Kobbie Mainoo’s call-up by Gareth Southgate was met with delight by all but Liverpool fans; their response was one of indignation at Manchester United’s midfielder being named in the England squad over Harvey Elliott.
There’s a bit of United/Liverpool friction at play here, particularly given Mainoo’s call-up appeared to be as a direct result of his performance in their FA Cup clash on Sunday, in which Elliott scored his third goal of the season to complement his eight assists.
But he came off the bench in that game, as he has done in all but six of his Premier League appearances this season. Mainoo has started each of United’s last 12 top-flight games – 14 in total. Elliott may be more experienced, but there’s little doubt who is the more crucial player for their club right now.
Mainoo is also currently playing in a position in which England are in need of quality and hope ahead of Euro 2024. Kalvin Phillips has been ousted after an inauspicious start to loan life at West Ham, and Jordan Henderson’s place is surely – hopefully – up for grabs as Southgate searches for a double pivot partner for Declan Rice.
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Southgate said last month that he sees Mainoo as “a progressive player” rather than a defensive midfielder – the role he’s typically played under Erik ten Hag this season. His wonderful winner against Wolves is testament to his ability to affect the game in the attacking third.
But the fact that he has been playing in a deeper role will have given him a huge edge in Southgate’s mind for these friendlies, and presumably when he’s picking his squad for the summer, with Jurgen Klopp doing Elliott no favours in terms of his England chances.
He’s impressed both on the right wing as a replacement for Mohamed Salah, or on the right of a midfield three, usually as the most attacking member of that trio. But England don’t want for attacking midfielders or right wingers. Not now and likely not for a long while yet.
Bukayo Saka (22), Jude Bellingham (20), Phil Foden (23) and Cole Palmer (21) are all significantly ahead of Elliott in the pecking order and will likely stay there, Conor Gallagher (24) is the apple of Southgate’s eye owing to his extraordinary work rate and there’s every chance the next England boss will be similarly taken by him, while there’s no reason why elder statesmen Jarrod Bowen (27) and James Maddison (27) won’t be in and around the squad for years to come.
And when those players – most of whom are older than Elliott (20) – are finished, judging by the upward trend in the quality of attacking England players, there will be an even better crop to take their places. Elliott may genuinely never play for England.
He would have had 10-plus caps by now and could bank on another 50 had he been around even a decade ago, when Jack Wilshere was the Three Lions’ only hope of unlocking packed defences through the tight control and work between the lines that’s now a staple of young English midfielders and forwards.
Liverpool fans weren’t happy with Kobbie Mainoo being called up ahead of Harvey Elliott.
England are now in a position where the managers of other nations, with historically more technically gifted players, will be gazing longingly at the raft of options Southgate has available in those positions. Andreas Pereira has been named in the Brazil squad to play England at Wembley. Nicolo Zaniolo hasn’t started a Premier League game since the start of December but has been called up by Italy. Neither would be anywhere near the England squad.
Many Liverpool fans will not care, thanks to their distaste for the national team, but it’s a conflict of interest for those that have taken Elliott’s snub as a personal affront.
He’s set to play for the England Under 21s in their European qualification fixtures, but will become illegible after next year’s tournament. At which point he can focus purely on his football for Liverpool.
Improvement on his part, injuries to rivals for a place, a position change, a club change or a new England manager could well lead to an England call-up and multiple caps for a very good footballer. But Harvey Elliott may never be good enough to play for England, and everyone – barring Elliott and those closest to him – should be delighted by that possibility, because of what that means for the state of the England squad and their chances of winning a major trophy.
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