England manager Gareth Southgate has called up uncapped Brentford forward Ivan Toney for the Nations League games with Italy and Germany this month.
Toney, 26, has scored five goals in six Premier League games this season.
Keeper Dean Henderson and defenders Eric Dier and Ben Chilwell are recalled for England’s final competitive matches before the World Cup in Qatar.
Midfielder Jordan Henderson and keeper Jordan Pickford are not involved because of injury.
Defender Ben White and midfielder Conor Gallagher miss out.
Manchester United defenders Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw are included despite making only four Premier League starts between them this season, but team-mates Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho are again overlooked.
England face Italy at the San Siro in Milan on 23 September and Germany at Wembley on 26 September.
England squad
Goalkeepers: Nick Pope (Newcastle), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal), Dean Henderson (Nottingham Forest, on loan from Manchester United).
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (on loan at Everton from Wolves), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace), Reece James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Kyle Walker (Manchester City).
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City), Declan Rice ( West Ham), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton).
Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Roma), Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Phil Foden (Manchester City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Raheem Sterling (Chelsea), Ivan Toney (Brentford).
From League One to World Cup?
Toney was playing in League One with Peterborough United as recently as March 2020, but finds himself in an England squad 67 days before the World Cup starts on 20 November.
He joined Newcastle from Northampton for £200,000 in 2015, but got stuck behind Aleksandar Mitrovic and Ayoze Perez in the pecking order at St James’ Park as the Magpies were relegated from the top flight and promoted a year later.
Toney made only two league appearances for Newcastle and spent most of his time out on loan.
He played in League One at Barnsley, Shrewsbury, Wigan and Scunthorpe before moving to Peterborough in August 2018.
He scored 26 goals in 39 games for Posh before the coronavirus pandemic ended the 2019-20 League One campaign, then helped Brentford win promotion to the Premier League after joining them in August 2020.
Toney has 17 goals and seven assists in 41 Premier League appearances and scored a hat-trick in Brentford’s 5-2 win over Leeds on 3 September.
Brentford boss Thomas Frank backed Toney for an England call-up following the match, saying: “Harry Kane is number one but there is not a better striker after Kane on form.
“Plus England have been in a few penalty shootouts and, if they want to win one, they need to pick Ivan.”
Writes /BBC/
Reports /TrainViral/
