talent and clearly deserves to be in the squad. He is a better player than the likes of Patrick Bamford and Ollie Watkins and it repeatedly seems strange that Southgate hasn't picked him.
However, like he often does, the Three Lions boss has spoken eloquently about his reasoning and it's hard to disagree with him, especially when he is applying it to another prodigy in Jude Bellingham as well.
“They’re young players with a heavy load at the moment, I've spoken with both of them," Southgate said when asked about his decision to leave the pair out of his latest squad.
"Jude has got a high level of matches, he’s playing Champions League games, he’s playing league games, as an 18-year-old he had a full season then into a European Championship, so no break.
“We have to remember these lads are still physically growing, so when we’re talking about young player development we have to be really careful how we handle them. These are two players we think can be really exciting for England in the future, but we don’t want to overload them and we’ve got to be making sure we make the right decisions.
“Those decisions have been taken with me having conversations with the players and their families rather than any sort of deal with the clubs, we’ve got a good relationship with both clubs and we’ve spoken to them about the situation, but it’s not a deal with the club, it’s us looking at young players.
“The anomaly with these sort of things is that these players would be in our Under-18s, Under-19s or Under-20s, these sort of things happen all the time, but the profile of these boys is much higher, they’re both playing very well so I can understand why people would raise their eyes. It’s not a case we don’t think the players deserve to be in the squad, we’d be picking them if we didn’t have those longer-term aims and ambitions in mind."
This shows that Southgate isn't foolish and hasn't left one of England's best young talents out because he doesn't rate him. He clearly does and has the best interests of his career at heart. Which can only benefit United.
We've seen on umpteen occasions how the next big England talent bursts onto the scene - Owen, Rooney, Walcott, Wilshere - and all hopes are instantly pinned on them. They're put into every squad, play every game while still at a young, developing age and it leads to injuries and burnout. Some of those players had much better careers than others, but did any of them reach the true peak that their early potential promised?
Greenwood has a similarly high ceiling and the fact that the England manager wants to do all he can to ensure he reaches it should be applauded, not scorned.
Instead of being picked in the last two international breaks which would have seen him travel around Europe, be involved in five matches and train intensely, he has been able to rest, recover and recuperate for four weeks in what is a gruelling season - which will benefit United hugely the longer it goes on.
Greenwood will get his time to shine for England but, for now, what's the rush?
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