Southgate considers England call-up for Fulham midfielder who has started one of last 11 PL games | OneFootball

Gareth Southgate is monitoring Harrison Reed ahead of a possible call-up.

England boss Gareth Southgate is weighing up a call-up for Fulham midfielder Harrison Reed as he keeps a close eye on three uncapped players, according to reports.

The Three Lions have some upcoming friendly matches in March against Brazil and Belgium as they prepare for Euro 2024 after securing their place in the tournament last year.

Southgate will no doubt select the usual suspects in central midfield for the tournament in the summer with Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Jordan Henderson and Kalvin Phillips all likely to be in Germany.

The potential selection of the latter two would likely cause uproar amongst some fans with Phillips struggling to settle at West Ham, while Henderson spent half the season playing in Saudi Arabia before moving back to Europe with Ajax.

Conor Gallagher, Curtis Jones and Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be amongst the other options Southgate considers when picking his squad and he is also looking at three uncapped midfielders.

The Daily Mail claims that England boss Southgate is ‘closely following the performances’ of Man Utd’s Kobbie Mainoo, Fulham’s Reed and Everton’s James Garner.

Phillips ‘remains a key part of the manager’s plans’ but his performances for West Ham since his loan move from Manchester City have been ‘a cause for concern’.

That has led to Southgate considering the uncapped trio for friendlies in March with Reed particularly surprising considering he’s only started one of Fulham’s last 11 Premier League matches.

The England boss’ monitoring of Mainoo makes a lot more sense with the Old Trafford academy graduate making the step up to Erik ten Hag’s first team look easy.

Speaking at Thursday’s Nations League draw in Paris, Southgate said of Mainoo: “He’s doing brilliantly. I’m not certain he’s necessarily going to be a defensive midfielder, as such.

“He’s quite a progressive player but he’s had a fabulous start to his career and it will be good to monitor him as we go forward.”

Jordan Pickford is the undisputed number one goalkeeper for England with Aaron Ramsdale and Sam Johnstone falling down the pecking order at Arsenal and Crystal Palace, while Nick Pope is out injured at Newcastle.

And Southgate will need some more competition for Pickford this summer with Burnley’s James Trafford and Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson providing possible options, while Jack Butland is performing well in Scotland for Rangers.

On Butland, Southgate added: “It is up in the air. I can’t deny that so again we have to make sure we’re watching everybody – Jack Butland included because he’s obviously playing at a big club and is an experienced keeper.

“It’s not an ideal situation with Aaron not playing, Sam at the moment not playing and Nick injured. We’ll have to see how it plays out.”